Unknown Armies - IC

Started by Kythia, August 13, 2013, 07:22:38 PM

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Kythia

#50
Back room of the King's Head Pub

Bran


The door leads in to another bar area, though the fridges in here are unstocked and what few glasses are behind the bar are grey with dust.  Presumably the King's Head's few patrons have never necessitated having both room open.

Chairs sit on tables around the edge of the room, cleared out of the way to accommodate the large wooden table that dominates the centre.  Ronald sits in a high backed chair the twin of the one in the room you just left, alone at the head of the table.  A large portrait of a man in some sort of historical garb - Elizabethan? - hangs on the wall behind him.  His granddaughter sits to his right, Mabel to his left while the two other men sit further down the table, spare seats between them and the three at the head.  As when you found yourself standing for his exit, you can't bring yourself to think the arrangement is accidental.  You're greeted by assorted nods and "sit yourself down, lad"s and Ron gestures to a chair far down the table from himself.

"You have any luck with your internetting, lad?"  He doesn't pause for a reply.  "We've had a wee chat while you were searching, like, and decided what the deal is.  I told you I'd be straight with you, but, so that's what I'm going to do.

First, we don't think this is going to last forever.  Your..." he frowns then waves a hand, "you know, lad, your situation.  The details of which escape me at the moment, like.  So there's option one, but.  You might be able to just sit and wait it out.  No idea how long that'll take, like, but I'd be surprised if it was forever.

There's a problem there though lad.  And that's a problem we're gaun it on a few times like.  Someone went to a load of effort to do this, and there's nae guarantee that this is the final stage.  Fact, we reckon its not.  Difficult to see how making..." he snorts laughter "...how doing whatever it was that happened is a goal in itself, like.  Figure its the first stage of something, not the last.  So sitting it out could well find yourself getting into something deeper and deeper.

So your second option, and the one I prefer, like.  And that's to look in to this more.  I don't like people messing with my realm and me and mine will help you if that's what you decided to do.  Truth is, we'll struggle to investigate it without you, lad, for reasons discussed.  Problem with that option, and this is me being straight with you, is this.  Someone put a shit load of work into doing this and I divvint want to be declaring war without knowing who I'm declaring war on, but.  So for the start, my help will be below the radar, like, you with me?  Until we know a bit more about what's gaun on.

You got a third, and that's to look in to it without my help.  Divvint like that option for obvious reasons, and I reckon it'll be hard for you, like.  But its there."

He breaks in to another coughing fit for a moment and waves away concerned looks from both sides of him.

"Anyway, lad.  If you work for me you'll be working by and large with Rachel here and it'll be her that'll explain what's gaun on.  Just so as you know, like. 

You got any questions?"




Between Unit 16 and Unit 18, Fergusons Street

Nova


He jumps as you address him and wipes at his face angrily, embarrassed at you seeing him "blubbering".

"Look."  He has a nice middle class accent to go with his clothing, clipped vowels and careful pronunciation.  Probably from Newcastle, but barely a trace of an accent.  "It's not a good time right now pet.  Just fuck off yeah?"

He turns away then suddenly turns back to face you.  "Wait!  Wait, I'm sorry.  But, you can see me?  And you know the building's gone?  Oh thank Christ for that."  For a moment you think he's going to start crying again, this time in relief.

"Fuck, you wouldn't believe the day I'm having.  OK.  Look.  You win.  You made your fucking point.  I won't..."  he looks down at his feet, the gesture reminds you of a teenage boy summoning up the courage to ask a girl out.

"Fuck it.  Yeah, I won't go to the interview.  You win.  But whatever it is you've done, pet, just please..." he buries his head in his hands and you think he's started crying again.  "Just put me back."

Nova
Give me a mind check please.  Shout up in the other thread if you're not sure how[/url]
242037

Rook Seidhr

Bran seated himself in the indicated chair and listened to Percy's pitch. Of the three options, sitting on his hands and hoping Da would reappear as abruptly as he'd vanished was the least appealing. Bran was less patient than he perhaps should be, and knew it; but it just wasn't in his temperament to sit still and hope.

And if he was going to investigate, why turn down the help of someone who seemed to have at least a little notion what was going on? Even if Percy was a rheumy old codger with delusions of monarchy, he had a self-confidence that made Bran feel a little more sanguine about the chance of bringing things round right.

"Yeh," Bran said without much hesitation, "I'd be glad of your help. How do you mean to set out?"

Remiel

Norm patiently waits in line at the McDonald's.  When it comes his turn to be served, he saunters up to the counter and orders his usual: a small packet of chips.  It's the only thing, after all, that isn't laced with LSD (and have you seen the McNuggets? Do you really think that's chicken you're eating?)  He makes a point of loitering near the turbaned fellow.  "Mr...ah..Patel?" he hazards.   "Do you happen to know a..." he frowns, goes for the business card again.  "...a Michael Tannen?"

Blythe

Startled, Miyo picks up her phone and flips it open, looking at the message, and she comments, “Well, that was fast.” Miyo texts back: Thnx. Will do. -Miyo She saves the number to her contacts list under “Tannen.” Miyo looks around the McDonald's and says, “Well, I don't normally eat at places like this, but why not.” She eyeballs Patveer and admires his good looks, thinking it's a shame a fellow like that works at a fast food joint. She steps in line behind Norm and listens in, and she murmurs to both Chris and Norm, “If we're actually getting food, I'll sport for it. I don't see a reason why not.”

