She Chose Do-own!

[Molly Quincannon] Molly is in a Good Mood when she rings Ellie from ... well, wherever she's wandered off to today. In fact, she's been in a good mood for days, which is probably a good thing given as how she spent days leading up to and following the 'spygames' and 'yeah, there was electricity to the brain and bastard bastard bastard' ... and then there was 'Why do people say hello with handguns?' and she was in a massive grump for at least a week. But the last few days, she has been in a particularly good mood, and since yesterday afternoon, that mood has been phenomenal, even taking into account the 'Chuck visited. He still hasn't got his head out of his ass, by the way. And he wants to be a guinea pig when you start doing massage therapy. He's an idiot. Oh well!'

...All that to say, Molly's cheerful normally, but now it's just ... more so.

So Ellie gets a phone call asking her to meet up at a local coffee shop for 'chats, coffee and possible ADVENTURE! Also maybe surprises, you never know your luck'.

[Ellie James] Molly a grump for a week is something Ellie is learning to handle. If for no other reason than a grumpy Molly is an alive Molly. And finding out that Chuck wants to be a guinea pig... made Ellie cackle quietly to herself and hug Molly, glad she's back.

The call for coffee and adventure is all the motivation the teenager needs to push her books under the couch, grab her coat, check her pockets, and head out the door. She doesn't quite skip her way to meet up with Molly, but it's a very near thing.

[Molly Quincannon] The coffee house is one of their usual favourites, and Molly knows full well what to order when ordering for Ellie. So there's already a mocha and an individual maple-walnut tart sitting at Ellie's spot at the table when she gets there. There is also a box the approximate size of a CD but about five times as deep sitting next to the plate of pastry. It's wrapped in graph paper.

When Ellie arrives, Molly waves and gestures to the seat. "Hey! Sit, please! How goes the math homework? Still driving you batshit?" (It should be noted, however, that even at her grumpiest, Molly has been helpful in the vein of Ellie's math assignments. Still, she asks.)

[Ellie James] The sight of her favorite cafe treats always makes Ellie smile, and she slips into her seat with a curious look at the wrapped box. She pokes it with one finger while sipping her mocha with the other hand. "It's math. One of these days I'll burn the book, but until then, I keep studying. And thanks for the help, by the way. The rest of the problems on the last chapter made a lot more sense after you explained them." She takes a breather to sip at her mocha and nibble on her tart, and then pokes the box again.

"So, what's this?"

[Molly Quincannon] "No problem. Anything I can do to help, y'know? Plus," she adds with a chuckle, "it's good to know I can do that level of math homework without suffering massive high school flashbacks."

The poke at the box, and the question that follows, gets a mischievous little grin. "Iiiiiiiiit's a present! Call it a celebration deal." The grin is joined by a blush. "There may have been the kissing of a Nathan. I am made of squee. So I spread the squee. Plus there's a sort of an offer in there too. Open it!"

[Ellie James] "Ewww... high school flashbacks." She shook her head. "Never spent much time in high school, but what I did have was pretty sucktastic, you're right." She paused at Molly's explanation for the gift, and then fist-pumped. "You kissed him? Yes!" Oh no, Ellie doesn't like Nathan better than Chuck. Not at all.

The cheerful order to open the box has Ellie putting down the tart and quickly tearing into the paper. This is a girl who doesn't know how to delicately pull tape away to save the wrapping paper. And it's not exactly high-class foil paper either, just graph paper, and getting to shred some of her nemesis is just a little extra glee to the idea of a present.

[Molly Quincannon] The box contains two things. One is a silver pendant - a thumb-length bar of silver studded with gemstones matching the colours of the chakras - on a silver chain. The other is an envelope. When opened, that one contains a chit from a local tattoo parlour. "The second thing - the envelope - isn't necessary if you take me up on the offer," Molly says with a sheepish little grin. "Half of us haven't. But it's a possibility, if you want it, or just want a tat that's something different. My inker doesn't card. Basically, I'm asking if you want to join my cabal. We're Stormwatch - we keep our ears to the ground for the problems big and small, hoping to catch them before the little problems become big ones. I figure with your connections, you'd be great to have on-side."

[Ellie James] Ellie pulled the pendant up first, and ran her fingertip along the line of gems. "Oh, it's beautiful!" After a moment of fidling with the clasp, she put the necklace on, smiling as it settles against her skin. She reached for the envelope second, and her fingers trembled as she looked at the chit and listened to Molly's explanation of what it meant. And the offer. Her jaw dropped, and there was a glimmer in one eye, before she carefully set the envelope down and scooted out of her chair to round the table and give Molly a tight hug.

"You really mean it?" And yes, she does sound like she's ready to cry.

[Molly Quincannon] Molly hugs back as well as her position seated at the table will allow and chuckles a little - it's a fond noise rather than a mocking one. "Yes, I really mean it. I wouldn't have said it otherwise. We do have a crew tat; hence the tattoo parlour thing." Gently disengaging from the hug, she shows her left forearm - Ellie's probably seen that 'stormclouds with an eye like a rising sun underneath' tattoo a thousand times without being aware that it meant much. "But like I said, if something else suits you better, or you just don't want ink, it's not a big deal. I think Atlas would freak out if I asked him to get a tattoo anyway."

