Those Halcyon Days II -- All New, All Different (Inactive)

Game Master Stalwart

Valerie pulls a chair from her desk and sits in it backwards to give Shin easy access to the wound. She doesn't flinch when he administers care.

She does flinch, however, when he mentions Scythe. "What? What do you mean--?" She turns around partially so he catches the side of her eye. "Shin, that... that wasn't my job."

She pitches her head back. "Oh, that B$~$#!!!" she screams.

"Exhaustion, huh? Figures." Valerie sighs and leans over the back of the chair again. "As for the burn, I got too close to a laser grid. I'm out of practice.

"It was a standard job, anyway. Nabbed a bit of data from some Rangipoor nationals. I just thought that Lovelace was giving me a warmup, since... well, it wasn't just this one job. It's never just the one job."

She puts her head on her forearms. "Do you really want to give up the search for Heartache?"

"So I see us having a few options at this point. First is to come clean with Whippoorwill. I can use my back channels to inform her of the situation without tipping off Lovelace, but there's always a risk. The second is that you keep working for Lovelace, I get the team involved, and you help us infiltrate her headquarters to snag her Heartache intel before she can react. And I would be very happy to help you double-cross her.

...The third option is probably to cut our losses and find another way to get to the Instigators. Which is a big setback. But I'd rather lose my answers than lose you." He squeezes her hand gently.

C&S: 2d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3, 3) + 2 + 1 = 9

"Personally, I would very much like to do number two, but that really depends on if you can find out where she's got the intel."

Connie: you ok?
Connie: that wasn't like a fun experience, but I dont' think anyone else got like forcibly darksided
Connie: so how you feeling
Percy: No... and uh.. still like shit honestly. I can't

There is a lengthy pause between the next text

Percy: Sorry dropped my phone, I can't believe I was so stupid to trust any of them or your brother again.
Connie: you know what they say:
Fool me once, shame on you
Fool me twice, that's so mean! Why the heck would you do that!
...
Connie: (sorry)
Connie: if it helps, i have been punished for trusting where I shouldn'tve a lot more than twice
Connie: so it's not cause you're stupid
Connie: cause I'm hella smart
Connie: hey you wanna get some fresh air and sunshine while we do this?
Connie: and provide an extra layer of protection for an experiment?
Connie: (fresh air sunlight and exercise is the most annoying releaver of depression/related stuff)

There are several moments of typing silence, and then typing, before finally something comes through.

Percy: I doooo still kind of owe you that flight. It'd probably also be better to talk in person with someone experiencing any kind of duress..... Pretty sure I read that in one of my psychology books for college.
Connie: Great, near the docks?

***

Down at the docks, Connie is in a typically weather insensitive outfit - dayglo green crop top and loudly nylon harem pants, with an ominously long rope.

"You're not allergic to jute, right? It's a very rare allergy, but always better to ask in advance."

Percy arrives with as little fanfare as he can manage, utilizing his ability to shrink down to avoid most notice. He is as usual now days not wearing anything in his odd mostly forced nudist life style.

"I don't think so? Also I've gotta talk about Kyana's player and what I think Umboriax promised. It can wait though."

Eyeing all of her things he hesitates to ask, "What's the rope for?"

"Unlike Khaleesi I don't want to hold on via spike up the backside. And a saddle's too sexual."

Percy raises a clawed digit to retailiate but catches himself mid-breath with a cocked eyeridge. "Yeah no actually that's fair. So, should I just.. I dunno."

He lays down. "Lay down like this?"

Quickly Connie runs the thin rope into a series of patterns that look more like cat's cradle than a proper knot until the rope spins to life and snakes one end tightly around Percy and the other looping tightly around Connie as a harness.

She holds up some dayglo orange putty and asks, "So we can talk while we're up there. Sending or ear goop?"

Percy looks instantly uncomfortable with the rope, slamming a paw on it before it can encoil him like those damn chains.

"Whoa whoa whoa." Connie grabs the rope, cracks it like a glowstick, and it goes limp and slides off them.

"Okay. Sorry. Bad communication. You okay?"

"What?! I mean uh.. yeah no..no.. yeah."
He takes a deep breath tries to relax if only slightly, "No. In the game right before. Before they took the key and I died there were chains and yeah not... not the reaction I thought I'd have sorry."

"Shit. Sorry. F%%!ers."

"Sorry I just... reacted without thinking Connie."

"Bruh you do not have to apologize. Will the rope be okay if you know what's about to happen? I have a plan B"

"You're right sorry I-" he breaths deep and holds it for a moment then exhales slowly.

"I think... maybe I can be okay. I've got spells and everything or I could just hold you. I do have these grabby... hand.... claws... paw things?"

He tilts his head holding one up and rolling his very flexible wrist. "What the f&$# do we call dragon hands actually?"

"...Paws is good? Or front feet? Probably not in this form . I mean, I've got a plan B." She reaches into her bag and pulls out an airplane seat belt. "Just have to stick it to your back."

He waggles the thumb-like appendage at her. "I mean I have thumbs... anyway um not important. I'm guessing it's not literally being attached yeah?"

"Hmm... thumbs are handy and hand-y... Oh yeah, it'll stick to your back. Otherwise how would it keep me on?"

"I mean like nevermind."

He slowly slides down again allowing himself to return more to his original size which prompts a sigh of relief.

Connie braces herself, hops up, and gently slaps the seat belt against Percy's scales. There's a brief pulse of heat, and then it quickly cools as she fastens it to itself in a little loop nestled next to her.

"Oh yeah, Sending or ear goop?"

"You're secure right?"
He cranes his long neck around to look at her with one eye. "Right? And sending it'll be easier to not use the breath to speak. And the air'll kind of mess your tiny lungs up if you open your mouth to breath when we're going fast."

"Oh I'm secure in all kinds of things."

"Yeah. So uh hold on I guess. Take offs are bumpy."

He turns and signs with one free hand. Connie feels a little extra floaty for a moment. Then he begins running down the clearest path and jumps to take off. This action would shove her down onto his back as the wingbeats carry them skyward.

"So. Being betrayed sucks. Shin and Val didn't do it or anything, right?"

"Shin f~~*ing abandoned me, so depends on how you take that I guess. I thought he died at first. Which is why I went to rip the gates down. I didn't even know Val was in the game, I take it his 'noble sacrifice' was for her benefit?"

He gains altitude slowly so that Connie has time to adjust to the thinning air.
"The adventurers were suspicious from the very beginning, didn't even try to announce their presence after I told the villagers. Who were trying to sacrifice one of their own by the way to tell them to come to my lair. Like come on open invitation."

"Oh we're going high-high. Perce? I don't want to interrupt your flow, but transparently, I don't know enough about what was going on before I bumped into you in the command tent to know... Wait, Shin died too? Damn, good thing no one dies for good in D&D 'cause what, half of First Class died in there?"

Realizing she's gone off on a tangent, she pats Percy's back. "Sorry. Focusing back in.... Oh. So those little shitbirds were typical f*%*ing adventuring sociopaths and betrayed and murdered you because you were a 'monster' and didn't count, huh?"

"He gave up his key to Kyana. Stood there like a drooling corpse and then waltzed off. And yeah they wanted me dead even after I made it very clear I was wanting to save both worlds. The barbarian or whatever was especially thick skulled. Kept trying to say I lied or something everytime I tried to make the terms of our arrangement clear."

He starts to level out, the skyscrapers were several hundred feet below them ensuring that he'd have plenty of room for manuvering and correcting any issues should they arise. The air was cold obviously and it wouldn't take but a bit longer to rise even higher into the lowest cloud layer, considering some especially low ones were already well within reach.

Perhaps strangely for Connie the air seems to come up from under them as well as from the front.

"Then the with Shin happened. I freaked out, tried to knock down the gate to the inner sanctum, got chained and that bastard thief stole my key. It was like... It was painful, like being stabbed or breaking a bone but in my chest. I wanted the barbarian to kill me then and there. Then the game master gave me a second chance to be another guardian of a key. Could have gone to you or Caio. Figured you'd have things in hand once I ran the situation through my head."

"Aww. I appreciate the trust. So Shin got got because he trusted that the rules of the game/world would be fair. That tracks... Whole thing's still totally f$*+ed though."

"Don't think it was that simple for him, I think it's more he just couldn't be the bad guy. I mean... you know his whole thing about Dusk. He and I share the feeling that it was like having your heart ripped out though. I think he may have also been trying to cover for Val." The wing beats stopped once he felt they were safe to ride the currents completely, which for Connie meant that most of the jostling was gone aside from the occasional gust. Percy himself felt really glad for going out of Halcyon to get flight lessons.

"How were things on your end? I didn't really hear anything about your entire before the tent situation."

"It kinda sucked. I was Princess Constance again, which meant I basically couldn't solve anything, or succeed in anything by myself. Bonus(?) I was probably essentially invulnerable? Not sure though since the world wasn't exactly the same. I definitely wasn't as safe as I used to be. So I had a key that was the one thing keeping my kingdom from falling into demonic corruption. Meanwhile Femtite unaware is the demon in charge of grinding down my will to resist/exist. It turned out her rules on what she could do to me were more expansive than I guessed, so it all took a little longer to circumvent than I expected. First I tried to set up a deal that would call on her to help me for the next week and a day, my own payment to be deferred for that long or until she no longer wished it. Then it turned out she wasn't the kind of demon who did deals. Annoying. So instead I rigged things up to get her to say she hated Chastity, figuring that the dissonance would let her pop her way out.

"It did though I think she just thought the point was saying the name of someone she knew? Unclear. Then we headed off to find Caio, she was still under a compulsion to erode me into giving her my key, I told her I wouldn't do it, we fought, she flew off it turns out to sell her pixie dust and team up with someone else. The coach we were in crashed, I got chased through the woods by the big bad wolf, sicced some rodents of unusual size on him did you know that's from the Princess Bride? Am I the only one who hadn't seen that movie? All of that movie at least. and then you grabbed me through the Shadow Realm."

"Horizon told me the other day that she gave Pixie dust to Quincy, who none of us know the actual motives of in order to body swap. I was talking to Shin about how I feel that she needed to change or leave, especially given her recent behavior."

