SNAFU and Spaghetti

[Atlas Mason] It was a fairly infrequent event for Atlas to come to Molly's these days. Keeping the Lafette out of the technocracies hands, and off their scopes took up half of his time, the other half was buried in plan's to thwart them, and destroy them. But today was different, even if half of their cabal was unavailable, or unwilling to come together for a meet, Atlas and Molly still made the effort to do so.

So today Atlas arrives at a prearranged time and strikes the buzzer, careful not to knock on the door, lest he be electrified. He carries a six pack of beer in one hand, an offering of food for their gathering. He stands there for a moment, and then looks up at the camera that he knows is there before looking back at the door, waiting to get in out of the frigid cold of january.

[Atlas Mason] [Per+Aware]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 5, 6, 8, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[Molly Quincannon] Molly turns up at the door after a couple of moments; she's changed into jeans but is still wearing her pyjama top (flannel, printed with pictures of sushi) unbuttoned over a sports bra when she steps aside to let Atlas in. "Hey! Come in before you freeze to death, okay? I've got spaghetti sauce simmering and awesome alliteration. And garlic bread warming, but that didn't alliterate so well." She divests him of his bag so he can get his coat off (and of course peers into it to see what it contains) and shuts the door behind him.

The sense of recently cast magic is evident to Atlas from the moment he crosses the threshold. The place has been warded - still is warded. There's been Correspondence, Forces and two other Spheres of magic that he can't entirely identify by feel thrown around the place, behind that ward, like crazy in the last recent while. The fact that Molly might still give off such things after the massive baffle she cast over the Asylum isn't surprising, but it should have faded by now. This has grown. This is recent.

"So how's things? I know you got away from the Asylum more or less okay, and it all went reasonably well your end, but ... you okay, anyway?"

[Atlas Mason] Atlas steps within and looks about curiously. The presence of the ward was not unexpected, but the sheer immensity of it was something he had not expected. And he took a few moments examining the area, as if his own eyes could take in the wards, the way they have been woven and built, stacked upon each other.

He moves threw to the seating area, bean bags and couchs present as always and takes another moment before seating himself, his gaze at last cast to Molly directly, a slight smile crossing his lips. "All required and projected mission convergence requirements were met, exceeded and concluded with minimal loss of materiel and chemical biological personages of allied intent." He says with a pleasant look upon his face, pleased with the outcome it seems, despite the trail of bodies he left behind. "The depletion of my level two anti-personage explosive devices however is unacceptable, and at a near juncture necessary time units will be allocated to the restocking of afformented devices."

He pauses then and seems to nod to himself, as if he were ticking something of a list. "And your personage Molly? You are at this precise juncture operating at nominal capacity in all aligned facets of chemical biological existence?"

[Molly Quincannon] Molly grins a little at the question and says, "At this precise juncture, yes, I'm fine. But that's entirely down to Israel. I'd be a total mess if it hadn't been for her turning up with healing charms. They ... kind of threw electricity at my brain," she explains. "The result wasn't fun or pretty but I held the line until I passed out." The overall mood from her is not chagrin or lingering fear; it's pride. She held the line until she literally couldn't. Fine, she still has issues with Solomon piggy-backing her ward, but that's not for the here and now.

Then she chuckles and wrinkles her nose a bit - not disapproving but more in a sympathetic sort of wince. "Ah, yeah, I heard about the grenades. I hesitate to say 'nice work' knowing what we actually had to do in the end, but... Yeah." She offers him his bag-o-six-pack back for him to help himself and carries on with, "So what've you been up to? Besides pondering the restock?"

[Atlas Mason] "Beyond the immediate restock of provisions and materiel, I have simultaneously been undertaking post temporal element action analysis, attempting to extrapolate possible scenarios for future use as well as possible improvements to utilized personages and equipment. In addition the preparation of several contingency technocratic insurgence deterrent and negation devices have maintained a hold upon all primary, secondary, and teritary temporal units, with only marginal side lines for necessary biological structural maintenance and societal interactivity."

He says as he at last sits down and pulls out two beers, a bottle opener being produced from his pocket and two metal caps clink to the coffee table top as he sets one down beside the other in perfect alignment. If he had any remorse over the horrible dismemberment and termination of the technocratic agents, it does not show. Much like his reaction to the lives of nephandic individuals perhaps he really found no need for it.

