Mayhem and Mind

[Lucien Anders] There was no Raven spirit to fetch them this time: It was too risky to potentially reveal the location of the kid they were guarding, after all. So the eccentric, ugly little troll of a Euthanatos finds an alternate means of getting the word out to the ladies that a meeting is required:

Molly is out shopping - perhaps for coconut flavoured chap stick, among other things? - when she passes a beat up, vandalized public telephone: The receiver still hangs on the line, though and that's enough for Lucien's purposes. To anyone else passing by the ringing sounds as anyone might expect: A loud and rather annoying classic trill. But the the Ecstatic it sounds like trilling interpretation of a certain Irish folk song: Like a MIDI played with old fashioned phone bells. Certainly enough to catch her interest: Answer me!.

When she does his message is simple: "Same crab shack. Three days from now, round sunset. Bring whoever c'n make it, Mary, but don't leave the kid untended -- and don't bring the kid!" The last part is probably not needed, but, hey, he's old and cantankerous and paranoid. And possibly not entirely sane.

So that same closed-for-the-season restaurant is where he waits for them. Inside this time: With dim flickering candlelight from the oil lamps on the table, that smell of closed-up building so near a major body of water. This time there's an added scent: Pizza. A classic deep dish Chicago affair along with a box of Ho-Hos, set up on the bar top. Isn't he nice to provide such thoughtful refreshment?

[Molly Quincannon] Molly did some canvassing when she got back to the Lafette - Callista was busy, and Elizabeth wasn't going to be leaving Regina alone, so yet again it was Molly and Kim (the Squeeful Euthie and The Little Search Engine That Could) heading down to the closed-for-the-season crab shack.

Molly has Dressed Up. Nothing outright stupid - no pencil skirts or stupid heels or (Kibo forbid!) excessive makeup - but she has Dressed Up. There is a black skirt, velvet, that hugs her hips a bit and flares out from upper thighs to knee. There is a top that shows actual cleavage (if not all that much, as Molly's rack follows the 'more than a handful's wasted' line). Her hair is up, there's tinted lipgloss (cranberry, for the record) and she smells of cyclamen and spices. In deference to eight-degree weather, she's also wearing tights and a scarf. And no, she has not abandoned her glasses.

That's Molly being thoughtful. She doesn't necessarily want him to think she's beautiful, exactly, nor is she coming onto him. She just thinks he's worth the effort and wants to tell him so in more than words. And so she does, and she has.

So, with Kim behind her or beside her or however, she looks over the pizza and the Ho-Hos and, with a smile of absolute delight, she says - teasing, of course - "...Marry me."

[Kimberly Jenkins] Kim was tired. Tired of the kid, tired of her Quiet, tired of the boat, tired of Molly, tired of Liz, tired of sleeping in a hammock, tired of not knowing what was going on, tired of waiting. Ultimately though, her own feelings were irrelevant, and she'd managed to keep up a cheerful facade throughout. She'd even tried and reached out to the kid, though it took her two or three attempts before figuring out she didn't like guns. But eventually Kim figured out, and a tenuous sort of connection was made. It was a start, Kim thought.

Kim was dressed, appropriately. The torn brown jacket (the other one) had been crudely sown back together (all the while she muttered about not being able to have nice things) and it covered and obscured her body enough to fit her needs. A pair of jeans, a little bit of make-up, brown hair with an increasingly length of blonde roots pulled back in a pony-tail. She looked good, but that was part of it, she needed to look good. In those blue eyes it showed. She hoped this would be over soon.

"Hey."

[Lucien Anders] Lucien has no foibles about appreciating the female form. He also tries to maintain a certain amount of 'dirty-old-lecher' air to his rep, don't you know? Those who are sharp, though, notice he rarely leers over fellow Mages, no matter their level of 'Enlightenment'. Oh, he'll still look: But he doesn't ogle, he addresses the eyes, that kind of thing. It's a respect thing: He's no saint and he's not a pleasant man much of the time. He's crude, vulgar, ugly, rather smelly from smoking Pall Malls like each one may be his last. But he doesn't leer over these two women:
He appreciates.
He even smiles slightly [never mind it being somewhat marred by the regrettable state of his teeth] for Molly: Lookin' good, dollie. It says with openness.
He watches Kim closely: And nods in a manner that - if Kim catches on to it - denotes understanding.

Marry me, gets a surprised laugh: Or what passes for it. More of a bark then a hack and then a weeze. He looks more tired: But set. He looks, Kim will know especially, the way people too long into this kind of lifestyle look when the real battle is soon to be engaged. Looming. There's a grimness: But it's also a welcomed grimness. Welcoming action.
Hoping for resolution [absolution].

"Ya don't tease a'shark, Mary. I just might fuckin' up n' bite." A snap of his teeth: It's tired but the... affection? Is there.

"C'mon, siddown. Ya'll got the kid -- oh," He reaches behind the counter and pulls out a rumpled paper airplane, "Sweet little move, doll." A gruff [chesty, weezy] sound of amusement. "Ya'll got the kid. N'the other pieces are in play. Mostly. Some decided t'hold out on what they found," A dark look passes his features a scowl forming, those watery, buggy eyes narrowing. It passes. He pushes it back and goes on. "But we're still good t'go so it time ta lay it out."

