Hives And Flowers

<> Demiurge says "It's shortly before dawn. Shannen is at her cafe, doing... ?"

<> Demiurge says "Hitherby and Sephar are bringing one Thomas cross-town."

<> Shannen says "Before Dawn? I'm downstairs having a nice cup of coffee and being sociable :)"

<> arcangel . o O (Sociable? With *who*??)

<> Demiurge says "The coffee? :)"

<> Demiurge says "The plants?"

<> Shannen says "Any people who are there :) Actually, good point. We don't open until dawn. Heehee. So I'm just drinking coffee and waking up :)"

SepharThomas zooms happily to Shannen's cafe, humming to himself.

SepharThomas keeps the windows closed and the ventilation off to keep Hitherbugs from getting blown about.

Hitherby wiggles her wings from Thomas' shoulder, looking very much the aeronaut even without wind.

There isn't much traffic at this time of night. Shannen's cafe can be reached within twenty minutes.

Sephar says "So the plan is to drop Thomas off at Shannen's? or should I just ride him for as long as I can to keep Fate from fooling him into something stupid?"

Sephar says "For a while at least."

Hitherby says, "I was thinking that we would tie him up at Shannen's and talk to him. Then, we could either follow that plan or just release him, if we save him or he's unsalvageable."

Sephar says "Cool."

Sephar says "It'll be fun to listen to Shannen talk to him after the other stuff."

Hitherby says, "I'm increasingly thinking that if he absolutely refuses to fly straight and is just a Soldier of Hell, we should cut him loose; then we can kill him some other day when there's no danger of dissonance. The important thing is to try and save his soul, and to find out if that's possible."

SepharThomas listens gravely, nodding at the end.

The cafe comes into sight.

SepharThomas tools his way into the cafe's parking lot enjoying the responces of the car, and the odd quirks of clutch and gas and acceleration.

The car handles nicely. Clearly Thomas cares for it.

SepharThomas parks in a spot towards the back, sighing happily. "Nice car. He can't be all evil when he takes care of his equipment well."

Hitherby hums noncommitally.

The parking lot is mostly empty at this time of night.

<> Shannen | Do you see a sign outside my cafe' that says 'Soldier of Hell storage'?

SepharThomas opens the door and holds it open for a bit to be sure all of Hitherby can get out.

<> Sephar squints, "I can almost see it."

<> Hitherby is sure we'll consult you. :)

Hitherby swirls out and about.

SepharThomas then closes the door carefully, and locks the car up nicely, then strolls over to the door of the cafe and tries it.

<> Demiurge says "Up to you whether it's open or shut, Shannen."

The door is pleasantly locked, but Shannen is sitting quite close to it and looks up when it jangles.

SepharThomas hms slightly at the locked door, so raps on it lightly with a knuckle. "Wonder if she's here."

Hitherby chrisks, "Well, it's her assignment, as I understand it."

Sephar says "That would be useful."

Hitherby whispers atonally, "Sort of like a Seneschal, except without the Tether part."

Shannen steps over to the door and unlocks it, opening it a bit and smiling brightly "Oh hi. We'll be open soon."

Hitherby swirls up to form a bug-halo behind SepharThomas' head.

Sephar says "Hi, Shannen."

SepharThomas uhms, and then whistles the notes of Sephar's name, "May we come in a bit early anyway? We need to talk."

Hitherby is polyoptical and multicolored rather than glowing white light, but otherwise she makes a rather good halo.

SepharThomas, entirely unaware of his halo adds a cheerful, "Please?"

Hitherby also has lots of legs. And other bug parts. But the principle stands.

Shannen amusedly eyes the bugs "Cute." and erms softly to herself, turning slightly to wave to the staff "I'm going upstairs." before kinda pushing Thomas a little to turn him "I suppose. Erm. Who is this?"

<> Shannen will Resonate while pushing.

Hitherby thumps down to Thomas' shoulders.

<> Demiurge says "Roll, please."

<> Shannen rolls the d666 and gets 6 1 CHECK: 3.

<> Shannen says "Nope :)"

Sephar goes with the turn and whispers at Shannen, "Uhm... I'm Sephar in Thomas' body."

Hitherby chrisks, "Long story, which we will nevertheless be telling shortly. Upstairs sounds good. And," very softly, "do you have any restraints?"

Shannen leads off alongside the building, stopping to lock the door first "Oh." and grins "That makes sense then. Wait. Who's Thomas?"

