Demiurge says "Shannen, what time do you return from the Glade? Early afternoon?"
Shannen nods to Demi.
Demiurge says "And you return to your coffee shop?"
Shannen nods "Yup, picking up a paper and other assorted goods along the way. I'd like to read the review of the opera."
Demiurge laughs. "The opera gets a very good review. No suggestion of, ah, irregularities."
The phone in Shannen's room begins to ring.
Hitherby's swarm, outside her shop, probably drops down to talk to Shannen as she enters. Or not. :)
Shannen is happy then, that at least the general public was unawares and waits for the third ring or so before answering the phone, still reading the paper.
A clipped female voice is on the other line. "I need to discuss invisible worms."
<
<
<
Shannen puts down the paper, sitting up and becoming much more attentative "I.. well, don't
know a lot about invisible worms, but can probably help you anyhow."
<
There's an air of relief on the other end. "Okay. We've got, ah, someone who needs some medical
attention. Can you suggest a neutral area where we can meet up?"
<
<
Shannen uh ohs under her breath "A neutral area? Well, my place is fine. It's .. homey, I guess.
Other than that .. umm.. any generic park should work fine .. what happened? Is it serious?"
The person on the other end of the line snorts. "Moderately serious. You don't want it to be in
an open place, trust me, and I don't think you want it at your place either." There's a pause, and
some flipping of paper.
The voice says, "Look, you know the Four Keys Club, out down south? It'll be closed during the
day. We can meet up there, unless you want somewhere else."
You paged Shannen with 'You know the place: it's a moderately popular thrash music club.'.
From afar, Shannen is having to redefine the scale to measure your evilness.
Shannen shakes her head "Nono, that'll be fine. I can be there soon, I think. Umm, any way for
me to identify you, or are you going to identify me? Or should I just look for some puddles of
blood and follow them?"
Long distance to Shannen: Demiurge thought you did that yesterday. :)
Shannen pages: You keep outgrowing it:p
There's some muttering on the other end of the phone, then the voice says, "We'll leave the street
door open. Knock four times before you come up."
Long distance to Shannen: Demiurge says, piously, "Much is expected from those to whom the
Archangels give great gifts."
Shannen nods "I'll be there as soon as I can. Oh boy.. is there anything else you need?"
The voice says, "Just someone to fix this guy up. See you." The phone rings off.
From afar, Shannen makes a note not to ask Novalis for anything more..
Shannen puts the phone down, staring at it for a few second, before moving to the medicine
cabinet and take bandages, antibiotics, and anything else that she might need and puts them in her
purse, before heading out, trying to look as calm as possible.
The street outside is normal and bland, with no obvious watchers. Unless Hitherby cares to make
herself known.
Hitherbugs drop down neatly to fall in beside Shannen.
Hitherby hums atonally, "Hi."
Shannen gives the bug a quick glance and continues walking, talking "Hey Hitherby. How are
you? And everyone else? Have you seen them?"
Hitherby drifts along, spread out at maximum dispersion. Softly (for this very reason) she mutters,
"Decided to drop by you, first, since the Great One and the Flowered One are allies."
Shannen smiles, "Yeah, we are. Is something up?"
Hitherby mutters, with a few interspersed clicks, "The Great One feels that one of you is in
danger. I think."
Hitherby swirls around in momentary confusion. "At least, he thinks you need protection. This
may be indisputable, danger or no."
Shannen slows in her walk to a stop, tapping her foot for a second "I wonder." and continues on
"If we caused as much trouble as we think we did, I can imagine we're in danger." She shivers and
looks at her watch.
Hitherby hums thoughtfully. "We didn't cause *that* much trouble. I mean, one artifact, one
Balseraph --"
<
<
Hitherby says, "Plus the Kobalites, but he won't mind that."
Shannen nods, considering "True, true."
Demiurge says "It'll take about ten-fifteen minutes to reach the club, Shannen."