Kythia

Back room of the King's Head Pub

Bran


He nods and turns to Rachel who gives a professional looking smile, the kind of smile an interviewer might give.  Her quick "Good morning Bran.  I was sorry to hear about the morning you have had" did nothing to dispel that impression.

"As my grandfather has said, any aid rendered by his court must be, for the moment at least, not overt.

So let me explain.  Our opinion, largely thanks to Alf here" she nods at the one man whose name you didn't previously know, he nods at you silently "is that a significant amount of energy must have been used to, well, to create the effect.  We feel that knowing the, ah, the type of energy used would be the best first step in finding out exactly what is happening here.  Sadly, our combined knowledge isn't sufficient.

We do, however, know of someone who will possess that knowledge.  This individual refuses to acknowledge my grandfather's sovereignty.  We, obviously, wish him to do so.  We want to prove that we can, well, affect him whenever we see fit.  In short, Bran, we want you to aggravate this individual so that he loses his temper.  Repeatedly.  Two or three times should be sufficient.

What we wish is then you to confirm that you will stop doing so if he acknowledges our, my grandfather's, rule.  That is the sole thing we ask of you.  We will not, however, be stood over your shoulder.  If you choose to add additional conditions - for example, him explaining what was done to you - we will be none the wiser.

I am aware that potentially raises more questions than it answers, but I don't wish to overload you.  In brief, this individual gains a certain amount of power from various actions but an uncontrolled burst of rage will cause him to lose that.  We wish to demonstrate that we can create such a burst of rage whenever we see fit, thus draining him of his power and demonstrating our dominance.  He is rather vain, I suspect attacks on his appearance may well provoke him to a rage.

There are, Bran, skills you are not aware of.  This individual harnesses one of them.  Once we have finished this conversation I intend to show you another.  You will then have the evidence of your own eyes.

Irritating this individual will open up one line of enquiry - the type of person that was responsible for the thing that happened to you.  Hopefully the effect I shall show you later will open another - why it is you have been shielded.  I am aware you had a theory that it was my grandfather's and Mr Tannen's connection to the city that rendered them vulnerable but my own web searches revealed, as I imagine yours did, that wider sources have also been affected.

No-one here is trying to withhold information from you, but there is a lot to convey and we do not wish you to be overwhelmed.  If you have questions they will be answered, as we do not wish to appear dishonest with you.  My advice, for what little it is worth, is to wait until I have demonstrated Back Monkey.  But feel under no obligation to take this."

She glances over to Ronald who nods then takes over.

"Like the lass said, she's my Granddaughter.  This here's my sister Mabel and my brother-in-law Phillip.  Alf is, well, Alf.  I've known him since I was a lad, but.  You'll also meet my younger brother and his wife in time, like.  He's off in the library studying at the moment and she's out of town doing me a wee favour, like.  Not important what.  These people speak for me, lad.  No-one else does.  Someone claims to be giving you instructions from my mouth and they aren't one of these, they're lying.  Just so as you know where you stand, like."

People watch you expectantly.




Between Unit 16 and Unit 18, Fergusons Street

Nova


Nova

Suddenly the shock of the missing building hits you.  You're not sure how to process what's happening, why there's not a warehouse there that you know full well used to be.

You've gained a failed notch in Unnatural.  What that means for you is that your mind just takes a little holiday for a while.  That holiday takes one of three forms:

Paralysis - You stand, probably open mouthed, in shock and probably fear as you try to come to terms with the situation.

Flee - it's all too much and you run the fuck away.

Frenzy - it's all too much but instead of the "flight" of above the other shoe falls and you go for "fight".  You might not understand what has happened but by god you'll make it make sense or grind it to pulp trying.

Please pick one and use it in your next post.  Don't worry which, I've got a way of handling all of them.




McDonalds, Northumberland Street

Miyo, Norm, Chris


He looks up at you with a fake McDonald's smile which breaks in to a slightly more genuine one when Norm speaks up.  "Sure, I know him."  His gaze flicks briefly between the three of you for a moment then he holds a hand up. 

"Just wait here a moment."  He wanders over to where one of the servers is busy dealing with a harassed looking young mother - a kid held tight in each hand and a belly full of another one.  Can't be twenty one, hair up and large hoop earrings.  Shocking pink top riding up to expose a pregnant navel, black leggings straining a little under pregnant thighs.  One of the kids is crying, one picking its nose.  She's paying with nicotine stained fingers.

Slowly and deliberately he opens one of the happy meals and takes the toy out, dropping it in his pocket.  The mother stares open mouthed for a moment before launching into a foul mouthed tirade against him and soon enough "Pakis" in general.  He endures it with a smile and when he has a chance to get a word in mildly says:

"I'm Kasmiri actually.  And screaming little brats don't get a toy.  Frankly if you were any good as a parent you'd thank me but it's clear you're not.  Do you even know whose the one you're carrying is?"

She goes to slap him with a ringed hand but he's stepped back.  Other cashiers are carefully not noticing what's happening while customers stare in shock.  She launches into an even fouler mouthed tirade.  Apparently her boyfriend is a boxer and will be coming down here to fucking kick the shit out of him.  "Ma'am" he tries to interrupt a few times but is cut off each time.  Eventually a private security guard comes over and takes her gently by the arm, but she throws him off.  Pointing accusingly at Patveer and loudly informing the literally no-one in the place who didn't already know what has just happened. 

