You say "Shall we?"

Mellor says "Sure! So where were we? I was curled round my heart, being kind of traumatised."

<<Scene Start>>

<<OOC>> Tarot says "In shock."

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Right."

The Heart sings of ice cream and other lovely things. The smallish (Mellor's size, just about) Djinn gazes impassively at Shedite and Heart.

Mellor demanifests all eyes and ears, and other sensory organs, and curls closer to its heart. It croons back, very softly (without a mouth)

For a sweet long time, there is nothing but the comforting flicker of Heart. Wonderful Heart, lovely Heart, Heart that sings for Mellor and Mellor alone, Heart granted by the hand of the Prince.

Eventually, the Djinn grunts, "You gotta job to do?"

Mellor ripples with irritation, just a little around the edges.

The Djinn grunts, "Well? Or are you gonna break it?"

Mellor says "No!"

The Djinn shifts itself, all rustling leathery wings and scratching of scales on stone. "So you gotta job to do?"

Mellor opens a blood-shot eye and just looks at the Djinn. "I just want to watch it..."

The Djinn grunts. "Watchit too long, patrol'll be here."

Mellor wraps itself around the heart protectively. Break it? No ... no. It tries to pretend the Djinn isn' there.

Mellor says "Comrade, if you'd just chased an enemy superior from the corporeal plane single-handedly, you might be feeling a bit fragile as well."

<<OOC>> Tarot chokes.

The Djinn shifts again, with a dry noise. "Yeah, right. Tell it to t

The Djinn shifts again, with a dry noise. "Yeah, right. Tell it to t' patrol."

Mellor scoffs, "You probably haven't even got a vessel."

The Djinn snorts. "So? You don't neither."

Mellor listens to the secrets of its heart.

The Heart sings and croons, promising everything will be all right, power will be Mellor's, all is well with the universe.

Mellor adds, " ... or a heart of your own. All this watching over other people's..."

The Djinn snorts. "Gotta Heart. Gotta have a Heart to watch a Heart. 'Nuther Djinn watches my Heart. Big ol' Heartpile."

Mellor manifests a nose, with which to sniff disbelievingly.

The Djinn sniffs back, disdainfully. "Anyway. You gotta job, get back to it. Otherwise, patrol'll getcha."

Mellor pulls itself up, stretching like Shedite-chewing-gum. It strokes its heart with one slick tentacle tip and says coldly, "Of course I do. And it's very important." It tries to imply that it is far more impressive than watching heaerts, whatever it might be...

The Djinn says, "So go do yer job already." It hunkers close to the stone, eyes flickering in the Heartlight.

Mellor manifests a few more eyes. It waves forlornly to its heart as it moves off. Too dangerous to stay.

Mellor attempts to head for.. the records. That is quiet, plenty of places where a Shedite might lie low for awhile.

The Heart glimmers and pulses, glowing to the beat of the symphony within Mellor's being.

The corridors are dark, of course. And gray and shadowed. Hades is like that. Stark stone, barren brick. Eventually, Mellor gets to the dry paper reek of the records, the shuffling of souls and their demon overseers.

Mellor keeps to the shadows also, doing nothing to draw attention to itself. It floats down rows of shelves or cupboards, searching for some quiet area where it can pretend to be hard at work.

A Balseraph uncoils itself from a nest of papers and peers at Mellor with reading-glasses propped on the end of its nose. "Serrrrrrvant?"

<<OOC>> Mellor says "Ah. Wait. Do I recognise this balseraph...?"

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Actually, no -- it's not yours."

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Unless it changed scale-color."

Mellor spins on the spot, letting a small dark pool of ooze collect beneath it. It manifests three more eyes, on stalks. "How may I be of assistance?"

The Balseraph fans out deep indigo wings. "Arre you new herrre, serrrvant?"

Mellor sticks two tentacles up at the liar, but behind its back.

<<OOC>> Mellor says "Does it look more powerful than me?"

<<OOC>> arcangel says "By at least a Force, yeah."

Mellor says "Not new, sir. But I haven't worked in the records recently."

The Balseraph gapes a sharp-fanged grin. "Ahhhh. Mine, then. Adrrranna got the last one." It narrows its upper eyes in a possessive way.

Mellor wiggles the hidden tentacles in a particularly rude gesture. "I'm honoured," it says, drooling with an extra mouth, just to give the impression of eagerness. "I just have this small task that I was given to complete by our Prince, in person."

The Balseraph narrows the upper and middle pairs of eyes now, thoughtfully. "What task, little serrrrvant?"