Then she looks a bit sheepish. "Kind of hence the adventure, anyway. You might want to back out entirely once you see how I generally operate. You remember how I said, ages ago just before you moved in, about how the tunnels under Chicago are generally full of weird? Well, part of the Stormwatch remit is to go and check it out to make sure the weird's not on the up-tick. So ... if you're keen, we're going to explore Undertown a little bit."

[Ellie James] Ellie shifted back, wiping at her eyes quickly while Molly's lifting her arm. She'd never realized what the tat meant, but now that she knows the name of Molly's cabal, it makes a lot more sense. She stroked her necklace, and smiled. "I want the tat. Just... maybe not on my arm." She slipped back into her own seat, and toyed with the envelope. "I don't think I'd be able to hold still for that."

She set the envelope down, and smiled. "I'd enjoy going to Undertown. Well, maybe enjoy isn't quite the right word, but... I'm kind of comfortable in places like that, and what's more, it means I can watch your back!"

[Molly Quincannon] "Well, then, finish your nibbles and let's get a move on!" Now apparently thrilled to bits, Molly downs her coffee and munches her own pastry. Between bites, she says, "I thought dinner afterwards. There's this barbecue place that opened up on the far end of the Mile that looks good and smells fantastic. I have a craving for ribs. Must be the years I spent in Texas."

And there's small-talk and snack-munching until Ellie looks about ready to go.

[Ellie James] Ellied smiled and went back to her pastry and mocha, practically vibrating with excitement. "Barbecue sounds amazing." The pastry doesn't last long, and with one last swig from her cup, the mocha disappears too. "Lets go!"

[Molly Quincannon] With that done, off they go. As Molly collects her bits and pieces, it might be noted that she picks up her quarterstaff, which had been leaning against the wall more or less out of sight, as well as the ever-present laptop bag. That done, off they go.

There are a lot of entrances to Undertown. Ellie knows most of them. She knows this one, in fact, down into some crumbling old building's basement and through a hole in a wall, where someone or someones can hide in case security or police investigate for squatters. However, rumours have it that it's not a good idea to go too deep into the tunnels down there. People say that those that have gone missing just get lost, but the look in their eyes hints at a suspicion of something entirely else. Either way, those poor mundanes who go too deep into those tunnels are never seen again.

Molly stops and turns to Ellie around three feet into the tunnels, looking at Ellie even as she pulls her laptop out of her bag. "Know anything about this section? Your intel on the ground's way better than mine." So apparently, Molly takes Ellie seriously as cabalmate straight off the bat.

[Ellie James] Ellie trailed after Molly, straightening up a bit as she started recognizing the area they were in and were heading towards. She tilted her head as Molly stopped just inside the tunnels, and turned to lean back against one of the walls. She kept an ear out for the sound of anyone further in, or coming closer.

"Lot of rumors about this being a good hidey-hole, as long as you don't go too deep. Warnings of people getting lost - or worse - the deeper they go. Just about everyone I've ever spoken to can name someone who's disappeared through here, or some of the other ones that open up on this side of town. I haven't gone down that deep into this one, just on the off chance that there is something down there strong enough to turn me into lunch."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly wrinkles her nose, sits down on a convenient section of crumbly wall and starts typing. "Well, let me pull up a map and see where we are. Might be nice to make sections of this a little safer deeper in, if we can, or at least make sure that if there is something down here, it doesn't decide to get uppity and move further out towards ... y'know, where there might be more people? I'm actually not against leaving a relatively harmless Bygone or something down here, though, if there is one. The world needs a little more wonder, even if it is just urban legends."

As she types, she asks, "So ... remind me what your skill set is? How are you on stuff like ... dark-sight, spirit-sight, life readings, whatever?"

[[Corr - get layout of surrounding area. Coincidental, -1 practiced, -1 focus so diff 3.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 3 (Failure at target 3)

[Molly Quincannon] [[...Kasheeno hates me this week. Again, diff up to 4.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 4)

[Ellie James] Ellie nodded, watching Molly sit down. "It would be nice. This is one of the better spots to avoid cops looking for squatters. And squatters make really good informants." She smiled at the Bygone comment. "I wouldn't mind it either, but people being worried about being 'disappeared'... with luck, we just have to explain to what/whoever it is that people aren't going to cause trouble for it?"

She thought for a moment. "I've got a little dark-sight, I can see life but not change it, a bit of luck - meeting you was lucky as hell - and a bit of skill with playing with forces.. y'know, electricity, not burning my fingers touching a fire for a moment... stuff like that."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly nods. "Mmkay, good. Hold on a second, I'm going to try something." She holds out her hand for Ellie to take. "I'm going to try to download you the map to this place. May take awhile, but better that we both know our way around than not, just in case something goes to the bad. If that's okay - I try not to do Mind mojo without permission."

[Ellie James] Ellie caught Molly's hand, trusting her friend - cabal mate! - to know what she was doing. Tech wasn't her strong point, but knowing Molly practically lived on her laptop kept her from being too worried. And besides, having an idea of where she was and where she was going would be an excellent idea. "I trust you, Molly."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly looks up at Ellie at that and gives her a smile. "Thanks," she says, and the single word has a certain weight. When Molly sticks with simple words, there still tends to be a lot behind them; she can generally say more with one word, when that word really matters, than she does with her usual infodump.

In any case, she reaches into a pocket with her free hand and pulls out a ... well, it's a sonic screwdriver. She tinkers with it for a moment, changing the sound and light frequency it makes until she's satisfied, then says, "Load ForceFeed. Download. Target: KidWizard; frequency--" Short string of numbers and words that make little sense but probably denote symbols. "File: Map Echo-Tango Alpha."