The security guard takes her arm again and mutters something you don't catch in a calming voice.  She jabs a finger aggressively at Patveer but allows herself to be guided towards the door.  After a moment she turns and snatches up the two happy meals and the McChicken Sandwich with a "I'm taking these but if you think I'm paying you're fucking mistaken, eh.  When my Robert hears about this you're fucking dead" before allowing herself to be guided out of the restaurant.  People quickly pretend they hadn't been staring while he comes back over to you, rubbing his hands in glee.

"Yeah, I know him" he picks up as if nothing had happened "Paying the wages of half the people in here.  What does he want?"
242037

Rook Seidhr

What Rachel has said makes no sense at all to Bran. In some ways it makes less sense than the disappearance of Honer's. That was an impossible physical phenomenon, and like all physical phenomena must have had some sort of cause; this is merely gibberish. Logically-constructed sentences devoid of contextual meaning.

But he's asking these people's aid. Perhaps the missing context will fall into place if he just listens long enough.

"Please, go ahead and…demonstrate the back monkey."

Ilasandra

Can I see him? Why wouldn't I be able to see him? He's right there in front of my bloody face! Nova thought to herself, her eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at the man. It wasn't really anything he had done per say, Nova's fallback emotion just so happened to be anger. So she glared at the man and hunched her shoulders up around her ears as if she was trying to ward of a cold wind, her mind racing to process what was currently going on. OK. So the building is gone and I'm currently looking at an invisible man. An invisible man I can see and a visible building which I  . . .  can't . . . see From the outside it looked as if Nova had just completely frozen, her breath the only current sign of life. Her mind was slowly blanking as if it was completely shutting down due to an overload. As illogical as Nova can be (Really she has the hopes and dreams of a 3 year old.) her rational side was just unable to fully comprehend what was currently happening. Her eyes glazed over slightly and her mouth was just slightly open as she gazed at open air.

Kythia

#57
Tuesday 13th August 10:22

Back room of the King's Head Pub

Bran


Rachel nods and stands to walk round behind Ron, below the portrait.  She gives a quick smile to Phillip and Alf and "would you two mind bringing me down the...".  They clearly know what she's talking about even without the object as both nod and head out of the room.

"Ok.  Bran.  That's the Welsh pronunciation isn't it?  Your family are form there originally, perhaps?

Are you familiar with a series of books and then later TV show called The Game of Thrones?  In that there's an organisation called the Night's Watch.  They stand at the very borders of civilization and protect people who barely know they exist.  The sword in the darkness, keeping soft city folk safe in their beds.  Figures like that exist in myths throughout the world and that's not coincidental.

How good is your history, Bran?"  She's read in a book somewhere that repeating a person's name builds trust.  "Do you know what the new castle in Newcastle was?  It was to protect the soft city folk of the south from the barbaric Scots.    That was the purpose of this city, long ago.  It was ruled by the Percy family, the Earls of Northumberland.  We're a bastard offshoot of them in one way" Ronald tuts at the correctly used profanity, despite his own language "but in another we're their direct descendants.  The Percy family served exactly this sword in the darkness role.  This here" she taps the portrait "is my distant ancestor, Henry de Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland.  You can read about him if you know your Shakespeare.  He's also a god.  History will assure you he fell at the Battle of St Albans, but he didn't.  This will sound strange but I beg you to hear me out.  I hope you realise none of us mean you any harm and the worst that will happen is you have something to laugh about with your friends later.  You won't believe the bunch of crazies I met this morning, and so forth.

There is a reason this archetype of the faithful defender of civilization far away on a lonely frontier doing a thankless task exists across cultures.  There are others as well.  Perhaps you have heard of the Maiden, Mother and Crone?  Or their distaff counterparts, the Warrior, Father and Judge?  The Fool, who pratfalls his way through life without a care in the world.  The grim executioner behind a hood.  Many others.  All of these, three hundred and thirty three of them in total, are in a very real way, real.  They exist as platonic, idealised forms.  Where did they come from?  The collective unconscious.  As soon as a human is aligned enough to exactly how that role is perceived they leave this world and become it.  For example, had I children and were I a devoted enough parent, fulfilling every unconscious belief humanity has about mothers it is possible I would become the very goddess of mothers.  motherhood incarnate.  That is what happened to Henry Earl Northumberland.  He became the incarnation of the Guard in the Darkness.

That is the apogee, of course.  But there are steps along the way.  By aligning oneself with one of these archetypes, one can gain power.  The more motherly I act, the more I will be able to tap into the power of the perfect mother.  The more like a Guard in the Darkness my great-uncle acts the more he can tap into that power.  Of course, times have changed and we no longer need soldiers stood on a frontier to protect against barbarians.  In time, we shall perhaps talk of our work to update this family position. 

We have in fact touched upon it, more than touched upon it, already.  My grandfather is the King of Newcastle.  He is.  That is because he is aligning himself with another one of these archetypes, the King.  The more regal he is, the stronger his power.  You have actually seen a demonstration of that although you may not have noticed it."

She pauses for a moment as the two men come back in, carrying a large fish tank between them with a large tropical fish of some type lazily swimming around in it.  With a lot of swearing from Phillip and a "God's wounds, the burden of Sisyphus would I gladly trade to be rid of the accursed weight of this Piscean Tartarus" from Alf they haul it up on to the bar.  Once they have it in place she continues.

"When my grandfather decided to call a meeting of his court to discuss your situation, I came downstairs to attend.  Did he call me?  Did someone else?  They were all in your line of sight at the time.  Was it merely coincidence?  None of those.  I know when my King needs me.  Circumstantial, but we will show you more.