SepharThomas looks about to be sure there aren't folks in hearing distance, "He's a Solder of Hell that's being manipulated by Fate to be mean, and we think he could be okay, if given the chance, so we'd like to."

Hitherby chrisks, "He may not be fully theirs yet, you see."

Hitherby chrisks, "So we needed a safe place to talk to him. And we thought you might appreciate the opportunity to participate in trying to save him."

Hitherby adds, "We can do it in the woods or something, if you had rather, but humans like amenities, and we might need him for a bit."

Shannen nods slowly "Ookay. Well. Let's go upstairs." and leads the way up to her apartment "I'm just wondering. Do you think if you woke up in a strange place, would you yell and scream?"

Hitherby chrisks, her voice somewhat confused, "Why would I do that?"

SepharThomas hrms, "He might."

SepharThomas says "He wasn't particularly nice."

SepharThomas says "Though he didn't seem stupid, either."

Shannen nods to SepharThomas "I envision that his first reaction to seeing a brightly smiling face - while tied up - would be to scream. Probably hoping to get any outside attention."

SepharThomas says "Ah."

SepharThomas says "So you want us to not tie him up?"

Hitherby hums, softly, "Hm."

<> Demiurge says "Shannen, up to you whether Shannen has any applicable restraints. She probably has a few silk scarves at least, for personal wear."

Hitherby says, "I could find a human host and hold his tongue."

SepharThomas contemplates bright smiling faces, and tied up, and decides human interactions are complex.

<> Shannen nods "And belts."

<> Demiurge nods.

Shannen shakes her head "No holding tongues. They're too slippery in the first place." she pauses "Okay. Well, we could tie him up. I've got some things, but we'll still have to keep him from talking. Maybe a gag but..I don't like that."

SepharThomas nods at that last, "You're good at talking with humans, that's why we came to you, I think."

Hitherby ponders.

SepharThomas says "You think you could persuade him not to yell?"

Hitherby says, "We could hold his mouth shut? Or, um,"

Hitherby thinks.

Hitherby says, "Sephar could be chewing something tasty when he depossesses?"

SepharThomas hrms at that idea, "He might choke..."

Shannen sighs softly to herself "Well. I don't know exactly what I could say to keep him from screaming. He's probably going to be very frightened and angry." She smiles "Well, I've got plenty of sweets, but that's not going to work for very long."

SepharThomas says "How about set him in front of coffee and a danish or something?"

SepharThomas says "Or just not tie him up, and I'll try and grab him if he does something stupid?"

Hitherby says, "It wouldn't work, Sephar, because if he feels in control, he'll continue to think it's all just ethereal tricks."

SepharThomas says "Oh."

The phone rings.

SepharThomas hrms mildly. "Okay. So long as the re--"

Shannen blinks and shakes her head "Coffee and danish probably won't work. But that's a good idea - would either of you two like any?" She smiles "Well, we might be able to get something, but any scream is going to arouse suspicion."

Hitherby says "I mean, I'm no expert on human reactions. But that's how it seems to me."

Hitherby says, "We could use a 'gag' for a short time, just for when he's waking up?"

The phone rings again.

SepharThomas peeks at the phone, then at Shannen and Hitherby to see if they're going to answer it or just let it ring...

Shannen eyes the phone and sighs, then moves to pick it up "Hi! It's Shannen!" she speaks into it.

SepharThomas sighs perceptibly and relaxes a bit.

A familiar female voice says, quietly, "Good morning. I was wondering if we could talk about invisible worms."

Hitherby attempts to convey with the set of her wings that she does not answer phones or take dictation.

<> Pat says "Muah. Ha. Ha."

Hitherby sighs. "Okay," she whispers atonally. "We will take him to the wilds, where no one will hear, and we will bind him loosely, and Shannen, you may accompany us if you like to help."

Shannen chokes a little "Ah yes." She giggles "Sorry, caffeineted. What can I do for you, then?"

Shannen is talking into the phone.

The female voice says, "Actually, it's something I may be able to do for you."

SepharThomas nods at what Hitherby says and listens to Shannen's side of the conversation curiously.

Shannen plops onto the bed, shaking her head in the general direction of the bugs. "For me?" She frowns a little "I don't understand."

Hitherby chrisks happily.

The female voice says, "You know the recent bombing at the John Hopkins lab?"

Shannen raises an eyebrow "From the papers..but that's about all."

Hitherby coalesces by Sephar's ear and whispers, "If you possess, like, a shirt, can you control it? Like, to wrap the arms around his mouth from behind his head without being tight unless necessary?"