[Molly Quincannon] "Might want to throw in a contingency protocol for involvement by the Rogue Council." Molly calls this from the kitchen, where she's dishing up spaghetti and garlic bread. Returning to the main living area with two plates, she hands one to Atlas and says, "We've already had their direct involvement, if on a footing of not all that much trust thus far, once already in relation to this Mirrorshade crap. There's going to be more, too, and whether they're actively stirring the pot or just flushing the rats out of their holes by accident, the Rogue Council is definitely a factor and will continue to be." She knows this. There's no question of this being a guess or a future-scry (truths foreseen, she's said, are not always truths, and the last time she future-scried, she gave all three contingencies and made sure to flag up how malleable all of them were likely to be). She knows.

Then, after dropping that little info-bomb, she goes back to the kitchen and returns with a bowl of garlic bread to share. "Well, I'm glad that you're making time for physical needs and facetime. Especially when it means that I get company." She snags a bit of garlic bread and munches, happy enough to let him take the conversation in whatever direction he felt like. Which is something, for Molly, given as how she'd generally be asking questions one on top of the other right around now. But she's been busy, and she's tired.

[Atlas Mason] Atlas doesn't carry the conversation immediately, instead he takes a few moments to enjoy the meal Molly had prepared, tasting the spaghetti with a scientists precision before digging in, he does much the same with the garlic bread, and then at last the beer he purchased, when he had sampled and found everything satisfactory he nodded with a slight smile and did indeed come back to the conversation at hand.

"I am integrally activated noospherically, based upon an internal inquiry as to what precise usage the syphoned etheric energy from the etheric singularity stream will have, or if its primary amounts were simply dissipated upon acquisition." He says casually as he takes another sip of beer. "The acquisition of a quantity of that energy would increase productivity of several manufacturing cues by several factors."

Its then that he jumps to another topic, related but not all together in the same stream of thought. One such project has instigated an internalized societal based ethics and methods conflict with my noospheric reality matrix, of which I am having problem finalizing."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly thinks about that, then says, "We didn't keep any of it. Israel, Emily and Ashley ... sort of ... I don't get entirely how this works, but they ... earthed it, I guess. It's going to end up being picked up by the local plantlife. Kibo knows what effect that'll have, but ... it's going to make some people raise some eyebrows, let me tell you. Beyond that, I don't really know. Neither Israel nor I were in any shape to talk about it much, for one reason and another, and all I know is they haven't got it and neither do we, in any form."

Then, a raised eyebrow. "So what's the conflict? Maybe I can give a different perspective on it."

[Atlas Mason] Atlas looks slightly disappointed as Molly reveals the fate of all that energy, but he seems to shrug it off and not be too bothered with it after another sip of his beer. "Unfortunate, however in some metaphysically based philosophical and ideologically based systems such an event would be considered to acquire and disseminate an advantagous aberrant effect upon those individuals who perpetrated and committed to such an act of choice." He seems to let it go and then looks to Molly with a critical eye.

"When designing and manufacturing certain devices it is of course necessary to utilize proper ethics and practices protocols and procedural methodology. The device I am currently devising is of significant power levels and decimating capability that it ranks as a catagory six weaponized platform." He pauses for a moment and seems to need to explain. "A nuclear fission controlled detonation device such as the device utilized upon the geo-political locality of Hiroshima was categorized as a level eight weaponized platform. I have not considered the application and development of any weaponized unit beyond level three since the initial design of the Lafette. I am intrinsically required to be at conflict with the introduction of such a platform to the current temporal situation within this urbanized center. And the possibility of its acquistion by opposing and aberrant factors active within the city."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly blinks and pulls some of her old high school history classes out of her head, and then does some mental arithmetic. "Um ... yeah, that's what I'd call 'overkill'. I mean, I know it won't be Little-Boy-level nuketastic or anything, but that's more than you need to level a building. Hell, that's more than you need to level a city block. It's fine if we're talking about some abandoned building in some abandoned district on the city's edge, but what happens if the next target is within a half-mile of a residential area, or a school?" Then she tilts her head at him curiously. "You know your way around Matter and Forces; how are you on Entropy? Because with those three, you could probably come up with a much more directed and pinpoint weapon. Either find the weak spot of the particular building and then hit that with pinpoint precision, or weaken the structure you're trying to take down first. Then you don't need such a heavy duty piece of weaponry and you still manage to take out the target you want with the minimum of collateral damage. At least, that's how I figure it. Sure, you don't want that tech to get into Mirrorshade hands either, but at least it's more portable and there's less chance of bystanders getting squished."