"I already had my say on that point. It was a bad move, but she has apologized. As long as she does a better job being team-ly going forward, I'm satisfied."

"After saying that, he said I need to either talk to her accept whatever she's got to say, keep trying if I don't like it, or leave the team myself."

"...Honestly? I think doing something to chase her off the team is a pretty strong net negative."

"Could have fooled me, but hey maybe you know something I don't know. But I'm just tired of trying to deal with it especially since it seems to me she doesn't even want our help. I mean did she even thank you for dealing with her planetary annihillation issue?"

"Yeah, she made a special point of thanking all of us right after the mission. She got all choked up. She also then started gaslighting me about Millie, but that's a separate situation where driving Femtite off even more obviously results in a villainous turn."

Connie feels a rumbling hum emanating from Percy, "Shin told me about the fey gate, what about Quincy or you. What happened once you got out?"

"Well... When I got out, I knew that Dear Old Dad and Feya were working the portal and the drain. I didn't know if they'd maybe accidentally unplug everything before everyone was out. So I used the temporary gate system to fast travel over to Quincy/Infinity's old haunt, flipped in and found him. Well, found the d20 first. He was too plugged in, he was dying of exhaustion, of dehydration, of starvation.. the world was sustaining him a bit, but he couldn't take it.

"So I plugged in instead. Didn't end up needing to quarterback as much as I thought, but I think it was still the play."

"So he was killing himself being the forever GM? Shit. Well I know it may not seem like much, but I hope he's doing better now. As much as I... I just hope he's not too hurt."/b]

Starting a gentle bank to circle around the outer side of Halcyon's airspace he takes the chance to glance back at Connie. [B]"How are you holding up after seeing that, I know you and your brothers probably never see eye to eye, but. Couldn't have been easy seeing him like that."

"I think I'm the single person in the world that he's been cruelest to. Makes it hard to assess him, 'cause I know that he's got friends, and a lot of his wrongs are out of laziness and sloppiness instead of malice. Or Fear. Bit of Ambition too . F$$$! I don't know. It's a lot easier to put him in a box as regards to me."

"Do you I dunno wanna talk about it? You're a little trapped up here with me, so I don't want to pry and make you uncomfortable. Could even swoop down into the skyline if you want a little more excitement."

" OH I WILL FULLY JUMP OFF IF I HAVE TO," she shouted.

"Please don't."

"That doesn't exactly answer either question though, just tells me you're willing to dip at anytime. I know I haven't been in the best place, and you tend to not want to talk deep in group sessions. But helping you might help me and vice versa sort of situation you know?"

(8 C&S)

"...He's the only one that hated me. Abe loves me but not enough, William jr. disdains me, who the f+&! knows what Seth really thinks about anything, Jean-Paul thinks I'm funny, but otherwise doesn't think about me much I think. Tim's basically a walking sneer, but Quincy just f!$%ing hates me. Hated me at least. I was this walking reminder that whatever Dad promised him wasn't going to come true.

"And I was weaker than him. It didn't take long before I could make an abjuration training wand work if I had one, but that was about it. You'd never get in trouble training with a sibling as long as they could walk away."

"So attempted murder and brutality was totally okay so long as you could limp back to the dinner table? Connie that's f~$*ed up. Not even sure what to say beyond that.

Indy started to slowly tilt downward towards the city proper it'd be a bit till they got down to the towering buildings again, but that would give Connie time to decompress.

"'Attempted murder' wasn't okay at all. It means you were trying to break the rules and you didn't even succeed. "

Making a whistle sound that sounds pretty clearly even at these air speeds Indy folds his wings slightly causing much of the sound of his wings catching air stop, and the sudden gut lifting sensation of quickly diving started. "Hold on tight

Only a few seconds later the leathery appendages opened up and immediately filled with air to slow their descent, now fully in Halcyon's skyscrapers there was a lot more play with Connie being pushed down into Indy's back as he turned around the narrow by comparison city streets. "Scuffed is scuffed no matter which way you break it."

"Spoken like a guy with enough power to make up the difference. Figuring out exactly how and along what lines things break matters to me."

10 ptm what do you want me to do(To help you)? what do you intend to do? how could I get your character to Open up about what's eating at you?

Connie wants Percy to: Stop blaming himself for what was done to him
Percy could get Connie to open up (more than she already is on this flight by: Figuring out what's wrong and not letting her deflect out of it
She intends to: Get Percy to feel better by giving him space to take his mind off his own problems

"What I'm saying is, you aren't in that situation now. You don't have to hide it from the people who care about you the most. The ones who actually want to help you grow and get better, the ones who aren't going to skirt the edge of some dumb rule just to hurt you."

He levels out along a long straight road and Connie can feel a great rumbling in his chest and throat before he speaks aloud for the first time this flight.
"I suppose I should take that same advice though." He can't let his wings wilt especially now that they were in flight and he couldn't let his emotions get the better of him. "I know you all want me to feel okay about things it's just hard to accept. Caio may be really shit at making up metaphors but he may be onto something about the monster at the bottom of the water well."

They begin to gain altitude again, climbing back out of the city streets. "But if I'm going to do better at that, then I need you to do something for me Connie. A straight answer an actual conversation where you don't try to hide behind the snark. I don't want you to feel like you can't open up to us just because you've had shitty people do it in the past. You're my friend among other things, and I care about you. I want you to grow. I want you to feel safe, to be safe. I want you to feel like you can actually talk to me about all the weird f!&+ed up shit that you need to get off your chest."

Once they leveled out in the mild updraft above the city he cranes his neck back to look at her, "I love you Connie. Not in the I wanna ravish you nightly way, but you know.." He glances away from her slightly feeling kind of dumb for saying it.

"You deserve better than me, Percy. I wish I could give you what you want."
I wanted to make a comment about Connie not having felt safe as long as he'd known her, but then I remembered that when things were good with Femtite, she really *did* feel safe. But making a comment about not having felt safe since things went bad with Femtite is too blamey sounding lol

Connie begins to feel a familiar weightlessness as Indy's wings stop but they don't seem to lose any altitude, "Connie-" He begins reaching around towards his back with an open upturned paw, his wings folding back as the magic takes hold of them "Come here please, you won't fall."

Connie takes his paw without flinching, loose pants flapping in the wind as she stands on the air. "You know I'm not afraid to fall, right?"

Pulling Connie to his front he cradles her gently between both of his 'hands' "I know you aren't. Even if you didn't have your protective charms or my own around you I wouldn't let you fall anyway. That's what I've been trying to say. You already give me what I want, a friend who I can open up to about some of the deeper issues without judgement. I need you to know and hopefully accept that I'm here for when you need the same. You don't have to carry the weight of it all on your own. So please, tell me how I can help."

Connie just looks incredibly tired. "Honestly man? I'm kinda running out of ways to try to do this..." She takes a deep breath. "Okay, so. You know I lived for like-" she waggles her hand "-two years on the street, right? I'd gotten out of Dear Old Dad's house 'cause it's not like I could fight him or my brothers, and I knew that the longer I was gone, the harder it would go on me if I got taken back. So I had to stay moving, avoid doing attention drawing things like stealing etc., but early on I didn't have as many boltholes set up or repeat customers to fall back on. Anyways, I'd helped this guy Veniamin with a whole tax fraud scheme which is not any of the points of this story in exchange for some free meals. But a bunch of things had fallen through, and it was winter, and I didn't have my anti-weather wards as anything more than a theory, and I really needed a discreet, safe bed."

Her left hand flexes and twitches while she chooses her words. "And I couldn't just go up to this guy and say-" she screws up her face, visibly powering through the unpleasantness of what she's about to say "- 'Hey my dad's an abusive a&+%*~$ and I'm on the run from him, and I really need help. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, I'm not gonna steal from you, but I can't lie to you and tell you that there's nowhere else I could go 'cause I do have a home, it's just not somewhere safe to sleep. I can't lie to you and say that it's totally safe to take me in either, even if I don't want to hurt you. Back then, I couldn't say any of that. It was just all this secret hurt that was too big to make it out of my mouth. Like... I don't think I could've even said that my Dad hurt me if you all hadn't literally seen him throw me into a wall. Sometimes, something has to not be a secret before you can talk about it."
"But Venya didn't ask. He just saw that I was staying in my booth, hoping there wouldn't be a rush that meant he'd throw me out for taking up tablespace, and he walked up and handed me a spare key to his place upstairs. He just told me that I needed somewhere better than his smelly old booth to nod off, and... he was right."

She flicks a thumb along her fingernails. "He was right, and it wasn't a secret if he could see it; I didn't have to deflect and dance around what I couldn't talk about, all I had to do was take the key. I hadn't realized someone could do that for me. I don't know if I'd be dead, but I wouldn't be where and who I am right now without that."

Percy just looks at Connie in his hands for the length of her story and then for a bit longer afterwards, with an exhale he lowers his head into a slight bow. "I... think I get it, but I'm no good at guessing games. Especially when it comes to you Connie. I know not everything is alright, can see it in the way you hold yourself alot of the time. But that doesn't mean I know why. I don't know if taking your dad down a peg would help or what and I'm really at a loss here. Hell maybe it's not something I can fix or even help fix, but I'll keep trying if you want me to." He seems unsure what to do or say in the moment and contemplates just moving her back towards his back.

Connie still looks tired and a little bit... Smaller. "Yeah. I know. If it were easier to talk about what I can't talk about, then we'd be in a whole different situation. I guess... I want you to keep trying, but Believe me, I know how exhausting it is to try and fail at this over and over."

Percy nods a little bit, "Yeah, but you guys don't seem to wanna give up on me. So I'd be a pretty shitty person if I gave up on you. Baby steps or something ya know, maybe just try one thing new everytime we talk even if it's small maybe it'll eventually coalesce into a bigger picture."

"...I think you need to take me seriously about what was so important in that last story... And I know I know there's all this 'take someone literally but not seriously, or seriously but not literally, but just... I dunno. Do whatever combo you think you haven't tried enough."

His eyes search for something for a bit before narrowing ever so slightly at Connie.
"Do you... are you trying to say you literally can't talk about certain things? Like a compulsion put in place by your dad?"