For, you see, reality is defined by these three hundred and thirty three individuals.  For reasons I cannot fully explain, they have allowed many oddities to exist.  One of those is the existence of rituals, one of those rituals is called Back Monkey.  It is what I will show you now.

Back Monkey shows you if you have any unnatural effects on you.  I know for a fact that I do, and when I demonstrate that you will be able to see it.  Now, I am going to take this slowly as I do not wish to overload you.  If I were to, hypothetically for the moment, drop a few drops of my blood into that fish tank then what do you imagine the chances would be of them swirling around for a moment before showing my grandfather's full name then an image of his face.  Low I should imagine.  But that is exactly what will happen.  Sit down, Bran.  If you wish it there is brandy behind the bar.

You hadn't noticed it until now but there is a small letter opener held to the fish tank with masking tape.  She pulls that loose and makes a shallow cut across her palm above the tank, letting the blood flow in.  It swirls around in vaguely the manner you'd expect for a few seconds before starting to coalesce.  First in to words "Ronald Jeremy Percy" then into an image - low definition and two dimensional but definitely recognisable - of Ron's face.

Whatever tension there might have been is broken by your phone beeping with a received email.

Bran
Gimme a rank three unnatural please.  Take a +20% shift on it because they've taken the time to prepare you.  I'm assuming you know what that means but please do shout up if not.



Tuesday 13th August 10:22

Between Unit 16 and Unit 18, Fergusons Street

Nova


He looks up at you puzzled when you don't immediately reply and wipes angrily at his eyes with the back of his hand.  A moment later he waves his hand slowly in front of your eyes then shakes his head angrily.  "Oh no.  No fucking way.  No fucking way.  Because I'm not having a bad enough day, now I have to deal with catatonic chicks."  He turns and walks away down the road, shaking his head as he goes.

Leaving you behind, as your brain struggles to make sense of the situation.

An unknown amount of time passes.  The shadows don't noticeably move but at the moment all of your higher functions are occupied leaving no space for petty things like tracking the passage of time.

Eventually, though, he's heading back down the street towards you, loudly talking to either himself or, judging by where he's looking, some sort of uncaring deity: "Fine!  Fine, I'm fucking doing it.  Alright?  I'm fucking doing it." 

He stands in front of you and peers at you quizzically with a heartfelt sigh.  After a moment of doing that he cautiously reaches out to grab your upper arms "Come on, pet.  Let's get you, fuck, I dunno.  Let's get you somewhere."  When you don't move he throws his hands up in despair and looks for a moment like he's going to leave again.  Instead though, he takes your hand and half-pulls you with him.  Your brain seems happy enough with this.  it had no real idea what to do next so 'walk with this man' seems as good as anything else.

In fact, as you leave the former location of Honer's and head up the street you feel yourself starting to come round again.  Who knows what damage its done to your world-view, but your psyche has internalised that this is a thing that can happen.

A few hundred metres up the road his phone beeps and the two of you pause while he checks it.  "Oh thank Christ for that.  Some good fucking news at last."  He types furiously for a moment then pockets it and turns back to you.  "That's you that is, pet.  Some good fucking karma.  You're a regular lucky charm.  I'm John."
242037

Remiel

Norm isn't disposed to like most people, but he finds that he likes this Patveer already.  His method of dealing with the spoiled brat and its mother meets with Norm's full approval.  He's been on the other side of the customer service counter, and in his eyes the Kasmiri man just scored a rousing victory for the cause of abused, beleaguered blokes everywhere who had ever been forced to suffer the indignity of putting on a cheap plastic visor and a cheaper cotton polo shirt and having to smile while being accosted by hordes of idiots.

"He said to come see you," said Norm, conversationally.  He fished out the card that Tannen had given him and showed it to Patveer.  "Said you might know something about a..."  He paused, and glanced around himself, then leaned closer.  "...Missing building," he continued, in a more subdued tone.  "Specifically, Honer and Sons.  Have you heard of it?  Deals in trade supplies.  I work there."  He frowned.  "Or did, before it vanished.  Overnight, in fact.  Gone, without a trace, save only "We All Know You Did It" scrawled in red spray paint on a brick wall.  There's a thing, eh?  Have you heard of an entire building going missing before?  Not exactly the thing you'd put up flyers for."

Kythia

Tuesday 13th August 10:36

McDonalds, Northumberland Street

Miyo, Norm, Chris


He grins at you, eyes shining with excitement.  "Really?  You're not just fucking with me?"  Wetting his lips he watches you for a moment then shakes his head.  "You're not are you.  And yeah. I guess Tannen would notice something like that.  It wasn't us if that's what he's thinking.  Way outside our pay grade.

I mean, I've never heard of the place I'm afraid but wow.  See, this is exactly what it should be.  Person by person, coming to see things how they are.  Hell, it might even have been indirectly us I suppose.  Opening these highways, making things like this more commonplace.  Walk with me." 

He turns to scan the restaurant and does a quick count of the customers with one pointing finger then moues in disappointment.  "Nowhere near enough.  Ah well.  Tina?  Are you going to be alright for ten minutes?  I'm sloping off for a smoke."  The new girl nods and from the way she's watching him its clear she's managed to pick herself up a little crush on her boss.  He could ask her anything at this moment, but instead he turns back to you.

"Come on, we'll talk round the back."  It's a token attempt at privacy though as he continues to talk as he leads you through the restaurant.

