Hitherby heads for the stage manager's office with Sephar.
Sephar nods and scrambles into the stage manager's pocket from when Liz leaves.
Demiurge says "Okay. So you're heading down towards the stage manager's office."
Hitherby pulls random things out of her pockets as she walks, asking Sephar, "Is this the key?"
Sephar squeaks when it is the key.
Demiurge says "Sephar, Hitherby eventually hits a keyring."
Hitherby nods cheerfully and examines the key ring closely for about twenty seconds.
Hitherby says "I have to admit, Seph', technology *can* be pretty amazing sometimes."
Hitherby says "Shiny *and* utilitarian."
Sephar chirrs happily.
Hitherby proceeds with her walk. There is a spring in her step. Nasty Shedite all deaded.
Demiurge says "Hitherby and Sephar arrive at the door to the stage manager's office."
Demiurge says "It's open."
Sephar peeks out of Hitherby's pocket.
Hitherby taps Sephar's head three times, lightly, with a finger.
Hitherby then puts the ring back in her pocket, takes a deep breath, and walks into the office.
Sephar settles back into the pocket on the taps.
The office is empty. Several of the desk drawers are open, papers sticking out of them, in a way that Hitherby is fairly sure they weren't when she left it.
Sephar waits a count of three after entering the room before peeking back out of the pocket.
Hitherby swears, softly, "Heck."
Hitherby says "This is your department, Seph'. I haven't clue one where to look, particularly after --"
Hitherby makes a face. "This."
Sephar squeaks and hops out of the pocket onto the desk, and scitters over to the various sticking out papers.
Hitherby says "Would you like to switch hosts?".
Sephar says "Sure."
The papers seem a fairly average mess. Accounts, lists, so on.
Sephar hops out of the rat, ready to take the mortal man before he actually *sees* Sephar.
Hitherby says "Go for it. I can handle being shoved a little."
Sephar tries to take over Hitherby's host.
<
Hitherby doesn't resist.
Demiurge says "Okay. Sephar is in, Hitherby is "loose"."
Hitherby grabs the rat, if it's visible.
Sephar slides in cheerfully and then looks for things that haven't been turned inside out.
Sephar had it in the middle of the desk...
<
<
Demiurge says "Sephar, you examine the papers. You can't really see any pattern to what's been
left where it was and what's been hunted through."
Demiurge says "Stuff like cast lists, orchestra lists, notes on the lights and set design, notes on the
performance, refreshments for after rehearsals, so on."
Sephar says "Okay, then I do a thorough search through accounts with any ties to the financial
group that was held by the Game."
Demiurge says "That'll take a short while. There are a lot of papers."
Hitherby wants to grab a human host and any bugs that are still up in the attic, in either order, and
then demanifest the celestial form. She thinks -- yah, I should have the Forces for that, unless rats
are more than 3.
Demiurge nods to Hitherby. You should.
Demiurge says "Picking just the nearest human?"
Hitherby picks the nearest human who doesn't look to be in a *terrible* hurry.
Sephar nods and knows it'll take a while and will start sorting papers... as if it's his office and he's
trying to clean up after whatever happened.
Hitherby will then bring the human back to meet Sephar.
Sephar will also clip a pen into a breast pocket.
Demiurge nods.
Demiurge says "(roll, Hitherby)"
<
<
Demiurge says "You've snagged a middle-aged woman in a peasant-type outfit. You control her
easily."
Hitherby walks briskly to the stage manager's office while she drifts up to catch the attic bugs.
Demiurge says "You collect the attic bugs, and join Sephar in the office."
Demiurge says "Sephar, looking through the documents, they appear to be mainly salary lists for
the stagehands and general back-stage-people. You can't see any obvious traces of Money moving
in or out."
Hitherby says, "Hi, Seph'," gets behind the desk as quickly as she can, and removes her shoes.
Cursed things. (At least peasants don't wear heels.)
Hitherby doesn't want bare feet visible from the door. Habbalite might come back.
Hitherby says "Seph', were you involved in that thing 'cross town?"