SepharThomas murmurs back, "I can, but not very strongly."

The female voice says, briskly, "We'd like to see something done about it. If you have areas that need investigation, but that *you'd* have problems getting to, it's possible we could find out more."

The female voice says, "We could then pass information back to you, and you could give it to any more," the voice is dry, "violent friends that you chose."

SepharThomas adds, a bit abashed, "I'm pretty weak, physically, so if he tried to pull it off, I might not be able to stop him."

Hitherby says, "If his hands were tied the regular way?"

SepharThomas says "Oh! I might be able to do that."

Shannen chokes a little more "I see. Well. Erm. I could probably find out areas that need investigation. From friends. Do you have any suggestions or places you'd like to start?"

The voice says, "I was rather expecting that you could give me the areas to look into. You know. The sort of spot where your *types* might not be able to get into easily. Even a Word that you suspected was linked."

SepharThomas cocks an ear at what Shannen says, mouths, "Pat's an investigator." at her.

<> Shannen tries to remember just what Shannen was told about JHU and such. Nothing, I think :)

Hitherby floats around looking for a good shirt for Sephar to use, having nothing better to do just this second.

Shannen grins "I know something happened in Paris, but that's not what you're talking about." She pauses, tapping her fingers against the side of her head and turning her head and lowering her voice to keep the sound from drifting to people it shouldn't drift to "Theft wasn't involved, but you're either talking about a Tether or Hell. I think I can dig some places for you to go, but not yet. There's some people I need to question about this matter."

The female voice says, more friendly now, "You have my number. Contact me when you have a lead." There is a click, and the phone goes dead.

SepharThomas peers down at his shirt, "Hitherby, you think this shirt will do?"

Hitherby chrisks, "Humans generally like wearing their own shirt, but it would do."

Hitherby says "Shannen, we've figured out a way to keep him quiet. So -- tie him up here or do we take him to a wild place?"

Shannen hangs up the phone and eyes bugs and Thomas "Okay. What's the plan? We can keep him here. Feed him lots of drugs or something - I've got sleeping pills. Those won't last forever, though. I'd rather not take him out into the wilds of-" she pauses "That's pretty far away anyway."

Hitherby says, "Shannen, the point isn't to keep him inactive."

Hitherby says, "We want to be able to talk to him without him leaving or sneering."

Shannen says "And after we're done talking with him? Are we going to leave him out there?"

Sephar says "I think we're going to let him go."

Sephar says "Take him somewhere else, so he doesn't know where this is."

Sephar says "If he doesn't want help. If he does want help, he might want to stay with you. I don't know."

Hitherby says, "Exactly."

Sephar says "He'd probably be safer with you than with Fate sniffing at his heels."

Hitherby says, "If he can't be saved, then he's just meat. I'd leave him alone or hunt him some other day."

Shannen frowns slightly "I think it's going to take a little more than a single conversation to figure that out." She sighs again "Yeah. Okay. But..I think it may be a good idea if..I made myself look different. Make up..clothing..hrm. I'd rather not be an accessory to kidnapping."

Hitherby says, "All right."

Sephar says "Sure."

Hitherby says, "You could also use celestial form. I understand humans think all angels are supposed to look like Mercurians anyway, although we'd have to get him to see."

Shannen sighs inwardly and ponders a disguise before shaking her head at Hitherby "I'd rather not."

SepharThomas peers out the window for a bird or something... wants a Host while the others are talking with Thomas.

Hitherby says, "Okay."

There are a couple of early morning pigeons out there.

Hitherby says, "In any case, we need to hurry. Things come up about once per hour, and we're running out of the Thomas hour. Well, metaphorically."

<> SepharThomas rolls the d666 and gets 3 6 CHECK: 1.

<> SepharThomas gets a pigeon?

<> Demiurge rolls the d666 and gets 4 3 CHECK: 6.

<> Demiurge says "A pigeon is got."

Shannen nods and sighs at her hair "Okay, I'll get a hat, stick as much of my hair under it as I can. Throw some makeup on. And..erm..change into something a lot more out of character." She proceeds to work on accomplishing these things.

SepharThomas opens the window for its pigeon and the pigeon flies in and settles up on top of a cupboard.

<> Hitherby says "Sephar picked a pecking possessed pigeon."

<> SepharThomas falls over laughing.

<> Shannen . o O ( Why can't I have any normal friends? )

<> arcangel reminds Shannen that Hitherby is a Kyriotate of Animals -- perfectly normal friend for a Flower.