Then she grins up at Ellie again. "Loading. This one takes awhile. And I got ForceFeed hands-free. It's a good thing."

[[Looking at 3 successes for this one - activation, target other than self, duration. Coincidental, -1 foci, -1 practiced, so diff 3. WP because we do not want to hurt Ellie.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 4, 6 (Success x 3 at target 3) [WP]

[Molly Quincannon] After a rather shorter pause than she apparently thought (to her delighted surprise), Molly says, "Engage!"

And there's a map in Ellie's head, right at the top of her memory. It's kind of a weird sensation, akin to how Neo must have felt in the Matrix having stuff downloaded into his brain, but now, if she wants to know where she's going, she's got a map in her head containing a series of surprisingly long tunnels with a few wide places and a general labyrinthine feel. No wonder people get lost down here.

[Ellie James] Ellie smiled at Molly, and then had to bite back a quite giggle at the sight of the sonic screwdriver. She quieted down once Molly actually started speaking, and then smiled again. "KidWizard, heh."

And then the map was there, clear and easy to read in her mind. "Whoa!"

[Molly Quincannon] "Awesome, isn't it?" Molly looks quite proud as she stands up and dusts herself off a bit, pocketing the screwdriver and getting her gear back into some semblance of order. "I'll show you my handy-dandy trick of reading a flash drive without plugging it into a computer someday. For now ... which way d'you want to go? I'm thinking check out those wide places in the road, so to speak. Anything that's living here will live in one of them, I figure. Also, I think we'll stick with flashlights for now. Dunno if darksight's going to help if whatever is out there doesn't have body heat." Into the laptop bag she goes again, and she retrieves a Maglite, handing it over to Ellie. "I think I'll let you be torchbearer, if that's okay. The one bitch about a two-handed weapon, y'know? So ... that first wide place off to the left and down about a half-mile?"

[Ellie James] "Now that sounds like fun. One of those party tricks you could only do in certain crowds?" She studied the map in her head, thoughtfully, and then nodded. "That sounds like a plan to me. And one of the places where normal people are more likely to run into trouble, if they enter someone else's den."

She accepted the flashlight, and grinned at the heft of it. "Works for me. And thank you for providing the club." She gestured for Molly to start moving, and walked beside and just a bit behind her so that Molly could see where she was going.

[Molly Quincannon] [[Awareness? If I have a triple-botch like yesterday, I am going to kill and eat Kasheeno.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Ellie James] [ here's hoping your bad luck doesn't carry...]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 5, 5, 7, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] Ellie's the first one to feel it; While Molly's pretty aware at the best of times, she also gets curious about the oddest things (well, about everything), and she's a second behind Ellie on the uptake because she's looking at some graffiti on a nearby tunnel wall. The sensation is cold in the way of morgue lockers and crypts in fall, and smells about the same, though it's illusory - the real smells are mildew and best-uncontemplated bodily fluids.

[Ellie James] Ellie slowed down as a brush of cold made her shiver. She turned to poke Molly's shoulder, distracting the older Mage from her distraction. "Molly.." Her nose wrinkled at the scents she picked up; decay and mildew and the worst of human odors. She swept the flashlight side to side slowly, wondering if she'd see something between telling Molly to look up and having the older Mage actually listen.

[Molly Quincannon] There's nothing to see yet - there's just the feeling. Molly actually looks up as Ellie intakes breath to speak her name, and she nods. "I know. Just caught it. Damn; that's just weird." She sighs. "Okay. Moving on, quiet and careful. I want to see what's generating that. Damn," she murmurs. "If this is Pyry all over again, I'm gonna be so pissed."

With that, barring any further comments or questions from Ellie, they're moving on, Molly in the lead.

[Ellie James] Ellie smiled a little to know that Molly wasn't quite as distracted as she'd seemed. She wanted to ask what or who a Pyry was, but decided that it was a question that could wait until after they were back streetside. She held the flashlight closer to hip-height, where the floor was illuminated but there was more light on the walls as well.

[Molly Quincannon] [[Perc + Alert]]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 1, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Ellie James] [perc + alert]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] The feeling increases as they keep walking, the mildew and other unpleasant smells giving way to dead leaves and dust and dry things on a more visceral level. When they come to the first 'wide place in the road', it turns out to be...

...For starters, a lot bigger than expected. And older. And gives every appearance of open sky. It's a graveyard - an old one, to judge by the leaning, weathered tombstones dotted around the place. It seems to be stuck at the tail-end of fall, season-wise; there's a nip in the air and only a few leaves are left on the old, gnarled trees that pop up occasionally. There's even a bit of ambient natural light, though it's sort of 'overcast sky just before sunset' dim.

Molly's comment is a murmured, "Holy shit," though it's more fascinated than truly worried. Maybe she notices the pale grey shadow flitting through and between the tombstones; maybe she doesn't. Her immediate reaction is to investigate the first of the tombstones, trying to see if she can read a name.

[Ellie James] Ellie stopped at the verge between tunnel and graveyard, shocked by the sight. The map in her head doesn't match the size of the graveyard before them, and that's even more worrisome than the sight of a fall sky. And trees. While Molly focused on just one stone, Ellie took a longer look at the whole area, trying to figure out who might be behind this. As she turns her head to watch Molly, something moves along the edge of her vision.