Mellor thinks quickly. Still a bit shaken from the close call of earlier.

Mellor says "Uhh.. research about possible renegades who mgiht have been seen where I was last in the corporeal. Very important."

The Balseraph nods. "Verrry imporrtant. Yes. What Rrenegades? What location? I can prrrovide inforrmation." It rustles its nest of papers with its tail.

Mellor brings another couple of eyes to bear, more politely. It looks away, with all of them, in different directions.

Mellor says "I'm not sure that I was supposed to tell anyone, because it was difficult to get permission to be there at all. But I trust your judgment, sir."

Mellor tells it IOU, with whatever the real name/address is.

Mellor hopes it will want to go there, preferably before Yves leaves.

The records stretch out, dark rows of shelving full of paper, with shadowed movement about them.

The Balseraph pauses. "Strrafforrd County Univerrrsity?" It noses around in its pile, bringing papers close to its spectacled eyes.

<< GAME >> Arcangel rolls the d666 and gets 4 4 CHECK: 3

It hisses to itself. "Strrraforrrrrd.... Univerrrrrrsity..." Then it narrows all its eyes at Mellor. "ArrrrchDean?"

Mellor looks back, blankly. "She runs it," it says helpfully.

It ripple-blinks at Mellor, all eyes widening. "Fool!" it spits. Then it explodes from its nest of papers, flying down a shadowed hallway at speed. A Geas-band glimmers around its upper tail, where it had been hidden in papers and coils.

<<OOC>> Tarot says "Oh my."

Mellor manifests more shoulders, the better to shrug with.

Mellor . o O (Balseraphs!)

Mellor drifts across to check the papers which the other demon had been reading, just in case they're treasonous.

Shuffling souls pass by, laden with papers. A sauntering Impudite follows them, thumbs in its belt.

The papers are the usual reports, this one from about ten years ago. It says something about: "{illegible scribble} team hooked, sworn. Geas-debt deemed too high for Bara{illegible}; destroyed. Balseraph Ratanga reassigned to records."

Mellor glances around, before moving on. Still just looking for some especially quiet part of the records.

There is a nice, cozy niche -- which, when Mellor approaches it, emits squeaking noises and an eyestalk pokes up.

<<OOC>> Mellor uses its special ability to spot.. a Shedite!!!

<<OOC>> arcangel giggles. "Perception roll, to tell what the eyestalk belongs to?"

<<GAME>> Mellor rolls the d666 and gets 3 5 CHECK: 6.

Mellor peeers at the niche, without bothering to pretend to be uninteressted.

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Oh, look! Um, drippy eyestalk!"

From the niche, darkness flows and a pair of glowering eyestalks try to get the height advantage on Mellor. "I'm busy. Go away."

Mellor says darkly. "Busy doing what, citizen?"

Mellor spreads itself a bit wider.

From the niche, the owner of the eyestalks says, "_Busy,_ gumface."

Mellor shrugs some more.

Mellor also drifts back the other wy. It was curious, but not that curious.

The squeaking gets a bit louder, then cuts off suddenly.

<<OOC>> Tarot puts on the ominous music.

<<OOC>> Mellor wonders if I could sneak round the other side and peer through the bookshelves?

<<OOC>> arcangel nods. "Probably."

Mellor hesitates, and then affects an interest in another set of shelves, drifting round, trying to find some spyhole to watch the other demon.

Mellor . o O (IT was probably just chewing on a demonling)

Eventually, there is a gap in the folders on the shelves, which a dexterous eyestalk could be oozled through.

Mellor cautiously extends such an eyestalk.

There is a puddle of darkness -- really, such a _black_ Shedite! -- and a little bright orange speck within its tentacles. Mostly under the ooze of the Shedite is the tiniest Djinn Mellor has ever seen -- obviously Force-stripped -- which is snapping weakly at the orange speck. The tentacles move, dangling the speck in front of the Djinn, and convulse, and the squeaking noise starts up again.

<<OOC>> arcangel idles briefly.

<<OOC>> arcangel back.

Mellor watches with interest. Any Djinn which irritated the prince enough to get force stripped probably deserves it, anyway.

The Shedite dangles the orange speck in front of the Djinn's jaws, and then jerks it away as the tiny demon lunges for it. The squeakysqueak noise is loud for a moment.

Mellor tries to get a closer look at the orange speck. Djinn aren;t supposed to care about _anything_...

The orange speck looks like a small round thing, with a few tendrils of orange poking out through the curled black tentacle that grips it. When squeezed, it squeaks.