[Atlas Mason] Atlas considers this but shakes his head. "The understanding of probability mechanics is not something that I have as of this temporal juncture integrated and theorized upon. Precision target acquisition was to be aided and completed via the utilization of field dynamics and spatial recognition theories. Which would allow for necessarily precise termination of facilities or other unknown quantities. In addition the devices positioning within geostationary orbit would eliminate the factor of possible line of sight error's and collateral. These particulars are not the cause of the concern, given that this devices power output may be scaled, it is its existence that qualifies for concern and debate."

He says gesturing as he does so, he knew he should have brought his schematics with him, but of course he just had to leave those on the lafette, well away from any spatial gapping devices.

[Molly Quincannon] ".............It's in orbit?!? Man, I hope it looks like space debris. Though if it's in geosynchronous orbit with Chicago... Yeah, I don't really like the idea of any weapon that can be - that, in fact, has to be - accessed remotely, pointed at Chicago. Yeah, I'd say that's a concern." Molly's a veteran at hacking things with remote access. She doesn't doubt Atlas' firewalls or his ability to hide things (xref: the Lafette), but... "Particularly given that they're activelly looking for areas they can't scan. If they're any kind of paranoid, they might try looking up, up and away as much as they do on the ground. Why...? No, never mind, I get why. I just think it's dangerous for too many of the wrong people, is all. But I'd need a look at the schematics to make a judgement call on what it does, so I'll put that part aside. The point about it being in space and you ... not being in space ... that stands."

[Atlas Mason] "If that is a requirement, then we shall leave this issue of ethical quandary in the semi permanent state of active, I shall continue manufacture, but refrain from deployment of the device until your noospheric reality matrix is capable of actualizing and identifying the quality of the device." There a compromise for the time being, besides who knows when a miniature doomsday device might come in handy right?

That settled for now, Atlas settles back into munching on the food that Molly had made, he certainly seems to enjoy it, or perhaps he simply hasnt been eating a whole lot since he had begun working so feverishly upon his various projects, he didn't look strung out or tired, but then....who knew where Atlas was concerned.

For the moment, he seems content with allowing conversation to halt, in lieu of food.

[Molly Quincannon] Molly's not a pacifist by any means. She has, in fact, racked up a (paltry by comparison with some, but still existent) body count. It doesn't sit well with her exactly, the fact that she has personally caused death, but she can deal with it. Anything that merits the name 'doomsday device', though? That evidently gets her back up. Still, she gives a nod to the compromise, agreeing quietly. After all, she's curious to see the damn thing. And is more than a little relieved to know that it's not already in orbit.

Conversation halts and, from Molly's side at least, stays halted for awhile as Atlas eats. One might not be able to tell with Atlas whether he was tired or strung out, but Molly's in energy conservation mode, given that she intends to spend tonight doing ... well, yet more of what she did last night. And when a Cultist has a tiring night, it's not always all about partying or sex. Or bloody warfare. She spends awhile eating and debating how best to put something - because giving out information is in her very bones, but she hasn't got too much to give yet - and then settles for, "I'm working an investigative lead, by the way. Should have something more concrete tomorrow, but we might be in for a bit more SNAFU."

[Atlas Mason] Atlas blinks when Molly breaks the momentary silence to reveal some form of informational gathering topic, and then she utilizes the acronym SNAFU, and that raises his brow. "For what purpose do you utilize the afformentioned derivative term, situation normal: All fucked up?" He inquires, perhaps its a surprise that he even knows what it mean's but there it is regardless.

"What particular instance and subject lines have required the deployment of such a term, of which original utilization was based and transfered during negatively affected militaristic deployment and actualization missions?" He cant's his head to the side slightly, giving Molly a sidelong look before taking a swig of beer to clear his throat.