"Molly, stop! There's something in there!" She crossed into the graveyard area to grab for Molly's back before she could get too close to the stones.

[Ellie James] {dex + ath}
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Dex + Dodge - 'Hey, c'mon; I'm workin' here!']]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 5, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] Molly moves fast. Ellie, probably motivated by knowing just how deep into the shit Molly tends to get, is faster. She grabs Molly by the hood of the duffel coat before Molly gets too close, and Molly seems about to ask something to the order of 'what the hell?' before she spots what the younger mage is talking about. Her reaction is, perhaps, predictable. "And? I've seen more worrisome clouds out of a bong. I mean, seriously. It's a puff of smoke. Okay, little creepy, but what's it gonna do?"

That comment is followed by a low, malevolent chuckle that seems to come from everywhere at once.

Molly looks up, unimpressed. "Oh, shut up."

[Ellie James] Ellie took a tiny breath of relief when she actually managed to catch Molly's hood. She scowled at Molly's dismissal of the movement, and twitched just a little when whatever it was laughed.

"Maybe you have, but I haven't. Err on the side of caution. Just once. For me?"

[Molly Quincannon] That nets Ellie a look that mingles amusement, wryness and a species of fond annoyance. "That, my dear, is emotional blackmail. I'll try to be careful, but look, what's the point of coming all the way down here if we don't look? Right now, all I can see is graveyard and boogity-boo. That really doesn't tell us much about why people are missing, y'know? We'll go in, we'll be careful and we'll hope that whatever is in here is something we can hit. If it isn't, we leave and seal the way behind us. Okay?"

[Ellie James] Ellie's lips twitched in her own exasperated fondness, and nodded. "All right. And I promise to only use my blackmail for good." She took a slow breathe, and then let go of Molly's hood. "I know we're down here to investigate. I follow your lead."

[Ellie James] [as you wish :) ]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Molly's turn.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8

[Molly Quincannon] Molly nods and moves further into the graveyard, assessing tombstones and giving the smoky grey thing that seems to be more or less following them a wide berth. Ellie is likely likewise paying attention to that particular ... whatever the hell it is. (And whatever possessed them to come down here without Spirit magic, the world may never know.)

Unfortunately, Ellie takes a step forward and what looked for all the world like solid ground ahead of her (Molly walked over it no problem, anyway, and Molly probably outweighs Ellie by a few pounds, most of it boots) turns out to be not quite so solid after all. Next thing Ellie knows, she's falling, and then hitting hard-packed dirt floor.

[[Dex + Ath for the landing, please.]]

[Ellie James] [dex + ath]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 7, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Ellie James] She'd accuse herself later of not paying attention. Not putting her feet exactly where Molly did. Or something. Between one step and the next, though, the ground goes out from under her and with a squawk Ellie dropped into a hole that hadn't been there a moment before. She landed hard on her hands and knees, and sat there a moment before putting a hand on the wall and standing back up. "Molly?" She called, fishing blindly for the flashlight she'd dropped when she tried to catch herself. Her hand finally met cool, round metal, and she scooped up the flashlight cum club, and turned it on.

[Molly Quincannon] Ellie finds herself in a hole that looks remarkably like the oubliette Sarah from Labyrinth finds herself in at some stage, complete with occasional bits of broken furniture (dusty bed leaning listlessly on a broken foot, splintery stool, something that might be a cracked porcelain chamber pot) and cobwebs. The hole she fell through is a good twelve feet up, and difficult to see. The room itself isn't huge, but it's not cold or damp or anything. There's no visible exit bar the hole high above her head, and no Molly.

[Ellie James] Ellie stared up the tunnel at the hole she'd fallen through. "Fuck. Molly!!" She yelled for her friend, warily sweeping her surroundings with the light of the flashlight. "'She chose do~own...'" She muttered to herself, having seen the Labyrinth often enough to memorize it.

[Molly Quincannon] [[Molly at Work]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 4, 5 (Success x 2 at target 3)

[Molly Quincannon] [[And again]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 4, 8 (Success x 2 at target 3)

[Ellie James] [perc+inv]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 5, 5, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] Searching the place shouldn't take as long as it does. But there's under-the-bed to look under, and shadowy crannies, and a slow, painstaking sweep of the floor with the flashlight. After all, maybe there's that portable door.

It doesn't help (except where it does) when her search is interrupted by a sort of a ping from Molly. It's not telepathy - neither of them have the Mind for that - but it is a feeling. It's frantic, because so much about Molly is, and it's determined. Molly has a lock on Ellie, and will be able to track her down ... though it's likely that getting out of a sealed room would help matters in that regard. Apparently, the hole sealed up behind Ellie so Molly couldn't follow or see where she'd gone.

Eventually ... lo and behold, there is a door, flat and round like a hobbit-hole door. Now the only question is where to put the thing to get out.

[Ellie James] Thank all the gods for having kept hold of the flashlight. Ellie really isn't sure how well she'd handle being stuck in this place in the dark. Jarreth was a lot easier on Sarah than this place is on Ellie, because there's hardly any light other than the flashlight. The brush of Molly's frantic touch is soothing in it's own right, because it means that Molly knows she's missing.

The door... is another relief to find, though it causes it's own set of problems. "Where the hell do I put this now?" Maybe she'd wait until she could feel Molly from just one side, instead of nebulous.