He's lighting up a smoke while he waves to the 'geek feast' indicating for them to help themselves. "Need t'know, though: What's the kids schtick? What's she manifested?"

[Molly Quincannon] Molly responds to the tease with a fond sort of grin, and that grows to another delighted sort of smile (sometimes she's such a kid) when he holds up the airplane. "Thanks," she says...

...And then business begins. Molly had a chat with Callista, she recalls, prior to the rescue mission. A name had come up. "...Ashley?" It's a question. It's a guess. "She ... wasn't happy about just up and destroying the Sending, or so I hear."

Then as to what Regina's manifested ... there's a look. Sympathy and pain - not Molly's pain, precisely, but the pain that comes from being unable to do more than palliate in a situation where she wants to heal. "Life, mostly," she says. "She's ... she goes into these moments where she's convinced that everyone is bleeding, hurting, and throws out Life magic whether anyone needs healing or not. That causes some problems if there aren't injuries to start with, and I don't know how I'm going to explain the mould on the carpets to Atlas when he comes back." Yes, it's when. Speaking of... "This is going to get them back, isn't it? I mean, that's part of the next step, right? What is the next step, anyhow?"

[Kimberly Jenkins] The understanding. She's different. Changed. She doesn't know the physical manifestations yet, those will take time and distance for her recognize. By that time it will be far too late to do anything about them, but they are hers just the same. A terrible threshold was crossed, a sacred rite undertaken in a most careless sort of way, she doesn't even know many times it was crossed. Kim hadn't given more thought to it than was necessary, the need to kill was part of her business and it was bound to happen sooner or later. She knew not to be proud of it, but she was. She (probably) saved someone's life. Her childhood heroes would find no fault in that.

Lucien. There would be words. There needed to be. But that would wait. She is discreet.

In response to the question asked, she just shakes her and shrugs, silently concurring with Molly. She too wants to know, what next?

[Lucien Anders] "She wanted to use what she, Alex and cat-boy found like a damned bargaining tool to force me to help her use it to talk to It." A sure indication that Lucien is serious - and actually gives a damn about something - is when his speech clears up. He rolls his shoulders: You'd think him calm and uncaring were it not for the simple dichotomy. "I wouldn't play. She n' Scar Face got pissy at each other. Bad blood all around."

Exhaling through his nose, the plumes of smoke rising, "It's done with. I knew better than to send those three off without some backup measures." And that is all. He doesn't dress like a businessman but he knows how and when to get down to business. To keep it to business.

Listening about the kid the older Euthanatos looks: Wearier if it's possible. Beyond that, contemplative. "Ain't all the time though, yeah? She got lucid moments?"

Then, "Next step is to lay and set the trap." And he goes on to explain: With the help of a book Ward and co located and retrieved Lucien has figured out how he can unravel the Sending. Deconstruct the Construct as gently as possible for the sake of the Avatar Shards it holds trapped. To do this they'll have to disable the Sendings ability to block their Avatars. A Magic Circle will accomplish this but the problem is that the Sending can try to breach the Circle, which counts as being attacked. To prevent that they'll have to use the Sendings own Rules - all Spirits have Rules and Laws that bind them, he makes sure to clarify - to keep it from doing that long enough to enact the ritual.
The item Ashley and co found held the Resonance of the original intended target the Sending was designed for: The Sending will be compelled to remain in its presence to deliver and retrieve messages. The kid Molly, Kim and the others found will bind the Sending all the more: Faced with the crime of forcing an Awakening on a child will go against the very essence of the person who created It, too much to be ignored what its own insane agendas.

Which brings them to the matter that makes Lucien cringe just slightly before he's back to a slightly sour expression of readiness and fatigue. "It means the kid has to face the Sending again. But this time she'll be protected. Still... fuckin' dick move to pull on a kid, ain't no other way around it." He doesn't like it. He isn't proud of it.
You use the tools you have.
"You'll have to warn the kid. And Liz, too. Shit goes south I'll get the kid out before anyone else..." and he means it... but that doesn't change the underlying loathing of possibly putting a child in harms way.

Belatedly, "Unraveling the Construct will unravel what holds yer friends in a pocket realm in the Umbra. Once that's done they c'n make their way or or be retrieved or yeah..." He too speaks like this will happen. He's wise enough [kind enough?] to keep to himself any doubts he may have that they are alive to be retrieved.

[Molly Quincannon] Molly listens, and no, she doesn't like the idea of Regina having to face the Sending again either, but ... "Any chance that this confrontation might help snap her out of the Quiet? I'm not really an expert at this kind of thing, but sometimes they say that revisiting the scene or source of a trauma can ... really help." Oh no, not an expert - just had first-hand experience ... though at least as an adult.