Mellor figures that it's band mate is just playing.

The Djinn whines and yips a little, then is squelched as the Shedite leans on it more.

Mellor . o O (Normality!)

Mellor moves off, and curls up into a quiet corner if one presents itself. Nothing much to see round here.

The soft, almost subliminal noise of the records begins to fade slightly, as if souls paused and drew aside, and demons held their breath to avoid being noticed.

<<OOC>> Mellor has reconnected.

<<OOC>> Mellor says "Sorry (computer not really behaving tonight)"

<<OOC>> arcangel pets mellor's computer.

<<OOC>> arcangel whispers seductively to it that it wants to stay up.

Mellor presses itself into the shadows instinctively, and producees more eyestalks to glance around.

Souls pass, pause, and drift back into shadows. Demonlings scamper the other way. The quiet spreads, but never to pure silence. Mellor can barely hear someone saying, "...arrrround herrre somewherre, Barrrrroness, I am surrrre of it..."

<<OOC>> Mellor says "Err. Is there room to hide under the shelves?"

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Well,maybe for a small Shedite. The shelves are kind of packed with files."

Mellor spreads itself very thin and tries to ooze underneath.

Under the shelves, a small imp tries to push Mellor back out. "Mineminemine!" it hisses quietly.

Mellor isn't feeling antsy enough to really argue the toss, it just finds soem quiet corner and hides in the shadows.

<<OOC>> Tarot is now going to imagine Shedim behind all the shelves in Medical Records. Ick. :)

The wave of quiet spreads, soft as poisoned feathers. The voice gets louder, "...surrre of it, Barrroness. It could not have gotten farr." Now there is a low voice answering it, "It had better not have. If I have to hunt it down much longer..." It trails off in implied threat.

Mellor . o O (They must be talking about someone else. Surely, they are talking about someone else.)

The Balseraph's voice says, "It is only a little Shedite. Therre arre not so many of them down herrre..."

The low voice cuts it off, "I know, I know, they drip on the records."

Mellor quivers and curls up more tightly, as no better hiding places seem to present themselves.

The quiet rustle of cloth, and slither of scales, pauses. The low voice announces, "If there are any new-fledged Shedim present who are _supposed_ to be on Earth-duty, then they had better either ooze out here and explain what they're doing back, or get their slimy little selves back to work topside."

The low voice announces, "And they had better not make me start naming names, because if I name names, the Prince will hear about it."

Mellor racks its forces to try and think of better hiding places, but doesn't hold out much hope.

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Int roll?"

<<GAME>> Mellor rolls the d666 and gets 1 2 CHECK: 4.

<<OOC>> arcangel says "If the Baroness means Mellor, and is serious about that Prince comment, no pit in Hades will be good enough to hide in. If she's not serious, then oozling down three aisles and out the door there could lead to some of the darker, less-used records rooms."

Mellor will have to try to get to some less-used records rooms. Anything is better than going back....!

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Anything?"

Mellor extends itself out, closer to the floor, and oozes.

<<OOC>> arcangel says "You could just pop back up for a quick look around, and if it's not safe, back to your Heart."

<<OOC>> Mellor says "I don't thikn I can get back there without a tether..."

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Ah. No, no -- you can go back easily, just by willing yourself up. You appear in the last corporeal location you left from."

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Which, admittedly, had an Archangel near it last you were there, but it's been a while."

<<OOC>> Mellor says "I can? OK, I guess that's another rule I totally missed. Uh. I dunno."

<<OOC>> arcangel grins. "Considering the horror Mellor fled from, it may need to ponder this a bit longer to decide if it's more scared of Archangels or its Prince."

<<OOC>> Mellor would prefer to hide if that's a possibility.

The door is there, and no one seems to be in sight. Well, no one but a few imps and souls. But they won't talk . . . right?

Mellor is too fretted to worry about them right now, it heads for the door...

The door creaks quietly on its hinges.

The dusty scent of unused records wafts out.

<<OOC>> Mellor says "Uh. Is there an easy way for me to check whether anyone is inside?"

<<OOC>> arcangel says "The ever useful eyestalk?"

Mellor sneaks up to the door on tentacletips, and pokes out an eyestalk, just to checl.

An Impudite with a curvacious soul under each wing is sitting next to the door, eyes squinched tightly shut and obviously thinking "We Are Not Here" very hard.

Mellor sighs and just oozes on in then. Evidently, this is a kindred spirit.

The Impudite cracks an eye open and whispers, "Drip on the hinges, wouldya? They won't squeak so much then."