[Molly Quincannon] The one missive from Molly - the one that said without words 'I know you're missing and can track you down' is not repeated. There's still a sense of Molly's frantic resonance, but that's probably the target-lock Molly's got on her. Time ticks onwards. The frantic gets stronger, then weaker, then stronger again.

[Ellie James] [here goes nothing]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Ellie James] Ellie held onto that feeling of Molly, faint as it was at times. She looked at the door while she waited, and then fished in her pocket for one of the things she always had on her. She rubbed her thumb over the 5 on her 6-sided die, and then closed her eyes, focused on the door and getting out. Her thumb tingled as it passed over one of the dots, and she turned to look in the direction that the dot would have pointed to if it had fingers.

"Well, here's hoping." She dragged the door towards the wall after tucking the die back in her pocket where it belonged. She pushed it against the wall, doorknob on the left hand side, and then cautiously pulled it open.

[Molly Quincannon] The round door snicks into place like a lego brick, and opens onto a smaller room with a ladder, going up. There's faint, faint, faint light at the top.

[Ellie James] Well. That worked unexpectedly well. Ellie stuck as much of the flashlight as she could into her pocket, and then slithered through the door and looked up the ladder. Hoping she'd be lucky, she yelled for her mentor and friend again. "Molly!?"

[Molly Quincannon] There's an answering yell, very faint, from above. Well, it's a yell, anyway, and it sounds enough like Molly to be getting on with, but the tone's wrong for relieved letting-Ellie-know-she's-there. It's pissed off beyond all recognition.

[Ellie James] Ellie winced at the sound of Molly's voice, and scrambled up the ladder. "Molly?!" She called again, as soon has her head was above the edge of the tunnel she climbed.

[Molly Quincannon] Silence has fallen by the time Ellie reaches the top of the ladder, and the light has returned to that sullen, overcast glow. Peeking out, Ellie finds that the graveyard (to which she has returned, though a good two hundred yards away from the spot she sort of remembers falling) has got colder, somehow more malevolent. There's the sense of unheard laughter, a certain sort of triumph...

And no Molly.

[Ellie James] Ellie shivered as she crawled the rest of the way out of the tunnel. She moved away from the hole, tugging the flashlight out of her pocket and wielding it more like a club than a light. Moving a little further from the hole, she searched desperately for Molly.

"Okay, asshole, what did you do with her?" Falling into a hole was bad enough. But getting out of the hole to find her mentor missing and something snickering was enough to make the teenager rather upset.

[Molly Quincannon] There are certainly signs that Molly's been here; that it wasn't just some mimicry of Ellie's friend. The search to find a way down to where Ellie was briefly stuck in her oubliette seems to have taken out a couple of crypts, five gravestones and a tree, and there was no gentleness involved in any of it whatsoever. Under that malevolence, Molly's resonance is more or less everywhere. However, there's no physical sign of her, and there's a voice, the same voice that's been giving that sense of unheard laughter. It's hard to tell whether that voice is reaching Ellie's brain via her ears or just being projected there...

Little girl lost all alone now. Again. Were you meant to have anyone, wandering child? Fate, or unworthiness, that leaves you all alone?

...But it's possible that Ellie doesn't care at this point.

[Ellie James] [rolling life+prime: here Molly, Molly, Molly]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 4 (Failure at target 6)

[Ellie James] [i'm a blond. trying again]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10 (Success x 1 at target 3)

[Ellie James] Ellie scowled when she didn't immediately see Molly, or get a better sense of her. The signs of destruction gave the teenager a fleeting sense of satisfaction, though the feeling passed quickly. She turned around again, digging in her pockets for something else. She came up with one of the little glass diadems known as a dragon's tear, covered in an almost random pattern of scratches. She could feel Molly all around her, and her desperate need to find Molly made it a little easier to ignore the voice nagging at her. She scanned around again, trying to locate the spot where Molly's 'feel' was strongest.

"Shut up. Shut up shut up shut up..." She muttered at the voice as she looked.
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10 (Success x 1 at target 4)

[Molly Quincannon] The snicker becomes a full-throated laugh. What will you do, then, wandering child, to make me? Of course, you have little to fear. Alone has been safe enough for you ... if cold. And empty. Comfortable and not, like a shroud chilled by winter winds. Shall we test the theory, wandering child?

Alone is not safe for everyone, you know.

It's easier to focus on the magic than it is on that voice. Like, a lot easier, and Ellie's Will is pretty well driven by now. There is, in fact, a living person with a resonance like Fifth Avenue two days before Christmas, and the sense of that feels strongest by one of the largest crypts, way at the back of the graveyard.

[Ellie James] She's not really sure where to direct the finger, so Ellie just flips off the sky and starts back towards the strongest feel of Molly. She doesn't have her friend's quarterstaff to feel ahead of her for more holes, so she walks slower than she'd like, only putting part of her weight on each step to test the ground, before following through with the next step. She won't fall into another trap as easily. (she hopes).

[Ellie James] [perc+aware]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] It's a close thing a couple of times, but Ellie steps into no traps. In fact, it's less about ground solidity as it is about something ... well, else. Something unnatural. These are deliberate traps that have nothing to do with any physical existence of holes.

So, slow and stately, Ellie reaches the crypt with little enough trouble. Ellie's flipping off the sky gets yet more laughter. You are amusing when alone and afraid, wandering child. Perhaps we shall keep you. You have, of course, seen the room we have prepared, and the places now occupied by our ... other guests.