Sephar notes the shoes and nods, "Hi, Hitherby. Is there anything you were looking for in
particular?
Sephar frowns just a bit, "Yeah... uhm... kinda got trapped..." he pauses a bit. "Liz and Daimon
pulled me out of a Vap-trap and we got some good stuff..."
Hitherby meditates on this. "Anything interesting about the violinists. Any indication of the Prank
they were going to pull. Stuff that the Habbalite's Vessel was involved in."
Hitherby says "What kind of good stuff?"
Sephar says "Data on an Association, some names and ties and other data bits that has to do with
that financial group."
Sephar mutters, "Habbalite..."
Hitherby says "His name was Matt, I think."
Sephar says "Math..."
There is a knock on the door.
Hitherby hides under the desk.
Sephar calls out, in an irritated voice, "Come in.
A young woman, in a suit, steps through the door. She was the one who was on the stairs earlier,
and looks rather embarassed. "Excuse me, Mr Johns... I do hope I'm not interrupting anything."
Sephar (is there salary info on Math in the mass of data and how long he's been getting paid?"
Hitherby, fortunately, is specifically forbidden to care about how ridiculous this will make her look
if that's a mortal out there and she notices.
Demiurge says "There is, Sephar: he's been employed for a month now, about."
Sephar spins on the woman and spreads his hands, "WHAT does it look like? Someone's broken
in and messed up my files."
Hitherby brings her swarm downstairs now, even if it's only two and a half bugs. She's feeling
suspicious.
She recoils half a step, biting her lip and looking nervous. "I'm terribly sorry. I just wanted to,
well, apologise for earlier." She blinks, eyes wide and nearly tearful.
<
You paged Sephar with 'Sephar, alas, this Lilim has just managed a level 5 reading of your
Needs.'.
You paged Sephar with 'Where 1 is the most basic and 6 is the most detailed. Hm. What are
Sephar's current Needs, beside a blazing one for DATA?'.
Daimon thinks, "AUGH! SUNGLASSES!"
From afar, Sephar heh's. Data. Always data. Likely specifically knowledge about the Prank,
knowledge about the artifact, knowledge of what the hell is the Game doing here."
Sephar (cannot carry sunglasses from host to host and he's a geek so isn't *that* cool)
Demiurge smiles.
Sephar pages: Likely, what in Hell's plans is the Game doing *here*.
Sephar pages: Okay... also to comfort the nice Lilim who's about to cry.
Hitherby would usually look rather silly in sunglasses, although the notion of a swarm of bugs
with a pair of shades is rather interesting.
From afar, Sephar doesn't know she's a Lilim, though. the cute girl.
The woman's lip trembles further. "The boss is going to be _furious_ with me: I was supposed just
to be looking around, and not disturbing anything..."
Sephar takes a deep slow breath and lets it out in a sigh and peers at her. "You did this?"
She shakes her head, vigorously. "Oh, no! I meant earlier, when I ran into you on the stairs. I
don't know anything about _this_." She gestures at the mess.
Sephar says "Ah. Okay..." and he pats her gently on the arm, "It's okay. I don't think you
disturbed much. Uhm... who's your boss?"
Sephar goes back to picking through the debris, sorting things out as he scans them into neat piles
that are somewhat related...
She seems to calm a little. "Mr Focals. He's a _tyrant_."
Sephar blinks at the woman.
Hitherby continues hiding, her rat body -- well, wherever Sephar left it, since she hadn't gotten
around to attempting to sniff out Math's trail, because, well, she's no good at that kind of thing.
Sephar is not good at hiding his sudden interest. "My. So he sent you to see what was going on
here?"
She shrugs. "I suppose I shouldn't talk like that about my boss that much, but I haven't been
working for him that long. Yes, he did. Some sort of procedures check."
Demiurge . o O ( Lilim are evil )
Sephar stills. "May I help you in doing what you need to do for your boss, any particular
procedures you wish access to?"
Daimon . o O ( HEY. HEY! )
Hitherby brings her swarm into the hall outside the office, eventually. (Hopefully. :) It's probably
pretty paltry, more like a pack than a swarm.