"I mean, this is exactly what we're working for.  Not missing buildings as such, obviously.  But people seeing how the world works, a magical revolution.  Man, I really need to thank Michael for pointing you my way.  You see him, you tell him there's a big mac meal with his name on it, courtesy of me.  Then stand aside, if he starts running you'll get flattened, and even the aftershock can knock you off your feet." He laughs and turns to share you all in the joke then beckons with a nod of his head.

"Man, making a whole building disappear.  That's some serious fucking mojo right there" he continues as you leave McDonald's and head towards an alleyway between it and the neighbouring greeting card shop.  Full of bins and cigarette ends, temporarily full of two teenagers in McDonald's uniforms having a cigarette but they quickly throw it down and stub it out when they see Patveer approaching.

"Just on our way back in" one says as they pass you, but he doesn't seem overly concerned.

"So what are you wanting then?  To know more I guess.  To see what's happened here.  Hey," he grins again as he's struck with a thought "someone must have been really annoyed at that building to expend that kind of energy.  I could probably find out who with a little juice.  That why Tannen sent you to me, right?"  He pulls a phone out of his pocket and taps on it.  "No game 'til the weekend and it's only Palace.  That's a shame.  But we could maybe hit the cathedral. 

What about it chief?  Fancy helping me get some juice in me and I can figure out who this is?  Man, you must have so many questions."  He rubs his hands together again, barely able to conceal his happiness.  "This is exactly what we're aiming for man.  Person by person, franchise by franchise.  Doing the works, man, doing the works.

Any of you a first aider by any chance?"
242037

Blythe

Miyo frowns about the woman who was behaving like a total asshat to Patveer—she's never much liked bullies, and she likes how Patveer is ready with a quick rebuttal and a quicker step back. She listens to some of Patveer's rambling, because to her, that's what it is. She sighs and crosses her arms, following Patveer and those of her companions that are following along as well to the back of the restaurant.

But when Miyo hears “magical revolution,” some part of her lights up inside. Every ounce of her being is eaten up by curiosity, and it was this same thing that got her in trouble ages ago. Honer's...vanished by magic, possibly? But how else would one explain it?

Miyo says to Patveer, “Firstly...magical revolution? Something that requires serious mojo? I want to know who's done all this....but I'd rather know more about what's going on. What on earth are you talking about?”

Demigod1945

        While Miyo seemed to frown upon the young mother, Chris looked at her with some amusement, seeing how obvious it was that the mother was more angry with some other event in her life, than at Patveer himself. Her face said it all. While his skills were based around seeing lies in someone's face, it wasn't just something like "They lie when they don't look you in the eye." or "Licking of the lips means they're hiding something." Oh no, nothing that absurd. His method dealt with what were known as "Micro-expressions", brief, involuntary facial expressions, typically caused by emotional reaction to stimuli. These expressions would vary, depending on the strength of the emotion experienced. Take anger for example, when a person feels intense anger, the eyebrows pull down and together, the upper eye lids pull up and the lower eye lids pull down, and the lips tighten and roll in. Mild anger may have the lowering and raising of the eyelids not being present, or the same going for the tightening of the lips. Annoyance, the mildest form, typically only shows the eyebrows pulling together and lowering. Chris was an expert at spotting these brief expressions, and at utilizing what they mean to determine when someone is trying to be deceitful. It was simple really, if what they said contradicted what they're face said, then it wasn't true, as his mentor had always said, "While people lie all the time, the face never does."
         
         The young mother showed that of mild anger, with the raising and lowering of the eyelids not being present. But she was faking it. This was purely evident in the fact that when Patveer first put the toy in his pocket, her expression of anger came to be, but for far too long. Normally, it last barely a second, hers lasted for almost ten, thrown in the show she put on not adding up with the expression, and it was clear that the expression was simulated. As for why she put on this show, whether for attention, or because she was angry at something else, Chris did not know, nor cared. After she was escorted out, he silently watched the exchange between Norm and Patveer, then followed the other three as they made there way outside, only glancing at the two teenagers outside, one of whom showed contempt on their face as soon his eyes landed on Patveer, possibly due to false bravado since Patveer said nothing of the two smoking outside. The other kid simply tried to put on a poker face of sorts, failing miserably, he seemed to be mildly scared by Patveers presence, most likely because he thought he might get in trouble for smoking. Chris thought of saying something to Patveer, but figured the man would hardly give a shit. He simply leaned against the wall by the back door, and waited for Patveer to answer Miyos question about "magical revolution", whatever that was.

Remiel

Norm finds that his estimation of Patveer is only growing more and more.  The man is clearly crazy as a loon, but it's the good kind of crazy.  It's the kind of crazy you can bank on.   It's the ones that seem perfectly sane of which you have to be wary.

"First aiders?" he blinks, in response to the question.  "Er...I took a class in CPR once, but that was a long time ago.  Sorry."

Rook Seidhr

Bran watches the Back Monkey performance, bemused. He feels a little detached, but it doesn't hit him nearly as hard as earlier, when he realized that Honer's had disappeared. It's just strange, not world-tilting. In fact, more than anything, he's curious.

"Special fish?" he says. "Something in the water? How does that work? Sorry, I realize that's largely irrelevant, but perhaps you can tell me later. I take it you need my blood now?" Ignoring his phone for the moment, he gets to his feet and holds out his hand.