Which explains the graveyard, and the missing persons.

[Ellie James] Ellie fisted the hand not holding the flashilight as she studied the crypt, looking for obvious traps (not that she expects to see any). "You're about as entertaining as my first step-father. Just shut up already."

Keeping a hand on the flashlight, she made herself un-fist her free hand and reach for the handle of the crypt door.

[Molly Quincannon] Yeah, now that voice is just giving her mocking laughter. Whatever this thing is, it's dreadfully amused. And the cryypt door opens.

Despite all logical sense, despite everything Ellie's magic has told her, what Ellie sees is her housemate and cabalmate and friend, lying on top of one of the biers, hands folded across her chest, eyes closed and apparently not breathing - every inch the corpse laid out for burial.

[Ellie James] The door opened easier than Ellie expected it to, and only reflex kept her from dropping the flashlight when she saw Molly laid out and deathly still. Swallowing hard, she stuffed the flashlight in her pocket, pushed the door open as wide as she could manage, and yelled back at the silent voice. "You're not fucking funny!"

She turned, then, and approached Molly - an image of Molly? - slowly. Biting the inside of her lip, she touched two fingertips to Molly's throat, hoping to feel a pulse.

[Molly Quincannon] When Ellie's fingers touch Molly's throat, her first thought is that Molly must be dead - she is stiff and cold as stone.

Then she realises that what she's touching is stone; it's too gritty to be skin, even dirty skin.

Then she blinks and she's looking at a statue of a woman that has toppled off its base and onto a bier.

[Ellie James] Dold. Hard... the hard wasn't right, and that was enough of a shake to reality for Ellie to take a step back and look down at what she was touching. On one level, she's really glad that it isn't Molly dead and cold on the beir.

On another, she has absolutely no clue where Molly is. In the background she can still hear that damned laughing. Sucking in a deep breath, she fished for the feel of Molly again, trying to find her friend's life-sense.
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3 (Success x 1 at target 3)

[Molly Quincannon] Apparently, Molly is Around Here Somewhere. That's the feel, anyway. Where, and how she's been hidden away from Ellie ... well, that's something else.

The voice sounds again. Do you truly wish the tethers of stability offered by the one we took, wandering child? Or have you already softened so, to fear a life alone in such a place as this? How far have you fallen? Mock concern, with a hint of mocking, spiteful pleasure underlying it.

[Ellie James] Ellie scowled, biting her tongue on everything she wants to yell at the voice. Yelling won't find Molly. Neither will listening too closely to that voice. Starting at the door, on the left hand side, she started feeling around for her friend. It was pretty good odds that using the flashlight wouldn't serve her any better than using the outside ambient light had worked for showing her that the Molly-look-alike was actually a statue. For now, she had to trust her fingers.

[Molly Quincannon] [[For my own edification]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 5, 9 (Success x 2 at target 4)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Building]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 6, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5) [WP]

[Molly Quincannon] Ellie fumbles around the place for awhile, and then gains a certain advantage - the Life signs are still stable, but the sense she gets from Prime picks up. Someone's prepping Forces. Lots and lots of Forces. Ellie brushes against something warm and yielding - a sleeve, with an arm in it. Then, while her eyes and ears don't serve her very well, her sense of smell helps too - there's faint hints of tea tree and grapefruit that could only be Molly's soap and shampoo respectively, underlying the weird wood-leather-and-incense smell of her specifically non-girlie perfume. Molly is located.

Molly then knocks Ellie to the ground, or so it feels like.

And then the building blows up around them.

[Molly Quincannon] [[Damage Ellie]]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Damage Molly]]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Ellie James] [stamina]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 4, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Molly soak.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 5, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Ellie James] Ellie grew more worried the longer she went without feeling some sign of Molly. The feeling building in the back of her head helped, but it wasn't the same thing as a solid feeling. When she found that sleeve, though, she hissed in triumph.

And then oofed as she was knocked to the ground. She squawked in dismay as the world blew up around her, and she curled up in a ball.

[Molly Quincannon] [[Oh, right. Paradox for Molly.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Soak...]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 5 (Failure at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] "...ow..."

That from Molly, who at least can now be heard. She can be seen as well; part of the reason that Ellie came out of that whole particularly energetic mess relatively unscathed was because Molly ended up on top of her, probably on purpose. Molly can also be seen, as Ellie can tell when Molly's weight rolls off Ellie and she opens her eyes. Of course, she can be seen as a little heap on the ground and she's got a nosebleed as well as evident pain, but she's at least there.

"...go ass-fuck a lamprey, you pathetic excuse for a bit of Umbral headfuck..." is her next comment, thankfully not directed at Ellie.

[Ellie James] Ellie swallowed as the dust finally settled, and the weight on top of her moved. "Hi, Molly." Her voice is a little shakey as she speaks, pushing herself off of the floor with a quiet groan. "Glad you're alive." She coughed, and flipped off the sky again.

[Molly Quincannon] "Likewise," Molly replies. "When the sense I got of you was underground, I kind of flipped out. This place..." She makes a weak gesture at the crypt. "...It's most powerful here. I think. It's sure as hell shut up now."

And sure enough ... beastie ain't laughing anymore.