Sephar . o O (utterly, but...
Demiurge says "You do so, Hitherby."
Daimon . o O ( Sniff. )
The woman tilts her head. "Well, he was looking for this gizmo. This piece of jewellery. You
wouldn't have any records on that, would you? Some sort of standards check by examining a
particular piece or something."
<
Sephar hrms quietly... and peers about the mess of papers. (Any areas that had anything to do
with stage pieces? or did I not get enough time to look through the overall architecture of pages?)
She glances again towards the desk where Hitherby's human host is hiding, and looks vaguely
puzzled.
Demiurge says "There are a couple of books listing the pieces of stage jewellery that the opera
owns, Sephar."
Sephar says "Ah... here..."
Sephar pulls out the books and starts to thumb through them. "Do you have a picture?"
She says, "Oh, _thank_ you," and bites her lip again, prettily. "You're being so kind. Er, no, but
I think it was a necklace. Looking like emeralds."
Long distance to Sephar: Demiurge notes that she is probably going to state that the Lilim has a
minor Geas on you after this, for supply of data. Not a large one, just a Geas/1 or Geas/2. :)
From afar, Sephar grins and expected that... Cool.
Sephar looks through the books for a record of the necklace and smiles quietly at the woman,
"Just trying to make up for almost making you cry earlier..."
Demiurge says "Sephar, you find a couple of necklaces that could be the one she's asking about."
Sephar shows her the pages. "Is it any of these?"
The woman scribbles quick notes in a pad. "Right, thanks. You've been a _great_ help. Anything
else I can do for you?"
Daimon . o O ( Say NO! )
Sephar blinks at her, "Uhm... no. Is there anything else your boss needs for you to find here?"
She frowns. "Well, I think that he was trying to find somebody. I'm not sure I remember the exact
details."
Sephar says "The financial folks? Or the producers?"
She looks as if she's trying to remember. "I think it was someone who was working here, actually.
Something to do with job employment." She shivers faintly. "My boss can be a bit weird
sometimes."
Sephar pats her shoulder gently with the shiver. "Maybe you should find another boss," and peers
out the door. "Well, the producer is somewhat in charge of employment for the production, and
I'm in charge of the stage hand jobs..."
She nods. "Well, I hope you don't get into any trouble. If I can do anything for you, you will just
let me know, right?" In what's evidently an attempt at a practised maneuver, she offers a business
card.
Daimon laughs out loud.
Sephar takes her business card. "Sure."
The young woman gives another attempt at a friendly smile, then wanders out of the door.
Long distance to Sephar: Demiurge thinks that's probably a Geas/2. :)
Hitherbugpack drifts after her, staying at a reasonable distance so that they will be hard to hear.
Hitherby waits until she's a ways from the door before Hitherhuman climbs out from under the
desk.
Sephar sighs and peers at the necklaces.
The woman heads down the corridor towards the auditorium in a nice normal way.
Hitherby says "So this necklace is important?"
Sephar says "Yes."
Sephar says "It's likely the artifact."
Hitherby says "And -- she was *not* the Habbalite, yes?"
Sephar says "We should look for it. I'm not sure if we should just take it, or if there's a better
thing to do with it."
Sephar says "How does one tell?"
Sephar says "I don't think she was, didn't feel like the one that was nasty to most of the crew. She
wasn't... well... nasty, I don't think."
Hitherby smiles a little. "I just can't remember where I've heard the name Focals before."
Sephar says "Oh."
Sephar frowns.
Hitherby says "I'm following the woman, by the way."
Sephar says "Good."
Hitherby thinks. "Pat said the stage manager was in charge of everything. So he needs to sit down
with the humans and discuss plans for tonight."
<
Demiurge says "Hitherby, the woman heads into the auditorium, and finds a seat at the back. She
folds her hands, and watches the people rehearsing on stage for a while."
Sephar says "It's the name of the financial group that had the machine that almost ate me, Hither."
Hitherby | Is the Calabite still in there?
Sephar says "Should I just let him go to do that sit down and talk? I don't know what his plans
are at all."