Kythia


Tuesday 13th August 10:38

Alley at the side of McDonalds, Northumberland Street

Miyo, Norm, Chris


"Magical revolution" he nods to Miyo.  "I mean, not like a proper revolution, not guerrillas in the streets.  Like the Internet or, man, like everyone learning how to read.  That kind of revolution.  It's fucking ley lines, man.  It's obvious when its pointed out to you."  He's talking quite fast, an accent you can't quite place but assume is Kasmiri becoming stronger as he gets excited.  He pauses long enough to take a cigarette from a packet in his pocket but doesn't light it yet.  He's the type who talks with his hands and the cigarette sits between his index and middle finger while he gestures expansively.

"Man, I'm putting this in a rubbish order aren't I.  Man.  OK, let's see if I can't do this sensibly.  I'll explain it to you the way it was explained to me.

"So, imagine a new island appeared, the size of Ireland say.  And for whatever reason you are put in charge of it."  The wave of the cigarette happened to be point at Chris when he said you but you get the sense that isn't overly relevant.

"What you decide to do is to set out the rules, the legal code and all of that, and then you'll let settlers in.  There's noone there at the moment, it's a new island.

"So you sit down to write some laws.  Making sure murder is illegal, you know.  But you also need to define what murder is.  Is it murder if a soldier kills an enemy solider?  Well, no.  Probably not.  So you need to think about all of these exceptions and special cases.

"But eventually you've got them all written and you open the ports to let new people in.  Then go on holiday because it's been really hard work writing all those laws.

"You come back after a year's holiday and have a look round.  It's pretty much fine but there are a few bits and bobs that are wrong.  Because all of your laws apply all the time they all interact with one another.  And this is the first time you've written a whole load of laws and some of the interactions aren't what you originally wanted.  Like, maybe your Disability Discrimination laws say that people in wheelchairs shouldn't have to pay money to the government for any type of essential service.  Whoops, you've just made it so wheelchair people don't have to pay tax?  Because that's for the hospitals and the police and other essential services.  You meant wheelchair repairs and ramps when you said it, but didn't think to make that clear.

"But it takes a little effort for people to find these loopholes.  Like, have you ever read the tax laws?  I haven't.  Most people just assume they work in the way they expect them to, rather than actually checking.  Hell, for all I know we might not have any tax laws and the tax collectors are just crossing their fingers and hoping noone notices.

"And, sure, you could close those loopholes.  But you're smart enough to realise that you'll probably just accidentally add new ones.  So you come up with another plan.  Fine, you'll let those loopholes stay, most people don't know about them anyway.  But you create a new police force to go around making sure those who know about them don't tell anyone.  If one wheelchair person isn't paying tax then its a pain but whatever.  If they go around spreading the word though?  Man, that's a problem and that's what your new police cut down on.

"Eventually your police are so good that people come to believe there aren't these loopholes.  Like, if at a wheelchair meeting, or whatever, one guy says to the other you know we don't have to pay tax?  Well, the second guy dismisses the first as a crazy person, because those police have been so good at cutting down mention of it.

"You with me man?  That's how the universe is.  There are little loopholes, little things that don't make sense.  Like anger, man.  Anger was put together wrong. But there's loads of them. And that's the wheelchair tax thing.  Odds and ends that don't actually work the way most people think they do, but the Sleepers hush it all up and make sure anyone pointing it out looks like a crazy person.

"What we wanna do is show everyone.  Point to these things. Am I" he pauses to light his cigarette "am I making any damn sense here?"
242037

Remiel

"Absolutely," says, Norm, who's getting more and more visibly excited the longer the speech goes on.  At last.  He knew it, he always fucking knew it, he knew that society and everything else was a lie, but, until now, never had any actually proof.  Or, for that matter, anyone besides himself who had any damn idea what was going on.  And now there is.  He can't wait.  He just knows that crop circles and spontaneous human combustion and the Men in Black are all going to be tied up in this.

"So who--if you don't mind me asking--was put in charge of the Island, to use your example?  Who's responsible for all this?"  He sweeps his hand in a broad, expansive arc, indicating everything.

Ilasandra

Nova stood still as a statue, the movement of the man a nothing to her at the moment. You really couldn't even say that she was attempting to process things at the moment, it was really more of a complete shut down. Her mind had completely blanked, as glazed over as the look in her eyes. Every now and then her tongue would flick over her lips, the only motion that could be seen other than those she did subconsciously. The rise and fall of her chest was really the only marking of time she had and even that didn't register in her mind. All she could see was the dirty and cracked pavement before that should have instead held a building.

A few people passed by her, most paying her no mind. A couple would stop and stare wonderingly at her, figuring perhaps that she was a street performs. A teenager had even walked straight up to her and waved his hand in front of her as if that would break her trance. Had Nova been in her right mind, she would have snapped those fingers without a second thought so he would think before he acted in the future. However, Nova was doing no such thing at the moment and even the return of the crying man made no impression on her.

The hand he grabbed for was cold and clammy and made no motion to grasp his on its own. She followed the man blindly, like a puppy, her self-preservation seeming to fly out the window. Slowly Nova could feel herself rise from the mist slowly, as if she was dragging herself out of some thick mud. It was like whatever spell that empty lot had placed on her was slowly being broken the further she actually got from the building. It was really the sound of his phone that fully brought her back. Nova had to blink a couple of times and roughly shook her head before her vision would come back into focus and everything didn't sound like she was underwater. "John . . . Right . . . I-I feel really lucky right about now . . . Nnnova" she said, drawing the N in her name out for a few seconds as if she was unsure. "M-my name. Nova."