Connie just looks at him, blinking laconically.
"Are you just guessing stuff?"

Percy makes to speak, but whatever sound he had planned to make dies in his throat as a held back hiss. So he relies on their mental connection again. He nods ever so slightly

"I think the fey geas has my mind pulling towards similar explanations so, yes. Sorry I just..."
He picks through the words slowly even across the mental bridge" Am obviously not good at figuring this sort of stuff out, your stuff. I'm trying but it's difficult to tell if that's what you want, if you want me to just leave things as they are, or just accept that I can't do anything yet."

A defeated huff escapes him, "Would you... mind if I looked, just in case?"

Connie bunches up her legs and kicks Percy in the chest as hard as she can, flinging herself backwards out of his grasp and down towards the city below.

As she falls she's immediately in motion. A hard jerk rips one of her earrings out of the cartilage, and Percy feels the flight spell on her snap. A few more quick motions and all of her even slightly removable jewelry flies off of her body and onto a carabiner which she hurls above herself out of reach. Finally, she grabs her loose canvas pants by the waist, whipping them off and hurling them to the side where they immediately fill with air, inflatably drifting down safely through the sky, getting farther and farther from Connie as she plummets.

"Are you going to ask questions? Or are you going to save me?"

Percy is taken aback by the kick but due to the nature of the spellwork at hand barely budges as he watches Connie zip off into the sky, well at least she'll- JUST GET RID OFF ALL HER WARDS AND MY SPELLWORK!

As she makes to ask him she doesn't even get halfway through before he's cut his own part of the spell and starts nosing down into a dive with his arms, legs, fins, and wings tucked close to his body. He similarly drops like a rock coiling in on himself to roll his body in a downward path, like liquid metal. His eyes never loose focus of her for a second thanks to the nictitating membrane allowing him to deal with high speed air without the need to blink. Having not flown back up to the extremes they were at before, the window of opportunity was much shorter here, but on approach he reached out to catch and break Connie's rapid descent after passing and readjusting his own pace to meet her own.

Curling his hands around her he finally breaks eye contact to see they are danger close to the quickly approaching sky scrapers. He pulls Connie to his chest and fully opens his wings causing air to fill them with a leathery snap, from her place held close to him the strain on the muscles in his chest was clear, his lower body flung out from behind to now be the closer ground facing half. A controlled descent could be difficult at this level of strain and his lessons with Glasswing taught him that while he and her could likely withstand the high force of a sudden stop due to their physiology it would smash most normal people or seriously injury them even when cushioned.

With the air whistling in his wings he collided with the edge of one of the skyscrapers with his back legs shattering the concrete siding and likely spooking those on the top floor, but using it to roll off the side instead of careening down into the next building in sequence. A quick spoken word and thrum from his chest told Connie he had cast a spell after the collision, one that halted the fall of the now broken skyscraper bits. Tucking his wings and twisting to put his front back ahead of him while distribute the vectors of their velocity more evenly, thus dragging down g-force more safely. he quickly reoriented his angle to go down the street and opened them again and pulled hard around the upcoming corner.

He flew for a few minutes with Connie pressed to his chest before finally setting down in a secluded area his heart pounding. He sat back on his hind legs propped by his tail before slowly peeling her away from his chest to look at her in his hands. "Please be okay.. Connie?"

Connie looks up at him fiercely but stays silent. The haze of her many, many talismans is gone, but Indarius can still feel a small, answering thrum of magic from within the girl in his arms.
Despite the sharpness of her eyes, she looks more than a little woozy.

Percy finally let's out a breath he'd apparently held for a while now, "Why would you ever- Of course I'm just going to save you when there's not a question to ask!" He finally actually blinks, "Come on you'll catch your death out here like this."

He brought her back up to himself, but didn't press her against his chest quite so tightly. Weaving one spell around them and another which sounded like the taletell signs of a portal being opened. He looked down to see her shake her head and frowned but let her speak before he moved on.

She looks at him, hard. Her head sways a little; she seems nauseous. She doesn't speak at first, and when she does there's a slight slur to it. "Stop asking if I'm comfortable in the booth, and give me the key."

A familiar wvorp happens as the portal apparently closes. "I feel like I just need to hand you the entire keyring sometimes. Right now I think it's the one that says let's see if you have any lasting injuries from that tumble, warm clothes, and a lesson on not scaring the shit out of your friends to get the point across. Unless you've got another hairbrained way to tell me something?"

"Fall didn't hurt me. Coldsh not gonna, not gonna do it either. Don't. Waste. This." Desperation edges her slurring words, but it can't quite sharpen them.

Percy focuses on what little magic remains around Connie in an attempt to determine exactly what is left coating her.

The first thing that catches his eye is a tattoo that he's seen a few times before in part. Red and white ribbons twining up her thigh, tracing the path of her femoral artery. But now the red seems to throb and pulse as if in time to the beating of a heart far from here; the white restrains it, holds the bloodline in check. No bloodshed stains the mark of peace.

Panning up her body his senses are arrested by the twinned concentric circles in white surrounding her navel. Nothing without that is not also within. The inner circle is smaller; they aren't truly identical, but nothing in the outer is not somewhere in the inner.

The X across the inside of her right wrist scarcely changes to his expanded vision, still a simple, blunt forbiddance; though he can feel the literal power it holds.

The cherry tree that stretches up the other arm seems to just be made of ink and skin, but the magpies in its branches are alive, eyes alight with malice, beaks ready to raise a loud hue and cry when their watch is ignored.

Her back and chest are woven with deep workings anchored at the nape of her neck in a single character, 孝, that seems to stretch farther and deeper beyond what one person's body could ever hold.

Her name, C. [i] Westcott Mathers leaks out through the thin fabric of her crop top, marking the position of the ink that dictates it, awkwardly stretched across a breast that hadn't existed when she'd first been renamed. This tattoo writhes and twists, straining to recomplete itself where abrasive, acidic scarring keeps it unfinished.

And between her shoulder blades arch blooming, thorned roses. They're thick, abundant, fecund; the sheer number of petals, the imagined smell is stifling, muffling, gagging. The thorns all extend deep into her chest, into her unbeating heart, wet with blood.

"What's happening Percy? What do you see? Please tell me you know about Harpocrates."

Percy's eyes seem unusually focused and unfocused at the same time, the iris's sharpened to needles but looking through to the other side of Connie. He shifts her in his hand and pulls back one of his talons pressing it gently against the point between her shoulders while letting her head rest on the knuckle.

"I see a lot of pain. A strangling force... I'm not sure about Harpocrates, but I can look later. Based on the name I'm guessing Greek. It feels muffled... you didn't get this one yourself? You feel held together like a doll on strings, like a stiff breeze could snap any of them and any that snapped would cut the rest. I could...no not so bluntly."

"Don't Break Them. Now, my heart stopped beating almost thirty seconds ago." she slaps the side of her left thigh, then swings her arm up to point vaguely in the direction of her gently drifting pants. Her cheek slaps against her arm as her head lolls. "[smaller]left pocket. think 'adrenaline.' 911. shepeuhr..." She passes out.

"F$~~." He turns and opens another portal to reach through and snag the pants gently setting Connie on the ground and changing into his humanoid form so he can actually fit his hand into the pocket for whatever she was telling him about.
"Shit shit f!%+.."

As Percy reaches in, his hand wraps around a single use EpiPen.

Quickly pulling the pen out his eyes dart over the instructions and he takes a deep breath, pulls the cap off and jams the tip against her leg. "Well suppose there's no training for emergency situations better than actually being in one." He quickly draws out his phone from a magical pocket and begins dialing for emergency services. He looks on while waiting for the operator to pick up.

After the pen is depleted he sets it to the side and presses his index and middle finger to her carotid artery to check for a pulse before the phone picks up. "Hello, a ci- my friend has collapsed, cardiac arrest less than a minute ago. I've administered an epinephrine pen. I could bring her via teleportation, but don't want to jar her without second opinion, pulse is weak but present. I'm monitoring her as close as I can without equipment."

After some time he's cleared by the operator and Connie's slowly strengthening heart beat to bring her via teleportation, he covers her with her pants and figures he'll have to explain the situation one way or another nomatter how awkward it looks. Then he tries to look for any doctor with the name she had been sounding out before she passed out completely.

He also sent a text to Shin, Hey don't freak out, Connie's in the hospital. I'll explain when I can, but she's safe and I'm going to stay here with her so long as they let me.

Percy gets an immediate reply:
Shin: Is she hurt
Shin: How d
Shin: Ho
Shin: How did sh

It takes a minute before Percy reads:

Shin: Copy that. Room number please. Will visit soon.

Percy: I'll explain when you get here. Number when I get it.

Valerie starts to smile. It quickly turns into a smirk. "Now, that's the first good idea you've had."

She spins back around to face him, grabbing a bralette and gingerly putting it on over her bandage. "So, you'll do that? Back a play to turn this back around on Lovelace? You know she timed the breakout so that suspicion gets thrown on me, so... we 'fall out?'" She adds air quotes.

He reaches up to stroke her cheek with his thumb. "So on the surface, we'll fall out. There's a lot of circumstantial evidence, not enough for anyone to act on. There's some dead drops I've set up for communicating on and off campus as a contingency. I can lend you some gadgets you'll need and can say you stole from me if asked. I am going to have to let the team and Whippoorwill know it's a play for your safety. She's probably going to disapprove but we're asking forgiveness and not permission here."

He's excited but also a little nervous. "I'm definitely going to worry about you every day. So don't take any unnecessary risks, okay? Keep me in the loop, and we'll do this together."

He leans in to kiss her, before adding, "And just in case she's got eyes on campus, you're going to have to slap me before I leave to make it look good."

Valerie continues getting dressed while Shin makes plans, squeezing into a black pair of skinny jeans, a black top and a dark jacket over that. She rolls her eyes as she flips her hair out from the jacket. "Oh, please. You don't have to worry; remember, this was my life for two years."

She returns the kiss, but holds up a hand. "Nuh-uh. One: I don't slap. Two: you're a better fighter than me anyway. Three: I still have Rufus and Hogan's strength from the other night. I might put you through a wall."