Demiurge | The Calabite seems to have wandered off somewhere else. He's not in the auditorium.
Hitherby eyes Sephar.
Sephar blinks back innocently at Hitherby.
Hitherby says, "Dear, I'm not supposed to be the subtle one here."
Sephar says "I know the lights, but that's about it. Subtle?"
Sephar laughs quietly.
Sephar says "Hrm."
Hitherby says "One of us should use his body to talk to the crew."
Sephar thinks that over.
Sephar says "And tell them to watch out for weird stuff?"
Sephar scratches his head.
Hitherby says "Yah, unless they've been rolling in weird already."
Sephar snorts.
Hitherby says "And to find out about the violinist and maybe the Prank."
Hitherby says "Oh my. I've been talking to the Lilim too much."
Hitherby blushes faintly.
Sephar says "They seem to be already. I think that the Prank is attached to the necklace,
somewhat, the artifact. I think I'd like to go find that and get it."
Sephar grins at Hitherby.
Hitherby says "Okay. I'll take the body back?"
Sephar says "So what say we get the necklace first, hand it to one of the good guys and then see
what to do about the talk."
Sephar says "Sure."
Sephar says "Push as you will..."
Hitherby jumps for the stage manager.
<
<
Demiurge says "Hitherby, you're in."
Sephar jumps for the rat.
Hitherby was not actually expecting this, but will *try* not to resist.
<
Sephar *likes* his rat.
Hitherby doesn't resist, clearly. :)
Hitherby smiles awkwardly at the woman.
Sephar squeaks a sorry on feeling more resistance than he's used to...
The woman blinks, looking surprised to find herself here. "Ah.. what's going on, Mr Johns?"
Hitherby says, "Are you all right?"
She nods. "I think so. Why, did I faint or something?"
Hitherby says "You were looking sort of vague. I guess you could have been ... faintwalking ...
or something."
She rubs at her forehead. "That's weird. Thanks for making me sit down, then. I think, if you don't
mind, I should go splash my face with water or something."
Hitherby says "Sure thing. Ah -- I would like to meet with everyone behind the curtains in -- how
soon do you think people can gather?"
She blinks. "Are you shifting the time for the call? I thought it was at five."
Hitherby looks faintly trapped. "I would like to -- just go over everything, generally, make sure
everyone's clear -- I know that things have been weird around here lately, and I don't want anyone
getting confused." Then he smiles. "And I'd like to make sure that if anyone *is* feeling under the
weather, they can let me know with at least a *little* bit of time to spare."
She looks at her watch. "Well, it's half past three now. Are you sure that five won't be all right?
We'll still have a couple of hours before curtain, and frankly, there are people all over the place.
I don't know we could get them all together."
Hitherby chews on her lip. "Perhaps you're right."
Hitherby says "All right. Go on."
She nods, and gets up, heading for the door. "Thanks, Bill."
Hitherby smiles faintly. "Oh!" he adds, as a last parting thought.
She glances back. "Yes?"
Hitherby says "Are the necklace and such all in their normal places? I don't want anyone
wandering around with the props and maybe mislaying them somewhere ..."
She shrugs. "I guess so. Nobody's been doing anything with them that I heard of."
Hitherby says "Great."
Hitherby waits until she's gone, and then walks around and picks up the rat.
Sephar goes cheerfully with.
Hitherby thinks. "Sephar, any idea where props are normally kept?"
Hitherby also tries to remember if she saw any necklaces when she was wandering around in the
depths of the hive.
Demiurge says "Hitherby, you remember that some glittery jewellery-stuff was stored in Props'
room."
Sephar squeeks, "Likely near costumes, which are normally just backstage."
Sephar says "With the other props...""
Hitherby looks thoughtful. "Okay. Let's swing by the Shedite's first office first, and then head
down and look?"
Sephar says "Yes."
Hitherby keeps the bugs generally watching the woman and the play and such and heads for Props'
office.
The business-suited woman rises from her seat in the auditorium, and heads for the door at the
back of the theatre, towards outside.
Demiurge says "Okay, you head for the office. There are police "crime scene" tapes all over the
place."