She nods at the concept of getting the kid out before anyone else, and adds, "You'll have the time you need to do it, too, if it does go south. And I'll warn Elizabeth first, and then we'll talk to Regina, the ... three of us?" This with a querying look at Kim - it's asking if she wants to be in on that conversation, but not trying to force it. "We'll warn her, anyway. I just hope I don't have to break out the butterscotch pudding." Lucien won't know what it means. Kim does, and both can hear how much she means it, either way.

Then, the last. "What does someone need to be able to get out of an Umbral pocket? Or to retrieve them? 'Cos I don't know how many people are in there with spirit know-how and it'd be helpful to know some criteria so I know who to ask for help getting them out if out-getting is required."

[Kimberly Jenkins] Kim digests this slowly. Intense eyes look over at Molly for a long moment as she decided whether or not she can in good faith push this conversation concerning the fate of the kid onto her. Ultimately, she can't, so she nods in agreement.

"I'll help, though you should do most of the talking."

It is a fair assessment. Kim's view of her charge is the same view she has of all her charges. Each is special in their own way (in the same way that she isn't), and each has an eventual Destiny to fulfill (in the same way she doesn't). What happens to the kid is what's going to happen to the kid, for better or worse. Which is not what you want the kid (or Liz) to hear.

[Kimberly Jenkins] Something then occurs to her which hadn't occured to her before. Rules, there are always rules. And while rules may made to be broken, they are also made, to be written down. Which leads to a question.

"Can I have a copy of these rules?"

[Lucien Anders] "It might," he says in response to Molly's question. "I can't say for sure. It's been know ta happen: 'Specially if the Quiet ain't too far gone. Even if it doesn't? I know someone who c'n work with her: It's still salvageable." He quirks his lips: Appologetic but confident, too.

Then, "The umbral trap should go one'a two ways: When it goes unstable they get ejected Real Side... or they just enter the Near Umbra itself, where the pocket is tied. Astral Realms: The pocket realm is tied t'dreams n' memories I think. If it's 'b' then they c'n be tracked by anyone who has something t'find 'em by and some Spirit know-how. Think you 'n Ward c'n handle that if that's what it takes."

Kim asks for a copy of the rules... and Lucien laughs: Not at her but at the impossibility of what she's asked for. "Ain't no one copy. The rules change depending on brood on level of self-awareness n'all manner. But there's some broad basics. But f'r later, eh?" His gaze on Kimberly is level. Assessing. "I imagine ya want some words with me anyway, doll. After this shit is handled I'll make time fer it. Besides," a mild snort, "Gotta pay ya anyway."

Taking a piece of the pizza he goes on, "Kim, I'm gonna need ya to cause a fuss away from where this'll go down. Somethin' big 'nough t'pull up resources or a lotta little things. Think you c'n do that?" Then, to Molly, "You got skill with Mind, Mary? C'n use anyone with the ability t'amp up the feel'a a Resonance to be on hand t'do that when this goes down. An' yer a techy, too, so won't hurt if'n ya set up some mayhem t'keep cops n' 'Crats off'a us."

[Molly Quincannon] After a moment's thought, she asks, "Would someone need spirit know-how to buck the fate-odds in the direction of option A? 'Cos I figure it's worth a shot, if I can grab Solomon ahead of time. Maybe he'll bend his thing about bending fate just this once, considering the cause. And yeah, I can do all that. Mayhem and Mind? Sounds fun. Is the whole 'martial law' thing good for us as a distraction, or bad for us as in 'that's where it's going down', or ... negotiable?" She shrugs. "They've already got resources out there. May as well use that if that's not going to be a problem. Or ... would that just give them an excuse to stick around more? 'Cos not sure I want that either. But then, if I cause ruckus somewhere else, wouldn't that give them an excuse to spread their net?" Then she gives a self-deprecating chuckle and says, "We'll work something. I'm good at distractions. And I don't even have to be there with a big stick and a stupid battle cry to do it."

[Kimberly Jenkins] She isn't sure about mayhem. Maybe she'll call it something else. She needs details. But first, Molly gets a pointed look. And then a friendly smile.

"We'll need to be subtle, I think. Where do you want people pulled away from?"

Kim's learned her lesson already, don't go into anything with these people without a plan. This was going to require a lot of thinking and a lot of worrying. They'll have to careful.

"And how soon do we have to prepare?"

[Lucien Anders] -He'll see if there's something he can swing with the pocket realm, but he tells her it's unlikely: Not with the limitations he has. (He's a Master: Working anything too powerful - especially Umbral stuff from the 'real world' can very well destroy him). He does press that option 'b' really isn't a bad one.

Diversions:
-He'll show them a map with where he wants this to happen.
- The martial law is due to be lifted on Friday. Saturday night is when they'll move in to the area that was the worst hit by the tornado, earthquakes/etc. It's mostly all wreckage there and so Sleeper interference should be minimal. Both authorities and innocent bystanders.
- He's open about whatever diversionary tactics they choose but suggests things like messing with communications for authorities, power outages, bomb threats. Non lethal, non combative methods that cause disorder and confusion away from the area they'll be in.
- If supplies are needed he can provide funds if not supplies themselves and he has a way of being able to, ah, commandeer things on short notice.