He reaches over and deactivates the privacy buffer, stepping away from Valerie. "Let's make it sound good, at least."

She sends a selfie to show Shin where she’s sitting.

"...so our plan is to find out where Lovelace is keeping her intel, then either smuggle it out or find another means of obtaining it. I get that it's dangerous. But we're past the point of pulling out. I would really appreciate your support."

"That's a dangerous game you're playing. But you're right that Valerie was the obvious suspect for the breakout. I'll try to keep the serious heat off her, but there are more than just the Alliance at play."

There's a pause before Whippoorwill adds, "You should also know that one of the people sprung from the site is an old classmate of yours. Ne'veah.

"I'm worried about your team, but see what you can do to unite them for this. I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Mom!" Skyler shouts the moment she uses her key to open the door. "Mom! It's me!"

"In the parlor, Dear," a voice calls from inside the house.

Skyler shrugs out of her coat and leaves it on the floor as she kicks off her boots. She dashes through the house until she finds her mother in a small sitting room. She gives her mom a hug.

"Is it the weekend already?" her mom asks.

"No, Mom. I came home because of, you know. The divorce. I can't believe Dad would -- we're going to fight this. You hear me?"

Karina looks at her daughter blankly. "Fight who, Sweetheart? Oh! I like your hair! Can I braid it? I'll get my brush!"

A bout of impatience hits Skyler, but she lets it pass. With a sigh, she sighs and waits for her mother to come back with a hairbrush. She sits dutifully, looking at Caio with apologetic eyes while her mother begins running the brush through her long pink locks.

"No, what's this about? Who's getting a divorce?"

"Mom, you texted me. Remember?"

"Oh, the legal thing. It's just an annulment. Your father explained everything. It's so technical."

Skyler squeezes her eyes shut. "An annulment is a divorce, Mom! Dad wants to break up with you!"

Karina's hand pauses mid-brush stroke. "It's... he said it's for the best." Her brow furrows as she tries to concentrate.

"Who's best? Mom! Don't tell me you signed anything!" Skyler twists in her seat to look at her mother, fresh tears starting to fall.

She stares off into space. "I... might have. I don't remember."

Skyler whimpers, but turns back around and lets her mother continue brushing her hair.

Percy has spent almost every waking moment after Connie's hospital visit skipping class and focusing on a way to bypass or shield her against the damn charms, wards, and curses on her person. The best running successor so far is the potential of giving her an overpowering ward that acts as a lightning rod for the others. Provided the correct equipment he's ripped several of his scales out leaving a small raw spot in his hide and dozens of broken nail files, angle grinders, and finally a less ruined titanium file which he magically altered into the correct shape and a large batch of finely ground dragon scales.

Taking the resultant powder he has tried several dozen mixtures as reagents for spells in his attempt to recreate the curses placed on her. If he had hair he'd have pulled out large patches in frustration at this point made apparent by the small pile of quills littering the shop floor. But he stands proudly with three small ink vials filled with strange substances that radiate with an obvious magical aura. It's clear to anyone that approaches him that he's been missing sleep and is frayed as he is jumpy, languid, and generally sluggish.

"I could probably get a like... flash drive or something in. Like carrying our splice or hacking device or..... whatever and then extract the info. But I haven't had time or really any need to devise any spells that could bypass system security. Any ideas?"

He rubs at his eyes for the first time since his transformation having an apparent need for real sleep. Perhaps that would improve his performance, but something is clearly eating at him enough to prevent him from allowing himself any rest.

Her sister. Her girlfriend. Her fans. And…

She backtracks to her girlfriend situation. It got so bad she wanted to delete her human form. Fae talked her out of it. But what’s funny is how much Fae loves the shade of purple Mae wore to school. It’s the color of mourning… and the darkest color pixotech can form.

Femtite covers her body entirely in deep purple, but for a magenta stripe over her eyes. This will prevent her from being seen easily from her glow. It’s an outfit she didn’t have ready for the last stealth run, prompting her to create one for the next.

Fairy size, about a decimeter tall, is ideal for sneaking while still easily perceiving titans. Still, it’s easy to get caught. Dark colors might fool human eyes, but robots see heat. As do some humans. So the ninja-action-figure bit has an obvious flaw.

To overcome that, Femtite makes an opening move to flit to a wall and subatomically pass through! She can grow to a millimeter or centimeter or decimeter to move within a wall, ceiling, floor… or ventilation duct. Her immunity to gravity allows for noiseless movement. And it’s still cool enough that the building will be heated, so my body temperature won’t give me away if I’m in a heating duct.

She could have Bug-Eye track a teammate while going this route.

One more option she has, albeit a risky one: she can hitch a ride. She has a tiny magnet with her, the size of a pebble. She becomes microscopic and embeds herself. Bug-Eye’s GPS shows movement once a robot guard inevitably steps on (or near?) the pebble-sized magnet.

Once she is in (or near) the room she marked as her destination, Femtite becomes subatomic and sinks through the floor. Between spatial thinking and observable atomic density, Femtite knows when she is far enough under the floor to grow just big enough to listen. All she hears are the robo-guard’s footsteps as it continues its programmed round, but still: a success.

Femtite tries both methods a few more times each. It’s obvious which method works better alone. But with the team, it’s better to…

With the Alien movie set for Friday, she decides not to make any plans for tomorrow. She’s well past the two-hour minimum already, but she still wants to practice both successful methods a few more times, and see if she can make some tweaks. Or if a teammate is around, she can work with…

…him.

Not ‘her,’ with Connie still down and out. And she was asleep when I…

“And now, I have Beam Technology on my tiara. But I can’t use that to enter a strange place, and it will draw too much attention to exit that way.”

So she asks Shin, “What kind of technology do you think I should have on me, in order to best serve the team? I am open to suggestion.”

Right now overpowering or even circumventing the defenses is beyond what she's willing to do for training, so instead she just uses whatever paths and grooves the normal operation of the simmed facility have carved into their security.

Skyler and her mother both accept the tea gratefully. While Karina begins weaving the long pink hair into a thick braid, Skyler gives Caio a curt shake of her head in answer to his question about cameras. "No. Not on the inside."

The two fall silent while Skyler's mother skillfully braids. By the time when she reaches the end and is about to tie off the end so it doesn't unravel, the house's security system beeps to signify a vehicle in the driveway.

The door opens before Skyler can stand up to check on the door. Thaddeus strides in, along with a man in a business suit and two police officers.

"Dad!!" Skyler shrieks when she sees the police. "What are you--?"

"Why are you here?!?" Thaddeus cuts her off, then immediately points to Caio. "And what is he doing here?"

"No! Dad! What are the police doing here? And who's that?" Skyler shouts, on the verge of panic. Karina slaps her hands over her ears and starts moaning at the shouting.

Thaddeus puts his hands up and softens his voice. "You weren't supposed to be here for this. This is Mr. Granger; he's making sure all the paperwork is final so your mother can go someplace where she'll be cared for."

Skyler looks stricken, and for a moment she can't form a coherent thought. The police officers begin to step forward, and Skyler moves to stand between them and her mother. "No! What are you doing!?! You can't take her from me!!"

The officers hold up their hands in a placating gesture. "Calm down, Sweetie. You'll be all right. But we have orders from a judge, okay? She's just going to a hospital for evaluation."

Mr. Granger pulls out a thick stack of papers. "It's all right here from the probate court."

Skyler looks wildly from one face to another, her face a mask of horror. Thaddeus turns to Caio. "Why don't you go to her, make sure she doesn't do anything that'll cause her problems?"

What does he do??

“For fast exists, there’s the Beamer I made already. It effectively is more like phasing than teleportation, but it functions like a teleporter—exactly like the beam from Star Trek.

“Another option is the Time Bubbler. It effectively pauses time for those in the bubble, so I can’t exclude the bad guys if we’re all over the place. Also, opening doors will be impossible during a time pause. And air is thick like water and …unbreathable.” Femtite pauses. “Probably not human safe.

“So… do you like the Beamer for a fast exit?”

* * *

Femtite does a few more runs to practice infiltration for recon purposes. If she can peer from a vent or other opening, Bug-Eye can relay video to the team via the new comms…

He shrugs, "You're probably right about anti-teleportation though. There are enough phaser and teleporting heroes. I've read about some breakthrough security stuff against that through the years so it'll probably catch us if we try it."

After Connie's run shuffle through he wonders about maybe making her gaseous which would allow her to quickly traverse through vents. But most vents are outward fan systems and her wards would probably prevent too much transmutation.

Thrn an idea comes to him, "Ohh.. actually I could make a very small extradimensional pocket that could store vast amounts of well... stuff. Like my old component pouch but smaller. That way if anyone gets caught and searched they wouldn't feel anything in our pockets. Like if say we sent Caio inside undercover or something he could sneak stuff in and out."

He gazes around slowly wondering where Caio is actually.

Not sure if any roll is needed.

"Is this everything?" He asks the lawyer. "Did Ms. Worrel signed anything more?" He then looks at Skyler. "Sky... I don't think we can or should do anything right now. They are ahead of us, but we'll catch up, ok?"

Turning to Thadeus, he adds. "You are not screwing them."

Caio looks at the papers and sees they're full of legalese. When he gets to the end he sees that probate court Judge Ivan Ramos has ordered Karina to be evaluated at the Halcyon County Mental Hospital.

"Screwing them? That's rich," Thaddeus sneers. He holds up another envelope and throws it down on the table. "Results from the paternity test. I am not your father."

Skyler doesn't react, staying close to her mother. Karina keeps her hands over her ears and shaking her head, muttering.

"Since my name's on the birth certificate, legally I have to support you until you're eighteen. Thankfully, that's right around the corner. Then I'm done with you."

Skyler's eyes seethe with hate. She turns to the officers. "Can I go with her?"

"You can go back to school! I'm still paying for it!" Thaddeus shouts.

One of the officers steps over to Thaddeus in an effort to calm him down. The attorney also puts a hand on his arm. "You've made your point. How about letting the police take over?" Thaddeus relents and moves to the kitchen.