Sephar peeks out the manager's pocket and if he sees another rat or mouse he'll also hop into it
as they go.
Hitherby follows her with the bugs, avoids her in the stage manager.
Hitherby looks at the police tape.
Hitherby says "*Webs*. Interesting."
Hitherby shoves her way through.
Sephar squeeks, "Webs mean spiders?"
Sephar peers about, bright-eyed for sparkly bits.
The Props room is a well-organised mess, being tidied by a pimply youth who is evidently
unhappy with the job. There are boxes of stage daggers, jewellery, flowers, and the like.
Hitherby glances at the kid.
The youth looks across, and straightens. "Mr Johns! Anything the matter?"
Hitherby says "Have you seen an 'emerald necklace' in here?"
He blinks. "No, sir. Nothing but the usual."
Hitherby says "The usual?"
Sephar peers out and hrms softly and tries to possess the kid.
<
<
Demiurge says "You're in."
Sephar pushes back his hair, puts a pen in his pocket and says "Okay, Hitherby, let's look..."
Hitherby walks over to the boxes and starts idly looking through them. It would be impolite to
dump them on the floor, he supposes, but he does what he can. Anything less wouldn't be a Mr.
Johns job.
Hitherby says "Oh!"
Sephar grins.
Hitherby goes ahead and dumps stuff, then. No witnesses, no problem.
Sephar goes. "Ah! No... one box at a time at least..."
Stuff spills all _over_ the floor.
Sephar groans just a bit...
Hitherby glances at Sephar. "What, this isn't easier?"
Sephar says "Uhm... not for my host when he wakes up."
Hitherby says "Oh."
Hitherby makes a face. "Sorry."
Sephar says "But, yes, it's quick to dump one to look through it quickly and then shove it all back
in. Or I can do this while you do the talk or something."
Sephar says "It's okay...."
Sephar dumps one in a clear area to look through and then puts it back.
Sephar hrms and then thinks a bit and wonders if those records actually match up to places in the
prop room...
Demiurge says "Sephar, the records checked jewellery to match against a list, with notes of who
it was assigned to. It's not obvious if they match placings here in the props room."
Sephar murmurs, "When we find the necklace, I'll take it to Liz or Pat or whomever we can find
to do the analysis and you do your talk with the stage folk?"
Sephar says "Ah. whom was the necklace assigned to?"
Demiurge says "There are several emerald-type necklaces listed, Sephar. One is assigned to the
lead soprano, the others are marked as currently not assigned."
Daimon . o O ( Oh hell. )
Daimon . o O ( That's not even funny. Okay, it is funny. But it's not. )
Sephar sighs quietly. "Hitherby... there were a number of necklaces, but all but one of them were
not assigned. (was the name of the lead soprano on the list?)
Sephar says "The one that was assigned was to the lead soprano."
Demiurge . o O ( heh )
Sephar says "I'll nearly bet that's the one... but it doesn't hurt to look through here."
Daimon . o O ( That Prank is listed as Lame in my book. )
Demiurge says "Lead soprano's name in the book was Victoria Montagni, Sephar."
Sephar looks through what necklaces there are here... can one do something like perceive
Celestial or something to see if they're artifacts?
Hitherby half-smiles. "Then we must collect them all. Including any that are here."
Sephar nods.
Sephar says "That makes sense."
Sephar says "Victoria Montagni."
Demiurge says "Try a Per roll, Sephar. You might notice something, though you can't be _sure_."
Hitherby says "Sephar, how are you on Essence?"
Sephar nods.
<
Sephar says "I'm fairly well off on Essence. Do you need some?"
Demiurge says "None of them _look_ relic-like to you, Sephar."
Sephar grins.
Hitherby says "I could. Just in case."
Sephar touches Hitherby's hand and gives her two.
Hitherby smiles. "Thanks."
Sephar says "Sure."
Sephar collects the necklaces anyway.
Demiurge says "Sephar, you have a flashy, glittery collection of green-stoned stage jewellery."
Sephar stuffs the ones that they find together into a sack. "Hrm. Where to put them?"