<
Hitherby bobs up and down. "I sort of got confused while I was in the Council Fire and a lot of
time passed and the party wasn't happening at Sistine's any more."
<
Hitherby chrisks cheerfully, "I'll probably stop by Sephar's soon. Although I doubt Jordi meant
him."
Shannen grins "I.. think I remember the party. Did umm.. the Great One mention anything else
important?"
Hitherby chirrs thoughtfully. "New Soldier. Still deciding who his secondary contact point should
be."
Hitherby adds, "Probably you, Sephar, or Pat. I don't want to introduce him to everyone
immediately and overwhelm him."
Shannen ohs softly "Cool. Does he drink coffee?" and grins "Introduce him to me sometime."
Hitherby says "Definitely."
Hitherby says "He probably drinks coffee. Isn't that, like, a human thing?"
Shannen chuckles "Yeah, I guess it is. Coffee is a Good Thing in life, though. Especially mocha."
Hitherby says "You have had no indications of trouble, yourself, I hope?"
Shannen shakes her head "No, well, I hope not. So far, everything seems okay, though, but I've
been upstairs most of the day."
<
Hitherby hums busily. "Ah! No wonder."
Hitherby sounds almost embarrassed. "I only looked in the ground floor windows."
Shannen grins "It was a nice time, you know. Not that upstairs.." she giggles. "Novalis always
know how to throw a party."
Hitherby hums busily again. "Ah!" A momentary swirling hesitation. "That narrows things down,
then. It will be Liz, Daimon, or Sarah who requires protection."
Shannen huhs "H-h-how do you know that?"
Hitherby chirrs atonally, "Deduction. Dominique provided Pat no warning; Novalis provided you
no warning; Sephar belongs to Jean, and the Great One was not hesitant in his suggestion; I
cannot, obviously, protect myself."
Hitherby dips low. "Augh."
Shannen nods slowly "Oookay. Huh -- something wrong?"
Hitherby says, faintly, "I *can* protect myself. But you know what I mean."
<
Shannen chuckles "Yeah, I do." She checks her watch "Do you know how the others - Liz and
such - are?"
Hitherby says "I haven't checked yet."
Hitherby hums thoughtfully. "I'll send a bird thataway."
Shannen grins "Hitherby, I've got something to do that's kinda with others who would be a little
suspicious of humming bugs." She giggles.
Hitherby hums thoughtfully. "Understood. -- If it would help you feel safer, I can send one or two
with you, to alert me in case of trouble?"
Shannen grins, shaking her head "No thank you - I think I'm going to be okay. I am worried about
Daimon though. You'd think the Game would want his head on a stick."
Hitherby hums puzzledly, then chrups! "Ah. For cooking?"
Hitherby bobs in the air. "Adieu."
Shannen giggles "Something like that .. bye!"
Hitherby whirls up into the air and vanishes.
Shannen continues on to Her Fatiny
<
When you come to the club door, there's nobody obviously hanging around.
<
Shannen pauses outside and then knocks four times quickly.
A muffled voice calls, from inside, "Come in and up the stairs!" It's the voice from the telephone
call.
Shannen slips inside, making sure to close the door behind her. She takes some looks around
before making her way for the stairs.
The place has the atmosphere of any club closed for the daytime: dusty, dry, empty. The wooden
back stairs that lead upwards creak as you climb them. There are a couple of dark stains on the
wall, about waist-level. A door is at the top, part-open.
Shannen looks at the stains carefully, uh ohing softly before gently pushing open the door, staying
outside.
Inside, there's a bulky black man standing near the door, in a ripped t-shirt and jeans, with a gun
holstered at his belt. Further in, there's a wounded man lying on the floor, roughly bandaged.
Shannen pages: I have a feeling I'm not in Kansas anymore, Toto..
A woman kneels beside him, of Indian descent, in a sharply-cut navy suit, trying to keep her knees
out of the blood. She looks across, frowning. "You're the one?"