"So ... what do you say we get back to the mouth of this tunnel, collapse it under them - you can help push, I think - so no one gets in and eaten anymore. It'll starve to death or something, maybe. Then ... ribs and save the rest of it for another day?" She wipes her nose with the heel of her hand, wincing at the blood. "Fuck, even in nowhere-space, consensus lives to spoil my fun with nosebleeds and migraines."

[Ellie James] Ellie smiled a little. "I didn't react much better when I got back up and couldn't find you." She tilted her head, listening for the laughter. "Thank the gods for that... I was having flash-backs to my first foster father."

She perked up at the idea of collapsing the whole area and starving the monster. "Y'know, I do believe that I like that plan." She eyed Molly's nose. "Do you want a tissue? I have a couple, I think."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly waves it away. "In a minute. Let's get this done first. C'mon." She reaches out for Ellie's hand again, explaining, "This time, at least we go together if Mr Gates' bony ass does he remind me of my dad bit of nasty decides to pull another stunt."

Assuming Ellie takes Molly's hand (a safe enough assumption, it's a dash across the graveyard for the tunnel mouth.

[Ellie James] Ellie held tightly to Molly's fingers and dashed with her, eyes on the ground just in case.

[Molly Quincannon] The run is predominantly uneventful. Molly's not overly steady on her feet right now (she took a beating she won't be forgetting any time soon, what with one thing or another - this seems to be a theme) but they do manage, beyond a stumble that probably panics Ellie for a moment until she realises it's just that Molly stumbled over her own feet for a second, to get to where they need to be without falling into any further holes.

Molly doesn't let go of Ellie's hand when they reach the relative safety of the tunnel, though. The contact is good for group magic. "Okay. You help push, I'll direct the force to where we need it to go. I'm thinking massive localised gravity surge. You game?"

[Ellie James] Ellie's heart nearly leapt out of her chest when Molly stumbled, but her breathing evened out when Molly kept moving. She panted for a moment when they both stopped and turned back to face their temporary prison. "I'm game. I'm totally game. Don't need any more people to get stuck here."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly nods, pulls them a few steps further back and says, "Okay. You do your thing. I'll ... do mine. Load ForceFeed. EarthSuck. Cross-ref: KidWizard effect Foxtrot."

[[Forces - diff 6 -1 focus -1 practiced so diff 4]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 9 (Success x 1 at target 3)

[Ellie James] Ellie nodded and dipped down to run her fingers along the ground to scoop up whatever dirt or small rocks she could get her hand on.

[forces - diff3]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2 (Failure at target 3)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Rolling again, diff up to 5, -1 quint to take it back down to 4 and a WP because Molly is bloody-minded.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 4) [WP]

[Ellie James] [rolling again, diff 4]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 4)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Paradox for Ellie.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4 (Failure at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Paradox for Ellie, the extra +3.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 4 (Failure at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Paradox for Molly]]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 5, 5, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Stamina - c'mon, Molly!]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 4 (Failure at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] And then everything falls apart. It had been going well - at least on Molly's end, but something went skew-iff on Ellie's end and then Molly's wincing again, her free hand going to her forehead. "...When this is over, I am so hitting the Excedrin..."

Then she draws herself upright again as best she can. "Okay, breather, then we go again."

[Ellie James] Ellie winced. "We should buy stock in that company..." she muttered quietly to Molly.

[and again]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 3)

[Molly Quincannon] It takes a moment before Molly can do much but blink and wince, to be fair, so after a long moment, she picks up where she left off, dispensing her verbal orders to ForceFeed.

[[Same again. Diff back to 4]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 4, 5 (Success x 2 at target 4)

[Ellie James] Ellie waited for a moment, and then rubbed her fingers into her little handful of dirt again.
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 3)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Paradox for Ellie]]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 6, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Paradox for Molly]]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Soak for Molly]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Ellie James] [soak for Ellie]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 4 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] This may be the first time Ellie's ever felt a Paradox backlash. It feels - honest to whatever gods are watching - like someone hit her in the head with a baseball bat. From the inside. It might occur to her, when her vision clears and the ringing in her ears stops, that this is the third hit Molly's taken tonight.

Mostly because by the time Ellie's vision clears and the ringing in her ears stops (but they leave the headache and what feels like an inexplicable bruise across the back of her neck), Molly's slumped in a miserable heap on the floor of the tunnel, her hand disengaging from Ellie's. "..........gonnaneedaminit" is her only comment, slurred and quite clearly pained.

[Ellie James] Ellie didn't even feel her butt hitting the floor for the ringing in her head. She pressed her palms to her temples and groaned softly, opening her eyes cautiously to glance in Molly's direction.

"Owww... Gonnalive?" She asked quietly.

[Molly Quincannon] "........Too stubborn to die," Molly replies after a moment. "You gonna be okay?" She manages to stagger to her feet. "If so, c'mon. One more try. And if that goes south, I'm coming back with a bunch of C4." She extends a hand to Ellie, as much to help the younger mage to her feet as to reestablish contact.

[Ellie James] Ellie rubbed at the bruised-feeling back of her skull, and then took Molly's hand as she stood. "Definitely investing in Excedrin..." She squeezed Molly's fingers gently. "Force or C4, it's coming down."

[Molly Quincannon] "Not much fun, is it?" Molly, a veteran of Paradox backlash, smiles a little. "It fades. C'mon. Let's do this thing."