Hitherby smiles. "The place with all the rotting stuff outside."
Hitherby says "You know. Metal, closes, big?"
Sephar thinks a bit... "Oh! Yeah... the garbage."
Hitherby says, proudly, "Humans don't like those smells."
Sephar trundles out with it and puts the sack in there, cleans his hands off carefully and comes
back to the prop room and lies down carefully.
Hitherby walks with Sephar as (s)he goes out and says, "Can you handle the backstage on your
own?"
Sephar says "Uhm... likely."
Sephar says "Probably just small and furry instead of human big, though. I'll watch from the
backstage."
Hitherby says, "Just make sure to get any necklaces back there."
Hitherby says "How many more are there?"
Sephar says "Yes, I will, Hitherby."
Hitherby smiles. "Okay."
Sephar counts the ones they found against the ones on the lists... How many?
Sephar says "Or just the one checked out to the soprano?"
Demiurge says "You've found four. There were five. The fifth is presumably the one checked to
the soprano."
Sephar says "Just one more, Hitherby."
Hitherby nods. "Okay." Hm, the woman probably got in a car and left, right? The Focals servant?
Demiurge says "She wandered down a side alley, Hitherby. Did you keep following her?"
Hitherby says "Probably, from a height."
Sephar says "Is there a phone in the properties room?"
Demiurge says "She then went into an expensive-looking business place, through a glass door."
Hitherby nods. Okay. She didn't follow there.
Demiurge says "No, Sephar, there isn't."
Hitherby says "Sephar, I'll bring some bugs around. I want to watch the performance, but make
noise if you get into trouble?"
Sephar says "Yes. I will."
Sephar says "I'm going to put the boy on the floor. You might want to help him wake up or
something? So he doesn't think you put him out?"
Hitherby says "All right."
Sephar straightened what he could while doing the search, so now puts the boy gently on the floor
and then lets go.
Sephar swirls back entirely into the rat.
The boy blinks, coming round. He gawps, scrambling up off the floor.
Hitherby, rehearsedly, asks the boy, "Are you all right?"
He mutters, "Yeah... yeah, sure... what happened? Did I faint or something?" He pauses. "Is there
still some of that gas stuff?"
Hitherby thinks.
Hitherby says "Would that explain it?"
He frowns. "I guess so. Damn. Can I go get some coffee, boss?"
Hitherby smiles. "Sure."
He nods, and heads off to grab a cup of coffee.
Sephar then skitters from Hitherby's pocket to wander about the backstage, pick up what mice
or rats he can find back there and spread the search out with little rodent eyes.
Hitherby then walks determinedly out to pay a visit on a young man with many birds on his roof.
After collecting a few of the birds for herself.
Sephar will also, if one of the rodents runs across a phone line, call Pat and Liz's phones to tell
them about the necklace and who it's assigned to and what it likely is.
Sephar thinks he has only those two phone numbers.
Demiurge says "Sephar, you've run across a phone, and are ringing Liz."
Demiurge says "At this point, Liz's portable phone rings."
Liz blinks as her phone starts ringing.
Liz pulls her phone out of her purse, answers. "Elizabeth Bradley."
Sephar says "It's Sephar... (says the phone in an asexual monotone) I've got data on the artifact."
Liz says "Nice job, Sephar. What's the data?"
Liz says "And where are you? We're currently in the Stage Manager's office. It looks like someone
searched the place pretty heavily."
Sephar says "It's shaped like an emerald necklace and is assigned to the lead soprano of the
opera... I'm backstage. I tried to clean up after they got in..."
Hitherby raps nicely on the young man's door. And crosses her/his mental fingers.
Sephar sounds slightly embarassed, "I don't know who broke in, actually."
Liz says "Ah. Okay. So we need to find the Lead Soprano?"
Sephar says "There is a nice young woman walking around in a suit who works for Focals,
though."
Liz blinks.
Liz says "Can you describe her?"
Sephar describes her as best he can, along with the suit and the hair.
Demiurge says "Black long hair up in chignon, blue eyes, demure manner, white blouse, black suit
with skirt."