Skyler turns back to her mother and gives her a fierce hug. "We're going to fight this! We'll be okay! I promise!"

It's a whirlwind, but in minutes Skyler and Caio are on the street, watching the transport van drive her mother away.

Later on, he finishes his conversation with Percy while keeping an eye on Connie's condition. "Sort of like Connie's trash can. Could it function separately from you?"

"On another note, do you have a method to observe people remotely without their knowledge? I get that sounds very invasive but I worry a lot about Valerie being on her own."

His bristle-like head spines rustle with a bit of aggitation or perhaps worry as he looks to Connie. But he turns away, "I should at least try to sleep... right?" He starts to head to his room, "Jist see if you can get me a personal effect of whoever you want me to look into."

On the streets, Caio just stays silent for a while, giving Skyler some time to process everything. "Let's go home, ok? We need to look for a lawyer."

Thaddeus glowers at Caio. "Wait until you find out the one you loved has lied to you for decades." He glances at Skyler with an expression like he believes her to be lying to Caio even now. "Get out of here. She's your problem, if you really want to keep dating a bastard."

Once they're outside, he slams the door with finality.

The W-HCY studio has set up chairs in a semi-circle with an array of cameras trained on each seat to catch every decent angle of the participants in the interview.

The backdrop appears to be that of an English manor, with wood paneling and pleasant décor. Connie (and her guest) again is brought through the giant media building at the center of Halcyon City.

As she is brought in and handed over to makeup and wardrobe, Connie catches a glimpse of William engaged in a heated debate with one of the directors.

"--completely projecting the wrong image," he is saying.

"People think of magic, and they think Old World. This is the perfect backdrop for this kind of interview. Mr. Grumman picked it out himself."

"It screams 'Hogwarts' and I'll not be having it..."

Connie isn't able to hear much more as she's pushed into a makeup chair. "Hey! Remember me? I'll be working on you again today," says the familiar makeup artist, armed with a number of brushes and powders.

"Mmmmyeah sorry, gonna have to change at least a few plans there." Connie takes out an answering makeup kit, every tube, bottle and case still sealed, though the labels are scratched off or blacked out to mark them unsellable. "No shade on you, I liked your work last time, but if I were here to take a shot at any of my brothers, I would absolutely use you as a vector."

"Um, what?" Karli asks, clearly not getting Connie's meaning. She eyes the makeup kit. "Uh... do you have sensitive skin or something?"

Shin pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, standing there by Connie's side. He's looking out for anyone paying more than cursory attention to them aside from their make up artist.

"Oh, did you not watch my last interview? Magic is real, Karls. A vanishingly small number of Mathers are trustworthy, and even if Dear Old Dad didn't or wouldn't ask them to do it, it's very likely at least one of my brothers thought about using you to poison me. So uh, sealed products only, and I brought brushes too. Seriously though, love your work ."

Karli grows suddenly pale. She looks over her high-end makeups and brushes like they'd transformed into snakes. "Um, seriously? No one's been by here, and, well... you think they're poisoned? That's crazy."

"Oh they're probably fine. And I'll be happy to give them a full look later to make sure no future guests catch a stray that was intended for me... Should we get started though? Punctuality and paranoia are two things you can rely on learning in the Mathers household."

"It's a precaution, but there's no harm in taking it," Shin says as he nods to Connie. "She just wants to be as comfortable as possible for this interview. You understand how it is when you're about to face family in a stressful situation. Every little bit helps," He says to get Karli on board.

The makeup artist still looks unsure, but uses the products brought in by Connie. In short order, she has the Mathers daughter camera-ready.

The director somewhat urgently gestures for Connie to take her spot, seated in between Jean-Paul and Tim. William is looking smugly satisfied as set dressers are removing the wood paneling and opening up the backdrop to reveal the Halcyon Skyline behind them.

If you're expecting me to be bummed about Hogwarts not being the vibe then you really really must believe in the death of the author. Not aspirationally
With a smile that's all innocence, Connie drags her new chair formerly belonging to an unseated Mathers over to one end of the row so that she has at least one brotherless direction to turn her back.

One of the technicians steps in and stops Connie from moving the chair. "They're all lit properly, dear. Please don't move them; we'll have to readjust all the lighting."

"Did Gare-bear not tell you? Seating choice was one of my preconditions for the group interview. I can drag another one back to the mark if you like."

The tech throws up his hands. "Ugh! First it's the backdrop! Now it's seating arrangements! I suppose next someone will be needing special microphones!" He has Tim moving in one so that Connie can sit next to him, and thus directly across from William. The youngest Mathers arches an eyebrow at her. "Constance," he says simply. His eyes flick over to Shin standing off to the side. A corner of his mouth twists upward in disdainful amusement, and then his eyes move to study something else in the room seemingly having discarded the Protégé into his mental rubbish bin.

Connie greets her younger brother quickly as, "Hailmary," before following his gaze to Shin. "Mm. Your mistake to dismiss him. By all accounts he's actually shockingly good in bed. Oh, or if you were thinking about fighting him instead, I'd rather have him at my back than ten of you. True for the sex thing too, but that's for a lot of other reasons."

Shin crosses his arms and stands off stage, keeping his eyes sharp. He may not be in uniform, but he still has some gadgets at work. His glasses for instance had a HUD link to Clocktower set to help him hone in on potential hazards he might otherwise overlook. He sets his field of vision across Tim, getting a sense for what kind of a threat he might be to Connie and himself. Being that he was a monstrously well-built man, it might be safe to assume he's a physical brawler. He didn't think that Mathers would look kindly on 'all brawn, no brains' though.

He was a little off guard when Conflux promoted his prowess in bed though, but tried not to let it show on his face. "Try not to look like you're sniffing sour milk when you're looking at us. Makes you look bad," He advises.

The same flustered director shoos Shin away from the stage and then starts waving his arms at Connie and Tim. "Enough of that! No muttering! The mics will pick it all up!"

Tim inclines his head politely. "I apologize for my sibling, sir." He turns to her. "Seriously? You can't stop being petty for one moment?" He gives a grin to the director and his teeth gleam under the stage lighting.

The director appears mollified. "Right. Yes. Thank you, young man." He finishes by glaring hard at Connie, then turning to move Shin to a distant corner of the studio.

Connie rolls her eyes. "Kiss ass says what?" But mostly she settles in and waits for Gurmman.

Shin settles out behind the cameras' view, nodding to Connie and showing her that he's got his eye out, before making sure to keep his focus on her erstwhile siblings.

William and Jean-Paul have a brief exchange and they sit down in their appointed seats. Tim lounges back in his seat with a practiced air of total confidence.

Lights blaze as Gary Grumman takes his place opposite the semi-circle of young Mathers. Camera operators get behind their lenses and the director gives the signal that recording has begun.

Gary plies his practiced smile at the primary camera. "Good evening, and welcome to the final episode of Halcyon Today's look into William Westscott Mathers: sorcerous revolutionary or megalomaniacal magician?

"I'm joined by several of Mathers' family -- before he allegedly pitted himself against the Alliance of Heroes, he was first and foremost a family man. Adopting children from across the globe, he was clearly more than your typical despot with plans for world domination."

The cameras pan across the guests. "Joining me today are four of his seven children. William Junior, Jean-Paul, Constance, and Tim Mathers."

Gary turns to William. "As the second eldest here in the studio, let's start with you. You've known William Westscott Mathers the longest. Is he the villain the Alliance says he is?"

William's face is stern as he regards Gary. "Of course not. I'm fully aware that there's going to be a perceived bias in my experience with my father. I mean, how can my word compare with those of actual Alliance members? I can only hope that my twenty-seven years of experience with my father will lend some credence to what I say: he only has Humanity's interests at heart. Magic is a gift that should not be locked away."

Gary tilts his head in interest. "Fascinating. Is this sentiment shared by the rest of you?"

Tim jumps in immediately. "Oh, of course. Think about it; they teach math, science, literature in school. Why not magic? Because there's not enough of it to go around. Dad was going to change all that."

"Yeah. And all out of the goodness of his heart. Look, whether or not the magic should be out there is a really complicated topic... Which is exactly why that's where his water-carriers are trying to take you. Demons. Abductions. Funneling that power in a transparently self-interested way.

"Discuss."

Gary follows up on Connie's statement. "That's a good point. The Alliance's official statement was that William Mathers -- senior -- was not providing magic to all, but magic to a chosen few. His chosen few."

Tim responds quickly. "I don't remember the part in history class where the whole world got together and voted to lock magic away. Oh, right. Because it didn't happen. But Doctor Infinity did just that. And others before him. Houdini. Maskelyne. Herrmann. All the way back to Merlin. Taking it upon themselves to keep magic from the masses."

"You say that," Gary says, "but how was this not a power grab? And why not tell people first? Get support? Jean-Paul? You've been quiet so far. What do you say?"

The middle Mathers child stirs at being thrust into the spotlight. "Well, Dad's always been, you know, close to the chest."

"And it's ridiculous to believe that the released magic would be available to everyone," William interjects. "It takes study. Discipline. Practice. Just like not everyone can be a doctor, or an engineer, not everyone can become a sorcerer just because magic was reintroduced. Only those willing to put in the time and effort."

"Again, really not interested in getting dragged into philosophical questions about the availability of potentially dangerous resources at this juncture. Even if you subscribe to the idea that giving himself phenomenal power that lesser beings don't deserve is a noble thing * * cough, cough, fascist* *, he still had to capture and abuse children to make it work."

Tim scoffs at Connie. "'Capture and abuse children'? Are you serious? Do you really think Dad's capable of that?"

He turns to Gary, leaning forward. "Constance has some problems with authority. Oppositional defiance. Just like how she couldn't even agree to a simple seating arrangement without her having to move us around."

"Connie, and our father's a capable guy after all. And what, you're saying Captain Stalwart completely misunderstood that whole situation? His jaw-ship himself? Now who has the issue with authority."

William sighs. "Captain Stalwart is a great many things, but an expert in magic he is not. I'm sure he's being quite sincere, but remember most of the available information from the Alliance is from Feya Firestorm -- a neophyte member of that team of aliens, robots, and enhanced individuals."