Kythia

Tuesday 13th August 10:23

Back room of the King's Head Pub

Bran



"Neither.  To the best of our knowledge at least.  It's regular aquarium water and the fish is from a pet shop in Durham actually.  But it works with every fish we've tried.  Although, admittedly, we haven't really studied it in any particular depth."

As she's talking, Ronald starts sending and receiving texts and the "bing bong" of his text received noise cuts in every so often.

"You need to make the cut yourself.  It will show you the name and face of anyone who has put a long term effect on you.  If there is noone it shows a female face and some hieroglyphs, we're not sure why.  It does that for newborns as well, so we think its universal.

"And sometimes it doesn't work.  We're not sure why, but then later it will work again with exactly the same conditions."  She gives a little exasperated shrug.  "I'd love to say I am sure there are good reasons for it being like that, but truthfully I'm not."  She takes a cloth from behind the bar and begins cleaning the knife.  As she does so, Ronald scrawls something on a sheet of paper, folds it and holds it out to her.  She takes it off him and reads through with a quick nod.  "Although it does look like we've found your friends.  Or fellow victims at least.  If you wish we can arrange a taxi to take you to them, on us of course.  You will still have time to perform the ritual before it arrives, but neither the taxi nor the ritual are being forced on you Bran."  She slowly and deliberately places the knife within your reach as your phone beeps with another received text.




Tuesday 13th August 10:38

Alley at the side of McDonalds, Northumberland Street

Miyo, Norm, Chris


"That's a good question, a really good question"  The lit cigarette stays in his hand as he gesticulates, adding a very small amount of danger to the sweeps of his hand.  "Ask a hundred people and you'll get a hundred answers.  Hell, you'll probably get a hundred and ten because some of the early lot will have changed their mind by the time you get to the end, you know what I mean?

"If you want to know what I think it's this.  This is all a fuck up.  So Waheguru speaks one word and everything comes in to being.  Man, whats the chances of getting that right first time?  This is a practise universe man, a first draft.  But I don't know for sure.

"And you" the burning end of the cigarette turns to Miyo.  "You're spot on right.  A lot of mojo an awful lot."  He laughs and takes a drag from the cigarette.  "Man, I'm the worst teacher in the world aren't I.  You gotta bear with me, this is all exciting.  I know its shitty for you guys, your shop going missing, but its pretty exciting for me. 

"Alright.  So there's these things that don't work properly.  Angers one, Tannen would tell you cities are another, but I don't quite understand his point.  And they build up, like, like static electricity, you know?  Like, a build up of friction, because these things are opposites, they're contradictions.  Like, is anger a good thing or a bad thing, man?  All the other emotions are one or the other, its good to be happy, bad to be miserable.  But anger's neither.  Or both.  And people just shrug and go ah well, that's just the way it is. 

"But have you ever just had a really awful day?  And you can feel this rage building up in you and then you shout at some guy who cut you up in the car or a bus that's running late?  And it feels so good man, like you've just..." he's clearly about to say something but catches sight of Miyo and pauses, before finishing "like you've just gone to the toilet when you really needed to.  But you never have a feeling of happiness building up in you do you, or misery?  Or anything like that.  Not building up and forming a tension.  Sure, people can be generally one or the other but there's no pressure building up.  And that's because anger is a contradiction, its two different things that have been accidentally given the same emotion.

"And people build this up all the time, this tension.  But they release it again because they don't know what they're doing.  But if you do know, you can control how its released, man.  You can focus that shit.

"That's what mojo is.  This built up tension inside you from, like, from constantly exposing yourself to one of these little holes in the way the world works."

He takes another long drag.  "I don't know how well I'm putting this man.  But its like matter and antimatter together.  They explode, because they're opposites put together.  And so when most people build up a bit of anger it explodes out of them.  But you can learn to build up, like, a containment system or a power plant or something, contain that energy and put it where you want.  That's what mojo is, and disappearing a building will have taken a shit load of it.

"So what that means is some cunt went to a load of effort to build up enough energy to do that.  And I reckon I can find out why."  His pocket beeps but he ignores it, talking quickly and intensely.  "But I'm not carrying enough so I need to charge up.  "Random magic, man.  It's expensive shit."




Tuesday 13th August 10:23

Between Unit 16 and Unit 18, Fergusons Street

Nova


"Nova, hey?"  He's typing on his phone again and doesn't look up.  "Parents were hippies?  Not that it matters.  I'm not feeling particularly lucky either today, in fact you could say I'm having a fucking awful day.  And it started off so well.  Woke up between...well, honestly you wouldn't believe me if I told you who I woke up with this morning.  And now no fucker can see me except you.  So you'll forgive me if I fucking follow you around.  Meant to have an interview at three, big things.  Good things. But that's all fucked now."

You think he's going to start crying again but he shakes his head and continues.

"So I'm emailing some guy" he waves his phone around in case it wasn't clear how "who might know something.  Gonna try to meet up with him.  You in?"
242037

Rook Seidhr

"All right," Bran says, and picks up the knife. He holds his hand over the tank and draws the blade across, but it's not deep enough; a tiny bit of blood flows into the scratch but not enough to fall into the tank. He hisses in annoyance at himself and slices himself again. This time it's deep enough, and blood begins to drip.

As he stares at the tank, waiting to see what will happen, he says, "Let me check my email and then I'll go."