Sephar says "The Lead Soprano's name is Victoria Montagni."
Sephar says "Oh. She's the woman we ran into on the stairs."
Liz says "Understood. Thanks for the info. We're currently tracking the other Comedian, but we'll
keep a lookout for the others."
Sephar says "Not the soprano, the lady in the suit."
Sephar says "Okay."
Liz says "Oh, and Daimon looks cute in a Tux. Tell Sarah if you see her."
Sephar chuckles eerily like the crackle of static, "I will."
Sephar hangs up.
Sephar rings Pat.
Pat picks up his phone. "Hello."
Sephar says "I have data on the Artifact, Pat."
Pat says "Go on."
Sephar says "It's an emerald necklace that's been checked out to the lead Soprano of the
production."
Sephar says "and the Lead Soprano's name is Victora Montagni."
Sephar says "There's also a pile of all the other emerald necklaces in the dumpster at the back of
the Opera House, which I'd love to have someone that's good at figuring out artifacts look at."
Pat says "Liz may be able to help. Trade is known for assesment."
Pat says "You're certain Ms. Montagni has the artifact?"
Sephar says "Oh... I hadn't thought of that. I'll ask her."
Sephar says "I'm not 100% certain, but it's highly likely, if she has the necklace."
Pat says "Where did you come across this evidence?"
Sephar says "From inquiries by members of Focal's people."
Sephar says "They're looking for it, too."
Pat says "Unsurprising. Are you and Hitherby still together?"
Sephar says "No. She's doing frontal search, I'm doing a backstage search."
Pat says "But you are both at the theatre."
Sephar says "Yes."
Sephar parallel calls Liz to ask her to take a look at the necklaces in the dumpster.
Pat says "Alright. We'll be there tonight."
Sephar says "Keen. See you then."
Demiurge says "Hitherby, the young man answers the door."
Hitherbirds flutter down onto Mr. Johns' shoulders, one to each.
The young man blinks at the birds. "Cool. Hello, er, do I know you?"
Hitherby says, quietly, "Do you have a moment?"
Pat . o O ( Hitherby, Kyriotate of Dramatic Poses. )
He shrugs. "Sure."
Hitherby steps forward, body language indicating intention to go inside -- although he won't
shoulder the guy aside or anything.
The young man remains on the step. "I don't suppose you'd tell me who you are first?"
Hitherby says, "You can call me Hitherby." He smiles. "I am an, ah --" One of the birds interrupts
Mr. Johns to croak, "Angel." Then the stage manager continues, "I think we should talk. I
promise it will be worthwhile."
Somewhere, Pat smacks his forehead.
Hitherby knows what she's doing! She hopes. :)
The young man's mouth falls open. After a moment he shuts it, thinks then says, "Okay. Come in.
But I warn you, I know karate." He stands back, letting Hitherby enter.
Hitherby walks in, birds shifting from foot to foot as she passes through the door.
The young man watches, nervously. "So. You're an angel."
Hitherby says, quietly, "First, as for that promise." He glances back at the man as he looks for
somewhere backless to sit down. "I'm speaking to you now, before investigating you as
thoroughly as I should, because there's a fair chance -- not big, but not unmeasurably small -- that
you should be on the other side of town later tonight."
The young man looks thoughtful. "Ookay. Any particular reason why?"
There's a stool over by the piano.
Hitherby sits down on the stool, and thinks. "I haven't done this very often. About twice, before."
He hesitates. "I personally am not associated with humanity -- to any great degree. The creatures
that fly, and swim, and walk -- they need angels too. All part of Heaven."
The young man leans back against the wall. He nods at that. "Okay. That makes sense. It lives,
it gets angels. It deserves angels."
Hitherby laughs, and the birds nibble under their wings. "I'm glad you think that way. I had hoped
you would. It's so hard to tell, sometimes, before you ask."
Hitherby says, "There are things in the world besides angels. Some of them have been hanging out
around the opera house. We're working on it, but until they're all taken care of --" He frowns.
"Even some of us who don't normally deal with humans are working on it. I'd like to cancel the
show, but they'd just go into hiding and surface somewhere that we don't have our eyes on."