Mellor whispers back, "Do I look like a mechanic?"

The Impudite whispers, "No, but you look drippy."

<<OOC>> Tarot laughs. Awww.

Mellor attempts to drip a bit on the hinges. Whatever.

The hinges glisten with pretty Shedite ooze.

The Impudite whispers, "Right. Now shut the blessed door before they notice it's ajar."

Mellor pokes at the door gently, with a tentacle-tip.

The door swings shut without a creak. The Impudite and the two souls breathe out in relief.

<<OOC>> Tarot says "Now if the Impudite is polite, he'll offer one of the souls in thanks!"

<<OOC>> Mellor says "What would I do with a soul?"

Mellor roils into a far corner and curls itself up.

Outside, the voice of the Baroness says, "Last chance, little Shedite who knows I'm talking about it. If you're not back to Earth in the next few hours... You'll be thinking about your mistake someplace much less comfortable than here."

<<OOC>> arcangel says "It's not directly outside."

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Just out in the main room area."

The Impudite murmurs to his souls. One of them, trembling, creeps towards Mellor. "Honored Fleshless," it whispers, "my master asks why you are here."

Mellor quivers but isn't leaving this room.. oh no. It hugs itself and thinks about how much it hates.. pretty much everyone really.

Mellor whispers to the soul, unenthusiastically, "I have important research to carry out in the records. Ask him why he is here."

The soul says, "Us too. Important research."

Mellor observes piously, "Research is critical to our work."

The soul nods. It lounges on its elbows. "Can we help you with your research?"

Mellor says "I don't know. What can you do?"

The soul says, "Oh, we know where everything in this room is kept. From report fifty-thousand seven-hundred ninety-two-F through five-hundred-thousand, eight-hundred fifty-nine-D!"

Mellor gives it a number of a record at random, to see if it really does know where they are.

The soul scampers off.

From afar, Mellor does think that after the Marches, I'll be so busy hiding on the far side of campus that I won't really figure much, if that's OK. I don't think it'd keep goinmg back to mixing with celestials after all this.

You paged Mellor with 'Oh dear. It probably needs a friend.'.

Mellor does it's best shot and a smile at the IMpudite, which could have just called out, after all, and braces itself to head earthside again.

The Impudite waves cheerily. "G'luck," it mouths.

<<OOC>> Tarot says "It's, um, like riding a bicycle?"

Mellor politely says, "And you. Don't have too much fun..."

Mellor is SO much hoping all the angels, and archangels, will have gone.

Mellor is also thinking that the big advantage of being an animal was that people basically didn;t hassle you ;)

The Impudite grins. Then Mellor is concentrating... Earth... Earth is... up there. Right there. Yeah, that's right.

The stairwell forms around Mellor, and the Symphony chimes noisily. The hallway is empty.

Mellor better listen for human sounds, and locate a host...

A huffing noise announces a human, climbing down the stairs. The human comes into view -- Randy! Host number one, all secure with weight for the winter.

Mellor just dives for it, vaguely recognising...

<<OOC>> Mellor says "(Watch me fail this roll)"

<<GAME>> Mellor rolls the d666 and gets 6 6 CHECK: 5.

<<OOC>> arcangel _eyes_ Mellor.

<<OOC>> Mellor bows

<<OOC>> Tarot _chokes_. So close.

<<GAME>> Arcangel rolls the d666 and gets 1 5 CHECK: 2.

Randy continues on, unaware of his former rider.

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Well, there's always Angela, who's up a few flights."

<<OOC>> Mellor says "OK, whatever is easiest :) Or most available."

<<OOC>> arcangel doesn't have to make up a new name if Mellor picks Angela. O;>

<<OOC>> Mellor says "Or at least, within 15 minutes of me getting to them. But Angela shares a room with Elysia..."

<<OOC>> arcangel says "True -- going to skim around the floors, then?"

<<OOC>> Mellor guesses Angela could always run away or something. Or burn down the dormitary building...

<<OOC>> Mellor says "Whatever's easiest?"

Out the wall, through the door, poke an eyestalk around the corner. Oh, look, three humans watching the TV in the floor's lounge!

Mellor oozes in, close to the floor, and flings itself at the closest one?

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Rollem."

<<GAME>> Mellor rolls the d666 and gets 5 1 CHECK: 2.

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

Mellor curls up, safe and cozy, inside Human #1 -- a Raina, as it happens.

<<OOC>> arcangel says "Ah, safety!"

<<Scene Stop>>