"Mr. Mathers, the Alliance has defended this world from countless threats. Are you truly sure your father was not one of them?" Gary asks pointedly.

"That, of course, is yet to be decided in a court of law. I understand the rush to label someone as the next big villain of Halcyon -- especially an older, white male. They make excellent villains, don't they? -- But until all the information is in, weighed, and judged, I simply am not ready to accept such a label on our adoptive father. And it shames me that some of my siblings are so willing." He casts a side eye at Connie.

"Oh jesus f~~#ing christ tell me you're not going to complain that our father is getting 'cancelled' for something as petty as, you know, the abduction of children. Look, you're not gonna catch me disrespecting the man here, but I also can't just lie. I can't lie about what I saw, and I can't lie about the kind of man he is. No matter what else you might think about his whole grand design, that's what he was doing."

All attention turns to Connie. "Do you want to talk about what you saw?" Gary inquires, leaning forward a little.

"Yes, Conflux. Are you revealing your role with First Class on national television?" William asks.

Shin stands in the shadowed part of the studio outside the frame the cameras focused on. He looks for any signal from Connie to step in to intervene.

b]"Good lord, William, I knew you were getting up there but are you that old?! Even if you're still on Bing, if you put in 'who is Conflux' you get pictures of my un-masked face! And some links to an IT consulting and analytics firm. No affiliation. I'm not gonna get into specifics about a situation that's quite literally pending trial-"[/b] She squeezes her eyes shut tight against a sudden pulse from the migraine that had been building in her brain for hours. "f~$~, f+%~, f&@~ity-f~@+. Shit, sorry. Bleep all that I guess." she finished through gritted teeth.

Gary half rises from his chair. "Is everything all right?"

Jean-Paul snorts. "Looks like someone Infini-searches herself."

Tim leans back, appraising his distressed sibling with a curious eye. "I remember that look. You still gotta go all the way to the breaking point, don't you?" He snickers in amusement. "And you always break."

Gary is on his feet and moving to Connie's side. William catches his hand before he touches her shoulder. "Don't worry. This is just more of Constance's drama."

Shin doesn't want to fight Connie's battles for her. But from where he's standing, it's three-on-one and Connie is in distress at the moment. If they have to cut him out in post, that's fine. But he is going to her side and kneeling by her.

"Your brothers are all real charmers," he comments sarcastically. "Forget about them for now. What do you need?"

"Yeah why not Jean-Paul. Oxytocin, endorphins, lowered blood pressure..." Connie squeezes her eyes shut. The pain doesn't subside. But that's okay. You just have to make it twenty more seconds. What can't you take for twenty seconds? Then just twenty more after that. And after that. And after that...

She opens her eyes, gaze locking on Shin's. "Thanks bud. I just- I can't let them be the only one that people hear. Not about him."

She leans forwards, gripping the side of her chair. "Okay. So no specifics. Or at least not from me. Timbo? No secrets among family, right? You wanna let Gare-bear in on what's happening? With my drama? It's fine by me."

The director steps in, shouting for the cameras to cut. Gary shrugs out of William's grip and steps up to Shin. "Give her some space, son. We're taking a break. You okay?" he asks Connie.

Bodies start shuffling around. Shin feels hands grip his upper arms and move him away from the studio. Karli is suddenly there in his place, leaning over Connie with terrified eyes. "Are you okay? Need me to call 911?"

William stands and moves clear of the sudden rush of bodies as it's looking like there's a medical emergency happening. The other Mathers stay rooted in their chairs watching on with interest.

Shin generally looks a little concerned as everyone seems to flock in to check on her even though she seemed ready to push forward with the interview and press her brothers. He pulls away from whomever has their hands on him though. "I have first aid training, I was already checking her condition," He says in annoyance, trying to see how Connie is doing with all of the attention on her.

"Oh for f$#@'s sake! We're not taking all that shit from the top or anything are we? I get the headache and everyone else is running around like the ice pick is in their skull? Shin, how bad was that from the outside?"

He pushes in close enough to her side to whisper back. "Well, you look pale and feverish to everyone. Was this some magic attack on you?" He asks, looking at the brothers and narrowing his eyes.

"It's nothing my brothers did or are doing. It's not an attack. If you've got some sort of gizmo that instantly cures headaches I'd try it though. Or even if it just works on cramps. All that aside, external view time. Can I go back on looking like this? Or will I look like the only one of Dear Old Dad's kiddos to not toe the party line is strung out on junk?"

b]"Maybe taking ten minutes in makeup to relax might take the edge off,"[/b] Shin suggests. "I didn't think to bring any of my medical tools with me. I have...gum? If that helps?"

Horizon's narrow-eyed stare is met with indifference by most of the siblings until he eyes Tim. He meets Shin's eyes evenly and smirks.

Go ahead and take a condition, Horizon, for that miss

Again Shin finds himself guided away from the scene. "Maybe you'd like to watch from the booth, young man," one of the security staff suggests, though it doesn't sound like a suggestion.

Karli stays in Connie's field of view as she pats some sponges across her brow. "You sure it's just a headache, sweetie? I have some over-the-counter stuff if you'd like."

She has Connie close her eyes as she starts using the big makeup brush. Her voice is soft and reassuring, just like the brush dancing along her cheeks. "You know, sometimes the pressure of the cameras can get to people. Just remember, you're doing great. Gary's going to take good care of you. Keep your eyes on him and try to block everything else out, okay? How about taking a deep breath for me, okay?"

Shin, however, isn't being treated as daintily. The security staff are insistent that he moves away from the stage.

What do you do?

(Taking afraid)

(Assess: Who is in the Greatest Danger (i.e. is this a f$%%ing trap), and what here can I use to cover our escape)

Connie looks around at the state of the studio and her brothers having quiet conversations either amongst themselves or with other network employees. At the moment, the thing in most danger is her reputation as being someone who can keep it together under a bit of pressure. Escape doesn't seem like it would be a problem; she could probably demand to go, leaving Gary with the choice to either edit around her departure or conduct the rest of the interview with her siblings as if she'd never been there in the first place.

Connie's eyes stay relentlessly opens as she blocks Karli's brush with her hand. "Yeah yeah. Just... give me a second."
She fishes out her phone, and quickly types out a reply. Starbucks off 4th. Two hours. Ask your questions there and you'll get your answers. Or don't. Up to you.
"Okay. Let's do this. Feeling better already."

Shin thought that she looked like she needed some blankets and a hot bowl of broth, but that was unlikely to happen. He's scowling as he's effectively pulled away from Connie, but doesn't resist as he steps back and continues to worry.

"I get it, we need to give her space," He says through grit teeth. But he can't help but wonder if Connie's paranoia is right and if he needs to step in and get her out of here.

Karli takes a step back. "Yeah. You do look better. Okay, here," she gently tucks a few stray hairs into place and helps her up.

Connie's return to the array of chairs gets the studio back in action. Gary smiles warmly at her and signals for the interview to resume.

Once the lighting and sound is re-checked, he begins. "Don't worry. Magic happens in the editing booth. So, let's continue.

"William, when were you adopted?"

He does some calculation in his head. "About thirty-two years ago. Give or take. I was thirteen, and a refugee orphan from one of Rodovka's internecine struggles. It certainly changed the trajectory of my life."

Gary nods, absorbed in his story. "I could only imagine. Jean-Paul, what about you? When were you adopted? "

Sitting up from his slight slouch, he shrugs. "Fifteen years ago, I think. It was a surprise to me, since I was almost sixteen when he adopted me. But, you know, that's what he did."
Gary turns to Connie. "And let's hear from you. When were you adopted?"

"When I was eleven years, eleven months, and eleven days old. Or right after he picked out this one," she points her thumb at Tim with a bitter smile. "Right before he got going on taking him home though."

Gary quirks a smile at all the elevens. "That's unusual." He tries to parse out the timeline. "So, you say that your father picked out Tim first for adoption, but then adopted you ahead of him. Interesting. Do you know why?"

Tim smirks at the question, but it's similarly bitter. "That's... family business." He glares at Connie briefly -- a familiar look that conveys his ire that he might be denied a glorious destiny and it's all her fault. It's gone in a moment.

William clears his throat. "What my youngest brother means is that our father had his reasons for everything he did. It's common for practitioners of magic. Think of common everyday activities like horoscopes, Feng Shui, magnets, and the like. Most of those have their roots in actual magical practices. For someone Gifted, following those rituals can produce verifiable results. So, the order in which he adopted us was... no doubt important."

Gary nods sagely. "All right. We've talked some about how the man was as a father. But what about his life before that? Do you know where he learned magic? What was his own upbringing like?"

As Shin watches from the sidelines and avoids getting checked by security again, he takes a look at the brothers, trying to read their reactions from this line of questioning. Of the three, he felt that Jean-Paul was probably the one whose motives were the most vague. Could he potentially be an ally?

13 on PtM, focusing on Jean-Paul: What are you really planning? What do you intend to do? How could I get you to support Conflux?

Sorry for your really good roll, but I don't think it's possible to glean those answers from Jean-Paul's actions and demeanor. He's closed off, short in his answers and flat in his affect. Which at the very least tells him that he's trying to be secretive not just to outside observers like Horizon, but also his own siblings.

"...I don't think I can tell you anything that's not already in the public record. The Matherses and the Westcotts have been around a while, and, evidently, here we are still. If you're looking for more, you could take a WASPy background, season with Eton and at least a dash of Blavatsky, and who knows, you might even be right. But best to do digging on his early secrets with people who were there and can talk about it."

William leans forward. "Our father was apprenticed to very accomplished arcanists, including Doctor Infinity. After Infinity's disappearance, he traveled the globe dealing with magical threats and phenomena. Unfortunately for him, magic does not draw the same accolades as your science or meta heroes."

Jean-Paul crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. "A lovely spin on Dear Old Dad's life, Will. Yeah, he traveled the world. And yeah, he 'dealt' with magical threats," he says using air quotes. "But a lot of those were only threats to him. Because he kept making deals and bargains. Demons, fae, boggards, angels, daemons, even entities that will drive you insane if you know enough about them... Dad didn't discriminate who he'd screw over."