[Molly Quincannon] Molly smiles a little at Atlas' reaction to the term. "Oh, stuff like SNAFU and FUBAR are all over the internet. If there's one thing that netspeak adopts like crazy, it's acronyms. And I say SNAFU because, let's face it, our version of 'situation normal' is generally pretty fucked up anyway. Particularly when it involves encounters with Rogue Council and Technocracy and ending up right in the middle."

She swigs her beer and sighs. "Basically, I ran into some ... people when I was walking home from bojutsu last night. Something about people with really intense resonances pacing on the front porch of a house in that weather? Tends to catch the eye. But she didn't read my resonance as easy as I read hers. Why do people threaten to kill me in lieu of 'hello', by the way? Do I have that kind of face?" This, apparently, just for information. "Anyway, someone with more on the ball sixth-sense wise stopped the rabid chick from pulling the gun she was packing, and I ended up confronted with three -- sorry, four people, one of whom has that 'see me not, remember me not' thing that always gives me a headache. They were talking about being under orders from the Rogue Council and mostly done but a Technocrat got away from them and he's still roaming the city somewhere. I'm pulling up details on the cabal in question - as much as I can, but three out of four ain't bad and the other guy I can't even remember facial detail; just a name and a Trad, which I can't exactly enter into Google - and I did a check to see what they were doing in that house. Apparently it's where the Technocrat went to ground, and they did a look-see but tonight I'm going to scry a little further back and find out what Mister Runaway Mirrorshade was doing in there. That's why..." She gestures idly at the space around herself, probably indicating the resonance. "Nathan came by earlier and first thing he asked was why I felt like I'd been lobbing magic around here like Pollack lobbed paint at canvases."

Another swig of beer, and then she sighs. "I still need to get the rest of the data, analyse and compile, and then it'll be ready for public consumption. Until then, it's got to be the basics. But I'll get an update to you as soon as I have it."

[Atlas Mason] Atlas takes this in, wondering at the implications, his own mind was already spinning up, but the spin cycle was short, because Molly was right, there wasn't much information to go on. He rubbed his chin, the light stubble present there scratching lightly against the skin of his palm.

"This information is of a perturbing and distress inducing nature.. That this unsanctioned and un-policed conglomerative political grouping is exhibiting this much intrinsic power within this urbanized focal point. Given concurrent data not providing sufficient basis for a hypothesis to determine intent." He doesn't seem to like that they are so involved, not when they were so damn shadowy, but there wasnt much he could do, he simply nodded. "Packet distribution would be positively noted upon compilation. In addendum opinions and projected scenarios would be appropriate."

He then takes a long moment to stare at Molly's face, openly and inquisitively his sea blue eyes flicking across it for several moments before he shakes his head. "The osseus structural construction as well as dermal and musculature of your facial structure does not evoke any distinct or linked desire to utilize force to alter or terminate your personage, general characteristics and preferences would indicate towards a positive response instead."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly addresses the last bit first, smiling at him and saying, "That's the nicest and most detailed compliment in awhile. Thank you!" She's got a lot better at taking compliments that in any way touch on her appearance, it must be said, and it helps that the whole thing was more along the lines of ressuring her that no, she did not have a face that people love to shoot at. "At least it makes me feel better about going out in public." Teasing, of course.

Then she goes on to the more serious stuff with a sigh. "Yeah, I know. I'd give you more if I had it, but I haven't yet. There's only so much scrying I can do without a break, and I hit that limit pretty hard last night. Going to push for it again tonight too, though. All good things in time. Plus they have the cellphone number I give to people I'm not entirely sure I trust but have to hear from sometimes anyway, and they said they'd keep in touch. I might, for once, get as much from them as I do from my own sources, once they're done running around unaccountable. Still, no harm in covering all the bases. Anyway, more detail as I have it."

With that and a final swig of her beer, she thinks of something a little more R&R-related to discuss. "Oh, hey, I did some repair work on the TARDIS - there was an incident with black ice and a Christmas tree, but you wouldn't know it to look now - but I was thinking about a bit more kick to the engine and figured you'd be the man to talk to - remembering that I'd like to maintain external structural integrity and appearance and have no desire to break the sound barrier." (Yes, sometimes Atlas-speak is contagious.) "I was thinking--"

From then on, it's two of Chicago's technomancers talking ... mostly mundane mechanics.