The young man frowns. "Let me guess. You mean that if you get angels, you have demons too,
and they're the bad guys?"
Pat . o O ( Give the kid a cookie. )
Hitherby leans forward, chin on the back of his hand. "The problem is, the more I tell you, the
more trouble I'm in. I mean, --" He thinks. "The commandment to keep things secret comes from
God. There are a few reasons that we're allowed to break that commandment. One is when we're
recruiting. -- but, yes, there are demons. There are just-a-little-bit-shy-of-decent demons and there
are horrible corrupting shapeless spirits that are like pits of black vileness inside."
The young man's face furrows in thought. "If there are demons, then they would be like that. I can
go with that. That's okay. The problem is just accepting the whole thing in the first place. If you
get what I mean."
Hitherby smiles. "More or less." He considers.
Hitherby says "The truth is, if you were -- amenable to -- serving Heaven more directly than most
humans do -- then convincing you isn't going to be that much of a problem. You would meet with
the Great One -- er, not God, but my Archangel. He's fairly convincing. You would meet with him
at some point. All the commitment that that requires is -- well, being on the other side of town
tonight, and going out into a more wild place to meet him, sometime soon. I can provide a variety
of demonstrations, however, albeit less extreme than the Great One's presence."
Hitherby glances around for something heavy that one of her birds could get a grip on.
There are several chairs and books and the television and the like.
The young man is clearly thinking seriously about this. He nods. "I can grasp what you're saying,
man. Or angel, whatever. It's just a leap of faith, you know? Accepting it."
Hitherby nods. "I had trouble accepting humans and demons at first, myself."
He frowns. "I don't know what to ask you to do."
Hitherby says, "Oh. How about this?" And one of the birds launches off her shoulder and
gracefully snatches up a reasonably heavy chair, bringing it back over by Hitherman. At least, it
tries. :)
The young man gawps.
Hitherby says, "Incidentally, I should clarify that 'recruitment' doesn't mean that you'd be fighting
demons, or that you have to immediately give away everything you own to the animal shelters.
God doesn't ask more of a person than they can fairly give, and as for his intermediaries -- well,
we try to be reasonable."
He closes his mouth with an effort, and nods. "Yeah. I suppose so. But you don't know anything
about _me_."
Hitherby smiles. "Yes. I'm fairly confident because if I've made a bad choice, I'll just get a
tongue-lashing and no real harm will be done. I just felt that we should have this talk before --
anything more happens in this neighborhood."
Hitherby says "But -- well. Tell me about yourself."
Hitherby says "If it's a concern."
He frowns. "I like birds. I draw lots of pictures of them, their wings, the way they move in the
sky. My parents are dead, but they left me this place and an allowance. I've got some friends. I
don't spend much time with them." He shrugs. "I just like watching the birds."
Hitherby looks thoughtful.
He shrugs again. "I'm sorry if it's not much."
Hitherby says, "You can say the word, and I'll walk out your door, and you won't have to worry
about any of this again. Or you can have as much time as you need to think things through, and
I'll tell you where to go to when you've decided. Or you can decide, freely, honestly, that you love
the one who made the birds and that you have the dedication to do something -- sometimes for
the flying ones, and maybe sometimes for the other beasts, and maybe even sometimes for humans
who are in trouble. Because being on the side of Heaven means you can't forget any part of God's
creation." He says, softly, "It's a raw deal, really. The work is hard and the pay's not that great.
But -- forgetting about where you go in the end, it's awful good for the soul *right now*, as you
live it."
Hitherby says "Maybe that's just an angel thing. I don't know."
The young man looks out of the window, at the street and the corner of the sky beyond, then
turns back again.
He says, "Okay. I'm in."
Hitherby smiles brightly. "Welcome to the fold." He looks solemn. "For now, just be on the other
side of town tonight. If I don't return -- go to Say
you need to speak to Jordi. And maybe pray a little."
Hitherby hesitates, and then adds, quietly, "Thank you."
He nods. His eyes are still distracted, and just a touch frantic. Perhaps it's faith.
---