Connie gives Jean-Paul a hard side eye. I... Am surprised he's going into that level of detail in such a public venue without being cut off.

Similar surprised looks appear on William's and Tim's faces.

Jean-Paul continues like no one is reacting. "So, yeah. But what's really impressive is that all his kids are similarly pieces of trash. Even me. And even this one," he juts his thumb in Connie's direction, "who loves to pretend to be a hero. But Constance is just as f+%*ed up as the rest of us."

"He gets bleeped for saying f++* too, right? I'm not sure I'm the focus of today's little confab, but uh, is being a hero somehow not allowed if you're f~*#ed up?"

Gary gives Connie an annoyed look. "We can bleep a one-off expletive, but please refrain from stringing them together." He resumes his interested expression. "This is revelatory. Were none of you aware of your father's history? Why haven't any of you mentioned this before? William Westcott Mathers making deals with demons?"

Shin looks a bit relieved to see that Jean-Paul is taking pressure off of Connie here and getting the focus now. Though he's quiet and not drawing any attention to himself since he doesn't want to get kicked out.

Connie looks up at the ceiling while trying to word her answer. "I'm not describing what our father did as moral, sane, or even smart. However, oversimplifying extradimensional beings for a broad audience poses its own dangers. There's a lot of baggage associated with different sorts of creatures, and when people assume they know the rules because things seem to align with a mythic framework that they're passably familiar with, they can get in a Lot of trouble. It can also encourage people to assume that every person with a reminiscent name or appearance is truly a representative of that supernatural ordo, and that brings its own prejudicial troubles, even if your only link to angelic or demonic beings is cosmetic. "

Tim laughs, an infectious, charismatic chuckle. "You're going to put the audience to sleep, going on like that. Seriously, give the editors a break." He turns to Gary. "What she means is, there are entities out there depicted in popular culture far differently than what they actually are. And since most people get their information from movies and shows, the misconceptions can get you into trouble.

"Just like how superhero movies don't get it right." He turns to the camera with a smile. "Except for Behind the Mask, of course." That gets a laugh from Gary and the crew.

"Yeah, so while 'bargaining with demons' is something we generally default to being a bad thing for pretty solid reasons to be fair, you really want to look at the details of what's getting used as payment, and for what before you decide that a pact with the fae or with angelic beings is any better.

"There's a lot of different things that can demand your firstborn child, and in my not particularly humble opinion, they should all be told to get f-, uh, stuffed."

Tim raises his hand. "Um, isn't there a demon on your team now?"

"See that's what I'm talking about. Cosmetics can make people trust or mistrust even when there's nothing morally or ethically attached to them. Devil Diva has a provocative name, and a provocative look, but she's fought as a hero, even when persecuted for her appearance."

Wearing a "gotcha" smile, Tim continues, "So which is it? Is it all right to make deals with devils? And to put them on your team? Or should we avoid them?"

"You're the only one saying she's a devil, Tiny Tim."

"Just me and her agents, cape watchers, teammates... you... or does she not go by Devil Diva?"

Connie snorts and rolls her eyes. "You must get really confused at sports games."

Shin can't help but crack a smile at Connie's retort.

After the W-HCY logo appears, giant letters flash across the screen displaying The Grist with Gary Grumman along with bombastic music. A montage of the seasoned reporter nodding along or asking hard-hitting questions to a number of heads of state, celebrities, and superheroes in the show's intro. Then the camera zooms in to a studio with several people sitting in a semi-circle around Gary Grummond himself.

Gary plies his practiced smile. "Good evening, and welcome to the final episode of Halcyon Today's look into William Westscott Mathers: sorcerous revolutionary or megalomaniacal magician?

"I'm joined by several of Mathers' family -- before he allegedly pitted himself against the Alliance of Heroes, he was first and foremost a family man. Adopting children from across the globe, he was clearly more than your typical despot with plans for world domination."

The cameras pan across the guests. "Joining me today are four of his seven children. William Junior, Jean-Paul, Constance, and Tim Mathers."

Gary turns to William. "As the second eldest here in the studio, let's start with you. You've known William Westscott Mathers the longest. Is he the villain the Alliance says he is?"

William's face is stern as he regards Gary. "Of course not. I'm fully aware that there's going to be a perceived bias in my experience with my father. I mean, how can my word compare with those of actual Alliance members? I can only hope that my twenty-seven years of experience with my father will lend some credence to what I say: he only has Humanity's interests at heart. Magic is a gift that should not be locked away."

Gary tilts his head in interest. "Fascinating. Is this sentiment shared by the rest of you?"

Tim jumps in immediately. "Oh, of course. Think about it; they teach math, science, literature in school. Why not magic? Because there's not enough of it to go around. Dad was going to change all that."

"Yeah. And all out of the goodness of his heart. Look, whether or not the magic should be out there is a really complicated topic... Which is exactly why that's where his water-carriers are trying to take you. Demons. Abductions. Funneling that power in a transparently self-interested way.

"Discuss."

Gary follows up on Connie's statement. "That's a good point. The Alliance's official statement was that William Mathers -- senior -- was not providing magic to all, but magic to a chosen few. His chosen few."

Tim responds quickly. "I don't remember the part in history class where the whole world got together and voted to lock magic away. Oh, right. Because it didn't happen. But Doctor Infinity did just that. And others before him. Houdini. Maskelyne. Herrmann. All the way back to Merlin. Taking it upon themselves to keep magic from the masses."

"You say that," Gary says, "but how was this not a power grab? And why not tell people first? Get support? Jean-Paul? You've been quiet so far. What do you say?"

The middle Mathers child stirs at being thrust into the spotlight. "Well, Dad's always been, you know, close to the chest."

"And it's ridiculous to believe that the released magic would be available to everyone," William interjects. "It takes study. Discipline. Practice. Just like not everyone can be a doctor, or an engineer, not everyone can become a sorcerer just because magic was reintroduced. Only those willing to put in the time and effort."

"Again, really not interested in getting dragged into philosophical questions about the availability of potentially dangerous resources at this juncture. Even if you subscribe to the idea that giving himself phenomenal power that lesser beings don't deserve is a noble thing * * cough, cough, fascist* *, he still had to capture and abuse children to make it work."

Tim scoffs at Connie. "'Capture and abuse children'? Are you serious? Do you really think Dad's capable of that?"

He turns to Gary, leaning forward. "Constance has some problems with authority. Oppositional defiance. Just like how she couldn't even agree to a simple seating arrangement without her having to move us around."

"Connie, and our father's a capable guy after all. And what, you're saying Captain Stalwart completely misunderstood that whole situation? His jaw-ship himself? Now who has the issue with authority."

William sighs. "Captain Stalwart is a great many things, but an expert in magic he is not. I'm sure he's being quite sincere, but remember most of the available information from the Alliance is from Feya Firestorm -- a neophyte member of that team of aliens, robots, and enhanced individuals."

"Mr. Mathers, the Alliance has defended this world from countless threats. Are you truly sure your father was not one of them?" Gary asks pointedly.

"That, of course, is yet to be decided in a court of law. I understand the rush to label someone as the next big villain of Halcyon -- especially an older, white male. They make excellent villains, don't they? -- But until all the information is in, weighed, and judged, I simply am not ready to accept such a label on our adoptive father. And it shames me that some of my siblings are so willing." He casts a side eye at Connie.

"Oh jesus f&~%ing christ tell me you're not going to complain that our father is getting 'cancelled' for something as petty as, you know, the abduction of children. Look, you're not gonna catch me disrespecting the man here, but I also can't just lie. I can't lie about what I saw, and I can't lie about the kind of man he is. No matter what else you might think about his whole grand design, that's what he was doing."

The camera focuses on Gary, smiling unctuously. "Interesting. The question still remains whether William Westscott Mathers is a supervillain or not. Yet, interestingly, he is a family man focused on adopting children from all walks of life. Let's explore that.

"William, when were you adopted?"

He does some calculation in his head. "About thirty-two years ago. Give or take. I was thirteen, and a refugee orphan from one of Rodovka's internecine struggles. It certainly changed the trajectory of my life."

Gary nods, absorbed in his story. "I could only imagine. Jean-Paul, what about you? When were you adopted? "

Sitting up from his slight slouch, he shrugs. "Fifteen years ago, I think. It was a surprise to me, since I was almost sixteen when he adopted me. But, you know, that's what he did."

Gary turns to Connie. "And let's hear from you. When were you adopted?"

"When I was eleven years, eleven months, and eleven days old. Or right after he picked out this one," she points her thumb at Tim with a bitter smile. "Right before he got going on taking him home though."

Gary quirks a smile at all the elevens. "That's unusual." He tries to parse out the timeline. "So, you say that your father picked out Tim first for adoption, but then adopted you ahead of him. Interesting. Do you know why?"

Tim smirks at the question, but it's similarly bitter. "That's... family business." He glares at Connie briefly -- a familiar look that conveys his ire that he might be denied a glorious destiny and it's all her fault. It's gone in a moment.

William clears his throat. "What my youngest brother means is that our father had his reasons for everything he did. It's common for practitioners of magic. Think of common everyday activities like horoscopes, Feng Shui, magnets, and the like. Most of those have their roots in actual magical practices. For someone Gifted, following those rituals can produce verifiable results. So, the order in which he adopted us was... no doubt important."

Gary nods sagely. "All right. We've talked some about how the man was as a father. But what about his life before that? Do you know where he learned magic? What was his own upbringing like?"

"...I don't think I can tell you anything that's not already in the public record. The Matherses and the Westcotts have been around a while, and, evidently, here we are still. If you're looking for more, you could take a WASPy background, season with Eton and at least a dash of Blavatsky, and who knows, you might even be right. But best to do digging on his early secrets with people who were there and can talk about it."

William leans forward. "Our father was apprenticed to very accomplished arcanists, including Doctor Infinity. After Infinity's disappearance, he traveled the globe dealing with magical threats and phenomena. Unfortunately for him, magic does not draw the same accolades as your science or meta heroes."