Blythe

Miyo listens to Patveer, fascinated, and she notices Norm's reaction to the magical mojo explanation. She and Norm had talked before about the existence of the paranormal or supernatural--Miyo hadn't really had anyone else to talk to about it at Honer's, as no one else placed any stock in it. She smiles at Norm and murmurs, "It's nice to be right that things aren't normal at all, isn't it?"

She says to Patveer, "Okay....if I've got this right---everything is made up of kind of like these laws and things, only there's loopholes. And tension builds up when there's these laws contradicting each other, and anger is pretty much a great big contradiction of things, too? So eventually things go pop! and a person can take advantage of one of those loopholes?"

Remiel

"Anyone with half a brain could have seen that things weren't right," he mutters.  It's not his fault that the overwhelmingly great majority of people didn't see what was right in front of them.  He had read somewhere that people only used 10% of their brains.  It wasn't, he was always of the opinion, that they did not possess the ability to harness the other 90%, but that they simply chose not to.  It was so much easier to walk through life with your eyes closed. 

"So, mate," he said, addressing Patveer, "why did you ask us if any of us knew first aid?"

Kythia

Tuesday 13th August 10:24

Back room of the King's Head Pub

Bran


Ignoring your email for a moment you make a small scratch across your palm.  Rachel starts as if she's about to say something but you're ahead of her and make a deeper one.

Blood drips in and dissipates slightly in the water, though not as much as you might expect.  The individual drops are still clear until a flick of the fish's tail sets them moving and swirling.  Elongating into ribbons and roiling over each other to gradually form the outline of face.  Female, elderly, a pronounced chin.  Ronald frowns and mutters something about knowing her from somewhere but you've already placed her by the time another motion sets the blood swirling again before coalescing into a name: Jean Nodshorns.

She's a local busybody.  Letters constantly in the local paper, popping up regularly on the local news whenever they need an opinionated talking head.  You know her from her campaign last year to have skating banned from a few choice spots in the city centre - though its not your primary focus you know quite a few skaters and even signed a petition to keep places like the law courts, Haymarket and the Monument available.  It wasn't to be though and now Local Government Officers issue a fine to anyone skating, or even just relaxing if they have the temerity to be under twenty, in those areas.

While you take that in you check your phone.  You've received two emails from johnsanderson@gmail.com only a minute or two apart.

Thank God.  Call me as soon as you get a chance - 07854 837503.  John. and then a moment or so later Found another person who might know something.  Just talking with her.  We should meet up.  Call me ASAP.  J.




Tuesday 13th August 10:38

Alley at the side of McDonalds, Northumberland Street

Miyo, Norm, Chris


He puts one finger on the tip of his nose and points his other hand, cigarette and all, at Miyo.  "Spot on, pet.  You're spot on.  If you know what you're doing you can, like, syphon off the energy that's built up by this tension.  So when it builds up to unbearable for you, you just wind up shouting at the guy playing his music too loud on the bus and it all leaks out.  But you can learn to shape it.  Takes time to learn, like.  Not something you'd figure out on your own, or everyone could do it.  But you're absolutely spot on."

He glances at the cigarette as if he'd forgotten it was there and takes another drag, letting it out in two jets from his nose while he stares at Norm for a moment in confusion.

"That was it man, first aiders.  Sorry, totally forgot what we were talking about there.  First aiders, yeah.  Always good people to know, but especially for me.  See, you can shape other people's anger as well.  Well, I say as well, its actually way way easier to do.  Not even sure if you can do your own, some say yes, some say no.  So drawing this energy, this tension from other people.  You follow me?  But obviously drawing the anger out of them requires them to be, you know, angry.  In the first place.  So its not at all uncommon to take a fist to the face, man.  Not uncommon at all.  And figuring this little thing you've got going on...remind me what it was again?"  He frowns.

"Man, that's odd.  I remember you telling it me, but not a single thing about what you said."
242037

Ilasandra

Nova made no remark at the comment about her parents. There was no point in telling him that she had named herself once they had thrown her from their house. There was no point in attempting to depict just how bloody awful her parents were at parenting and if were up to her she would have had their reproductive organs removed a long time ago. It was pointless as she had learned from countless experiences prior to to this one. So she simply gave a small and polite laugh at his small jest, one that would pass in normal company. She stared blankly as he relayed what seemed to be his problems of the day. "Sounds like you woke up between a few witches, eh? Cast a nice little invisibility spell on ya or somethin'? Though I guess they forgot to include little ole me in the group it seems." Nova said with a small chuckle.

She still didn't completely believe that no one else could see him. I mean that was insane right? . . . About as insane as an entire building up and disappearing. Though if she had been just a little more aware of her surrounding she would have noticed the people gawking at her as she stood looking at the side of a building and talking to herself . . . so it appeared. "Yeah sure. Why not? Let's go on an adventure." Nova said throwing her hands in to the air as if she was done with it all.

Rook Seidhr

"Well we always did call her an old witch," Bran mutters. "All right. That's a…fascinating data point. Any idea why she'd do something like that on my behalf? And where are Norm and Miyo? Someone just emailed me who may have information to share as well—I'll call him from the taxi, maybe we can all meet up somewhere."

Demigod1945

"So let me get this straight, you, Patveer, say that there is what, magic?" Chris could hardly believe what he was hearing, "energy" that could be used to make stuff disappear? He wasn't sure if he had been hearing things right. "Does this mean we'll get magic wands, and even go to a special school to get training?" Of course it may some sense, how else could a building disappear over night, without a trace. And as far as Chris could tell, Patveer was being sincere, meaning that what he said was true, or Patveer thought it was true. Chris was betting his money on the latter.