Long distance to Shannen: Demiurge hehs.
Shannen nods quickly, making her way over to the bloody person as quickly as she can , opening
her purse "Oh dear, what happened to him?" She frowns "I really don't have a lot of Essence.."
The woman offers her hand. "I can give you some. We need to get him fixed up fast, trust me on
this one. He can't afford to get his Vessel killed."
The man was in some sort of black t-shirt and jeans before taking multiple bullet wounds to chest
and right shoulder: his face has traces of black and white make-up on it, roughly wiped off. He's
unconscious.
Shannen winces and takes the woman's hand, nodding "Okay, I.. what happened? Or is that
beyond my clearance?"
The woman smirks, briefly. "Trust me on this one, you're safer not knowing." She closes her eyes,
funnelling four points of Essence across.
Shannen takes in a little breath with the Essence, nodding "Okay, I'll take your word for it. Umm,
safer to not know who you're working for?" She bends over the wounded man and begins to sing
softly, as best she can, some part of the opera she remembers, while moving one finger gently
along the man's cheek.
The woman says, severely, "Safer for you, safer for us, safer for _everyone_. Trust me."
From afar, Shannen grins "I'm probably going to get d666 -- Corp Healing, +4 for the roll, +1 to
for healing.. And I am most definitely spending the night in a garden for the next few weeks."
The man at the door grunts, shifting position to glance down the stairs, then back again, his
position watchful. Something metallic glints through the rips in his t-shirt.
<
As Shannen's Song washes across him, the wounded man groans and shifts, some of his more
severe wounds knitting up, and the flow of blood slowing, then stopping.
The woman considers him. "Hm. That's better. Okay, say we bandage the rest? Can you use a
spare pair of hands to tie knots or something?"
Shannen lets out a breath afterward, smiling faintly, although looking somehat drained and nods
to the woman "Yes, that's a good idea. I have some bandages in my purse...." and she begins to
pull them out "Would be a good idea to change them.."
The woman nods. "Sure. This isn't my field." She does any padding or tying that she's told to do,
the man by the door still staying on the alert.
Shannen smiles and bandages him up as well as she can, trying to give instruction on how to do
things "Do you need anything else here? Coffee, food, a place to stay?"
She shakes her head. "Thanks, but no. We'll be moving him somewhere else. Safer that way."
Shannen nods "Do you need help cleaning up the place? Or .. is this sort of thing expected?"
The woman says, "Someone will clean the mess up later. It'll be dealt with. We just needed to
stabilise him." She pauses. "Look, you've been helpful. I can give you a number to ring if you need
help yourself at some point." Her voice is reluctant.
Shannen . o O ( Trap trap trap )
Shannen pauses and nods "Yes, thank you. I.. might actually need it." She blushes faintly "You're
welcome, and if you ever need anything, well, you know the procedure." A grin.
She nods, and quickly dictates a telephone number. "Got that?"
Shannen pauses "I hope so." and then nods before standing slowly "I'll make sure it's a real
emergency before I call, and I won't tell anyone else about this."
The woman nods. Her tone is severe again, as she says, "Sensible. Now then. I suggest you get
out of here first. We'll be on our way a few minutes later. Watch your back."
Shannen pauses and looks behind her for a second before making her way to the door, speaking
as she does so "Do you think this meeting of ours is going to bring either of us into unnecessary
danger?"
The woman shrugs. "I'm classing it as necessary danger, or I wouldn't have called you. I only do
the danger thing when it's necessary. That a good enough answer?"
Shannen nods "Yeah. Well, goodbye and good luck.." she turns at the doorway and gives a wave,
smiling brightly for a second "Keeep smiling!" and then makes her way down the stairs and out.
Outside, all is quiet, and it is now late afternoon. Everything seems peaceful.
Shannen returns home to stare at her phone for some time, drinking coffee.
---