Jean-Paul crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. "A lovely spin on Dear Old Dad's life, Will. Yeah, he traveled the world. And yeah, he 'dealt' with magical threats," he says using air quotes. "But a lot of those were only threats to him. Because he kept making deals and bargains. Demons, fae, boggards, angels, daemons, even entities that will drive you insane if you know enough about them... Dad didn't discriminate who he'd screw over."

Connie gives Jean-Paul a hard side eye. I... Am surprised he's going into that level of detail in such a public venue without being cut off.

Similar surprised looks appear on William's and Tim's faces.

Jean-Paul continues like no one is reacting. "So, yeah. But what's really impressive is that all his kids are similarly pieces of trash. Even me. And even this one," he juts his thumb in Connie's direction, "who loves to pretend to be a hero. But Constance is just as f$#*ed up as the rest of us."

Gary resumes his interested expression. "This is revelatory. Were none of you aware of your father's history? Why haven't any of you mentioned this before? William Westcott Mathers making deals with demons?"

Connie looks up at the ceiling while trying to word her answer. "I'm not describing what our father did as moral, sane, or even smart. However, oversimplifying extradimensional beings for a broad audience poses its own dangers. There's a lot of baggage associated with different sorts of creatures, and when people assume they know the rules because things seem to align with a mythic framework that they're passably familiar with, they can get in a Lot of trouble. It can also encourage people to assume that every person with a reminiscent name or appearance is truly a representative of that supernatural ordo, and that brings its own prejudicial troubles, even if your only link to angelic or demonic beings is cosmetic. "

Tim laughs, an infectious, charismatic chuckle. He turns to Gary. "What she means is, there are entities out there depicted in popular culture far differently than what they actually are. And since most people get their information from movies and shows, the misconceptions can get you into trouble.

"Just like how superhero movies don't get it right." He turns to the camera with a smile. "Except for Behind the Mask, of course." That gets a laugh from Gary and the crew.

"Yeah, so while 'bargaining with demons' is something we generally default to being a bad thing for pretty solid reasons to be fair, you really want to look at the details of what's getting used as payment, and for what before you decide that a pact with the fae or with angelic beings is any better.

"There's a lot of different things that can demand your firstborn child, and in my not particularly humble opinion, they should all be told to get f-, uh, stuffed."

Tim raises his hand. "Um, isn't there a demon on your team now?"

"See that's what I'm talking about. Cosmetics can make people trust or mistrust even when there's nothing morally or ethically attached to them. Devil Diva has a provocative name, and a provocative look, but she's fought as a hero, even when persecuted for her appearance."

Wearing a "gotcha" smile, Tim continues, "So which is it? Is it all right to make deals with devils? And to put them on your team? Or should we avoid them?"

"You're the only one saying she's a devil, Tiny Tim."

"Just me and her agents, cape watchers, teammates... you... or does she not go by Devil Diva?"

b]"Good lord, William, I knew you were getting up there but are you that old?! Even if you're still on Bing, if you put in 'who is Conflux' you get pictures of my un-masked face! And some links to an IT consulting and analytics firm. No affiliation. I'm not gonna get into specifics about a situation that's quite literally pending trial-"[/b] She squeezes her eyes shut tight against a sudden pulse from the migraine that had been building in her brain for hours.

Tim leans back, appraising his distressed sibling with a curious eye. "I remember that look. You still gotta go all the way to the breaking point, don't you?" He snickers in amusement. "And you always break."

"Interesting," Gary muses as the cameras focus on him nodding with a clear "deep in thought" expression. "Is Westscott Mathers a villain? Or a misunderstood mage, trying to rekindle magic in the world? Certainly a puzzle for the courts, and, quite possibly, the court of public opinion."

The camera zooms out as the studio darkens around everyone except for Gary. "Amazing to think that magic could be a source of power for everyone. That magicians and sorcerers could be revered at the same level as our scientists and captains of industry. But at what cost? Mathers is accused of horrible crimes, including the kidnapping of children. If that is what's necessary to bring magic to us all, is that truly worth it? Or, are there other ways, perhaps even known to those who would otherwise protect us? Are they seeking to protect us from ourselves, and making those decisions for us? These are the questions that need answers. Thanks for watching, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Gary Grummond, and follow me next time on Halcyon Today."

He shakes his head. "Nah, we're more of a video game family."

Raquel leans over and puts an arm around Chastity. "We brought something we could play. Chastity's mom even introduced it to us last week."

"It's, ah, spin the bottle," Chastity says, rising to her feet. She goes over to her coat and pulls out an old Coke bottle and a small plate.

"Your Mom?" Ngon and Gina both remark.

Chastity comes back to the circle. "It's more wholesome than you'd think. Just a little consensual kissing. She's not that much of a prude."

Maeve shudders as the girls mention some kind of party game… spin the—

“WHAT?!”

Maeve rises from her seat, eyes wide, face red.. “Kissing isn’t a game! It’s… it’s… it’s intimacy. It’s… it’s…”

Maeve slumps back onto the sofa, sinking into the cushions.

“…it’s wrong. It’s sick. I think I’m gonna be sick.”

She wants to storm out of the room. Become fire. Cry. But she can’t even pull herself off the sofa.

Conway takes a seat on the couch next to Maeve, but with plenty of space between them. "Why don't you go ahead. We can just watch." He gasps and his cheeks turn crimson again. "Not like that!"

Gabe belly laughs. "Oh, you like to watch, huh?" Ethan joins in, as Raquel and Gina also giggle.

"I-- I didn't mean... It wasn't--" Conway stammers.

"Chill, dude," Ethan says, still chuckling. "You walked right into that one."

Gabe catches his breath from his bout of laughter. "It's all good, man. Just f@@+ing with you."

Conway recovers, and even joins in the tail end of the laughs. "I still think Maeve's not into it, so I'll sit out too."

"No presh, dude." Ethan helps Gabe move the table out of the way as Chastity sets down the plate on the floor and puts the bottle on it.

"You know, there are European countries where kissing is just a sign of friendship," Chastity says pointedly. "And you don't have to kiss if the bottle lands on you. Like, Gabe's my cousin, so, obviously that's not happening."

“Exactly my point!” Mae says. “Because Europeans kiss both relatives and friends alike when it’s that kind of kiss. But this isn’t that kind of kiss.

“It’s intimate. It’s taboo. And if you’re in a relationship, it’s cheating!” She turns to Gina, “Or are you cool with me passionately kissing your boyfriend right in front of you? Or maybe I should ask Ngon if he’s cool with me kissing you…”

She turns to Gabe. “Because I would only kiss a girl. Because. I’m. A lesbian.“ She turns to Chastity. “And I’m done hiding who I am. That bottle spins once, I’ll reveal another truth.”

Chastity sneers cruelly. "Is that a threat?!?" She tosses the bottle casually and catches it. "Go on, what secret were you going to share? That we were girlfriends?"

The lights seem to dim everywhere in the room except for Chastity. Her cruel smile grows more severe as she stands over Maeve. "Our little dalliance is at an end. You came on too strong, 'Maeve.' Becoming human for me, showing up in every class, clinging to me everywhere I went... I couldn't get away! The three days you were gone was bliss! I wished you'd stayed gone."

The others in the room are like statues, unmoving as she rants at Maeve. The lights dim further, with Chastity revealed in a reddish glow. She tosses the bottle once again, but Maeve catches etchings on the plate in her other hand. The symbol of Duke Zepar!

She waves the symbol in front of Maeve's horrified face. "You recognize this, huh? It's Mother's gift to me. To set things right. We're not going to let you mold me into the person you want! Besides, it's better this way. Just ask Raquel! She loves being straight! In fact, why don't you give it a try?"

Maeve is frozen in place, but the word ‘end’ is like the bandaid being pulled off. It hurts like crazy, but then everything else is just an itch. And itches get scratched.

Mae narrows her eyes. “The truth is that I already figured out what the plate is.“

Mae grabs it! Fearing the Duke’s power will overtake her, she attempts to resist his power—

Maeve grabs the plate, but it seems like Chastity was expecting the move and it was part of her plan all along! Maeve feels a presence pushing at her from the tablet in her hands, crawling up and around her. She fights it off, but just barely!

That means, unfortunately, that the spirit of the infernal duke is still influencing Chastity! She stands, head cocked at an unnatural angle, watching Maeve wrestle with power of the sigil. "What next, 'Maeve'? Beg Chastity to return to her tortured existence hiding in the closet? Or go subatomic and see what Lord Zepar's influence can do to an entire race of females? I still have the bottle. Let's give it a spin."

Chastity twirls the ancient bottle on the tip of her finger, spinning it far faster than it ordinarily could on such a perch. "Who would you like to fall in love with? Gabe? Ngon? The new boy, Ethan? Would you try to smother them, just like you did with Chastity? Wear them down, pining for their masculine touch?" She laughs cruelly.

Mae groans, “Yeah, you got me… I can’t resist a perverted patriarch forever. But I can choose my guy!”

She grabs the bottle—deliberately pointing it at Conway!

Maeve struggles briefly with Chastity, knocking her off her feet. The bottle hits the floor and skids across the hardwood, but the heroic alter ego grabs it just as it's pointed at Conway.

A feeling of pins and needles runs through Maeve, then moves to her stomach as dancing butterflies. Her eyes lock on the paralyzed form of Conway and the spell of Duke Zepar discharges!
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Maeve suddenly finds herself sitting in a circle in Ngon's basement around a few bits of glass and pieces of broken pottery.

"Well, that was a bust. How old was that bottle, anyway?" Gabe asks.

"I-- I don't know," Chastity says, sounding like she was just waking up. "I honestly don't know why I suggested this stupid game in the first place."

"Or why I even agreed to sit down with you all," Raquel says as she rises to her feet. "I'm friggin' aro."

Ethan stands as well, checking his phone. "Looks like it's time to go anyway. Great movie, Ngon. Thanks for hosting. Tell your parents the food was great."

"Yeah, no prob. Thanks for coming. Nice meeting you," he says.

Chastity rubs her eyes. "That movie's going to give me nightmares. Thanks for that."

Gabe grabs her coat and hands it to her as everyone gathers their things to leave.

"That felt... weird, there. At the end. You okay?" Conway asks as he hands Maeve her coat.

===========