[[One! More! Time! As before, diff 4.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 2 (Failure at target 4)

[Molly Quincannon] [[And we're at diff 5...]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 2 (Botch x 1 at target 5)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Paradox for Molly]]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[*whimper*]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 4 (Failure at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] It's probably a bad idea to do magic when you're as sore hurt as Molly is. She has time, barely, to disengage Ellie from the rote-gone-bad before she lets out a choked noise that would have been a scream in other circumstances, her nose starts bleeding again and she just plain passes out.

[Ellie James] Ellie had just enough warning - Molly letting go of her hand - to realize that something's wrong, right before the elder Mage hit the floor. She can't move fast enough to catch her friend, or pad her head, but she quickly kneels beside Molly and does that little cursory head-check everyone learns in CPR before pulling Molly's head into her lap.

"This prolly wasn't what you had in mind when you asked me to join you, huh?" She can ask the question now, because Molly can't hear her.
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8 (Success x 1 at target 3)

[Molly Quincannon] It takes a few minutes - thankfully they remain unmolested by the bit of Umbral nasty further down the tunnel (perhaps it's scared of them; imagine what it'd do to them now) - but Molly finally regains consciousness. "...that one was me." The words are more or less a groan. "I cut you out of it before you got hit, right?"

[Ellie James] Ellie cradled Molly's head, paranoid enough to keep an eye out on that nasty, and thankfully it didn't come back. Finally, Molly woke, and Ellie craned her head forward to peer into Molly's eyes - not that she was really in any position to see if her friend had a concussion.

"Thank you... I hope you're going to live... Nathan wouldn't be very fond of me otherwise..."

[Molly Quincannon] "Told you. Too stubborn to die." She tries to get up and manages on the second try or so. "Fuck it. I'm giving it one more try. I've had a good nap. That ought to help. And as long as you weren't hit, I'm good with that." Never mind the nosebleed, never mind the unsteadiness on her feet, and certainly never mind the bruises that appear to be inching up the neckline of her T-shirt. Molly is going to shut this thing down, and she still wants Ellie to help. She holds out her hand again. "Let's get it done."

[[Whether Ellie's helping or not, we are rolling. Diff back to 4, spending recently-regained WP.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 5 (Success x 2 at target 4) [WP]

[Ellie James] Ellie stood up as Molly did, and caught up her friend's hand. "We'll deal."
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7 (Success x 2 at target 3) [WP]

[Molly Quincannon] [[One more time, diff up to 5, blowing another quint to bring it down to 4]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 4)

[Ellie James] [do it again, with FEELING (and WP)]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3 (Success x 1 at target 4) [WP]

[Molly Quincannon] [[Paradox for Ellie]]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 3, 6 (Failure at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Paradox for Molly]]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] [[Soak]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 5, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] Molly screams a word - it's bastardised Latin, but beyond that, it's impossible to parse. In any case, the last bit of the word is drowned out by the groan and creak of stone under pressure, and the cave roof in front of them caves in, scattering their boots in pebbles but leaving them entirely unscathed. The monstrosity is sealed in, and will likely die a slow, painful death of starvation ... or just go mad trapped down there for all eternity. And the street people are a little safer, now.

Molly ... is not safer. Molly is back on the ground in an unconscious heap. As Ellie recalls from Molly's take-down of the crypt, even successful vulgar magic hurts, though it seems to have passed Ellie by this time.

[Ellie James] Ellie squeaked and ducked as the roof of the old tunnel trap caved in. She kept her head covered until the pinging stones stopped raining on them. She looked up, and looked for Molly, ready to cheer their success. Only, instead, she saw her friend on the floor, looking rather like an abused ferret toy.

"Shit, Molly..." She settled on her ass again, closer to Molly, and tugged a tissue out of a jacket pocket to dab at the blood on Molly's face.

[Molly Quincannon] It takes longer for Molly to come 'round this time. This is probably not surprising, but at least there's less to worry about in terms of 'things coming to eat them'. But, after Ellie's cleaned Molly's face and fretted for a few minutes, Molly finally twitches and lets out a tiny little groan. Clearly, she's been abused past the point of all good sense, and the next few days aren't going to be very much fun.

What she says? "I ... have hurt ... worse than this. Somehow ... that ... is comforting."

[Ellie James] Ellie very, very carefully hugged Molly when her friend finally woke up.

"It's not as comforting as you might think..." She sounds a bit weepy - blames it on the dust getting in her eyes - and smiles down at Molly. "Still want ribs?"

[Molly Quincannon] Molly hugs back - bruises notwithstanding, there's no reluctance or going easy on herself. "Great Google, yes," she says. "If you seriously think either of us are cooking after we brought down a fucking subway tunnel? You're out of your tree. C'mon." She manages to get into a standing position and uses her quarterstaff as a walking stick. She had been before, but only for show; now, she needs it. "Big dinner. Ribs and chicken and two kinds of dessert. Damn, I'm hungry, and we earned it; job well done. And hell, I figure if you can go through this crap with me and still be up for more, you're definitely Stormwatch material. I love being right."

That done, battered and bruised (one more than the other) but generally triumphant, the two residents of the garage known as Fort Q go for celebratory barbecue dinner. Perhaps they get stared at by the waiters, but the waiters are summarily told, "We kicked ass. We're being quiet and not hurting anybody. Stop looking at us like we've grown extra heads, please, or there might have to be managerial involvement."

No, even when that battered (especially not when that battered), Molly doesn't take bullshit. So they get left alone to nom in peace.