<> SepharThomas says "You're not normal are you? Eek! Normality! Eek!"

<> Hitherby nods. Hitherby's complete inability to understand Shannen is as freaky as her ability to understand Sarah :)

<> SepharThomas says "A cherub. Yeesh."

<> SepharThomas giggles.

Shannen goes all black. And yellow. Black and yellow. And works on the makeup and hair part, trying to make everything look completely unShannen.

<> Demiurge says "Hm. Try a Savoir Faire roll."

<> Shannen rolls the d666 and gets 6 2 CHECK: 5.

SepharThomas paces slowly, back and forth in the livingroom, checks out some restraint mechanisms to be sure that they aren't goingto harm his Host, remembering what he's read on the Internet about materials and then Remote Controls 'em into restraining him thoroughly but comfortably, taking his time to do it and test it.

<> Shannen says "Shweet."

Shortly, Shannen is entirely unrecognisable.

>From the living room come regular grunts and straining noises, with the occasional ripping sound.

Shannen nods in approval "Nice." and shouts "What's going on out there?" as she makes her way back.

Sepharpigeon sets itself in a place where it can see Thomas' back to help him out with the knots.

SepharThomas says back, mildly, "Uhm... trying out a few things."

Shannen blinks and shakes her head "Oh dear. Do you need any help?"

SepharThomas says, remarkably cheerfully, "I think I'm getting it, but I might need a bit of help in a bit testing things."

Hitherby swirls thoughtfully.

Hitherby attempts to pick up a pigeon, herself, washing over to the window.

Shannen nods. "Okay. Well. Can you two bring the car around the corner? I'd rather not be seen by the staff looking like this."

Sephar says, "Uhm. Car?"

Sephar is pretty tied up by this point.

Hitherby chrisks, "I think there has been a miscommunication."

SepharThomas nods at Hitherby, "Uhm. Probably, though I could undo all this stuff and bring it with if we're going over somewhere."

Shannen nods "I can drive, fortunately."

SepharThomas looks up at Shannen, "We're going somewhere?"

Shannen nods slowly "Weren't we going to go someplace and talk with Thomas?"

<> Hitherby tries again, if there's a third pigeon within 10 yards. If not, just ignore the roll.

<> Hitherby rolls the d666 and gets 1 4 CHECK: 5.

Sephar says "Oh. Sure. If you can get us there, that'd be cool."

<> Demiurge rolls the d666 and gets 4 2 CHECK: 3.

<> Demiurge says "Okay, you have a pigeon."

Shannen nods "Where are we going to go? It's quite some distance to well .. be out in the middle of nowhere."

Sephar says "Oh. I thought we were going to do it somewhere that wasn't so far out. But I'm game for whatever works."

SepharThomas adds, "Though Hitherby and I did work out a way to not-gag Thomas until he started to do something stupid."

Shannen says "We'd need some place where any screams won't be heard." She tilts her head "Erm. What's the plan?"

<> Hitherby can probably think of the closest places that aren't developed in any meaningful sense, but can roll if she needs to? She's not that hip on D.C. geography OOC, despite living right next to it. :)

SepharThomas says, "I'd basiclaly be ready with his shirt to stuff it in his mouth if he tried to scream."

SepharThomas adds, "Which might work in less populated areas as well, for that matter, as a scream in a park is likely a bad thing as well."

<> Demiurge says "There's the National Arboretum, which is big. And which also holds the local Novalis-Tether."

Hitherby says, "Would the National Arboretum be acceptable? I know it's near your Tether, and you may consider that a problem, but we can do it a ways away from the Tether itself."

Shannen considers this "Well, I guess it would be okay if the Seneschal approves. I'm not sure when it opens up, but we can probably get in anyway. I guess that place is as good as any."

SepharThomas and pigeon undo things as patiently as they did them, remembering what worked and what didn't and carefully coiling and stacking and bundling things together that he needs.

Shannen eyes the pile of restraining stuff "This is going to be..interesting."

SepharThomas grins, "Indeed." as Sepharpigeon flies to land on his shoulder. He bends to pick up the stuff and settle it under one arm, and then offers his other to Shannen.

Hitherby says, "Let's hit the road."

Hitherby lands on the opposite shoulder.

SepharThomas opens the door for Shannen, letting her out first, to lead them to her car.

Shannen eyes the pigeons, but says nothing and goes to grab the sleeping pills first before running out.

---

Fiat Justitia