Tumbler has shown up to the base today in her regular outfit, though without the cloak. She looks at Magpie with some annoyance. "You could have just called," She tells the older man. "I could have handled this right away."
She turns to the team. "Panopticon is not someone you cross and get away from it. But he doesn't know that it's gone missing yet, right?" She confirms with their guest. "And you're right that it takes a thief to catch a thief. Let's go to your store and see what we can find out. Time is of the essence," She says to the group.
”I could have called, yes,” the Magpie says, bobbing his head. ”But Panopticon is not somebody you should go up against alone. My bones tell me that this something you’re gonna need your whole little team for. Cause whoever would be bold enough to steal from Panopticon is somebody even worse!”
“Yeah… but we gotta go with the ‘some other way’ option,” the Derby replies to Tumbler and Magpie. “If this Panopticon’s threatening your life, he’s obviously already a murderer. No way are we appeasing that asshoIe.”
Gesturing toward Wes (without swooning… gotta keep it professional), she adds, “I’m pretty sure the blood sacrifice isn’t voluntary. And if he has that mirror, I expect he’ll ‘sacrifice’ a lot.”
A tickle of wariness turns into full-blown paranoia as Panopticon is discussed as a real threat. "How 'perfect' is Panopticon's perception? Does he just see where everyone is no matter how good they are at hiding, or does he see, like, truth about things?"
”His situational awareness is a passive thing. But the rumors say that if he actively turns his gaze upon you, then he can see all the way into your soul, and learn the things that you keep hidden inside of you,” Magpie says with a shudder.
If he can see in me, I have a soul, the doll surmises.
"Lovely," Arcanum says as he tries to keep the fear off his face, and trusting the cloak and hood to help. The implications of a powerful crime boss learning that Wes was a genie capable of granting wishes was almost too terrible to contemplate.
He decides to put that frightening concept aside for the moment. "Investigation time, then. If we find out who took the mirror, then we might have enough to satisfy Panopticon. After all, like you said, someone willing to steal from him must be powerful. You think just knowing who's out there would be worth something, right?"
Along with not thinking about Panopticon, Wesley is actively not thinking about Professor Braithwaite and how he might very much like to own such a mirror. He's not thinking about it, dammit!
The Derby says, “I can have the fembots check the Big Brother cams near your store. I’m afraid I need that info. No worries, I’m not going to investigate you… though there is a price for our help.
“You need to tell Tumbler’s info-network my family’s off limits. She’s a valuable member of our team, and if a Hatrix other than myself figured out who was digging for dirt on my cousin—not you—that could have gotten ugly.
”Also, since you know about this place anyway, just ask a fembot at any Cups & Cakes for permission to enter next time. Shut-downs are like induced strokes. I know they’re nonliving, but it’s still insensitive.”
And calling me nonliving is not?
"So, Mister Magpie, could you answer some oder questions?" She asks politely. Even if he was a criminal, he was still older.
She counts her fingers as she makes the questions. "What is de relic's name? Where did you found it, or how did you get it? Who else knew you had it? And how, where and when are you supposed to handle de relic to dis Panopticon?"
Megan tilts her head to the side, hairless brows crinkling. After a moment she raises her hand. "Couldn't we just thump him? When Panopticon comes to kill you? I know we won't catch him by surprise, but how much do we care?"
Magpie shrugs at Derby. ”I’ll spread the word around to those who’ll listen, but you’d probably have a better chance talking to them directly. Sternness ain’t my strong suit.”
He turns to Ziss. ”You the den mother or something? You seem a bit old to be hanging round these kids. The relic’s official name is the Eye of Tezcatlipoca. It’s of Aztec origin. I acquired it through my usual channels, which I’m not at liberty to discuss. Aside from those channels, I had thought only Panopticon knew I had it, but I guess I was mistaken. He’s supposed to show up at my joint tomorrow to collect the mirror.”
He then looks to Crimson Tide. ”Sure, if you think you can take him! But you better be sure, cause if not, it’s my funeral!”
"First, Mister Magpie, it is always rude to say to a girl dat she is too old for anyfing. Sonkei wa sohoko ni ikimasu. Respect goes bof ways." She says annoyed. "Second, it would be foolish of you to trust your life to a bunch of kids. You do not seem foolish, so you do not fink of us as just kids."
Ziss turns to the others. "I fink we know enough to plan, no? Perhaps it is time for our visitor to leave."
The Derby nods at Magpie’s tell-em-yourself. Was planning a one-on-one anyway. Gonna stick to that. She doesn’t find his tone insulting, but what he says to Ziss.
Ohhhh… this is why I wanted to clue everyone in on how we don’t talk to people. Even the adults push back. Dammit.
“Age is a number, Magpie, Ziss, life-or-death situation… let’s focus. I need coordinates to the store so my bots can help catch the thief.” And I already have AI tracking the motions of my number one suspect…
“Tumbler, I believe my assistant can handle that. I believe you want to go on-scene, right?”
Over Ear-Buddies, the Derby says, “Heyyyy, Dervish! Hope I’m not interrupting something. We could use your skills. Ummm… and RoboBarbie got you a coffee in anticipation you’d teleport here. The sofa on the right’s empty. Uh… later, dude!” DuUuUde??
Wesley frowns slightly as his question is ignored by everyone. Must've been really dumb. Wishful thinking on my part.
He gets really interested in the relic's name and origin, and his mind starts working.
When the Magpie leaves and there's a security sweep to make sure he didn't leave anything behind, he gives Derby a nudge. "While you've got your robots doing the camera sweep, does anyone want to conduct a little traditional research? Like, reading actual books to see if there's any reference to this Eye of Tezcatlipoca?"
He unslings his pack and unzips it partway, revealing the lamp. "There's a library of ancient tomes inside the lamp. Along with other stuff. Any takers?"
When you call upon the resources of your sanctuary to solve a problem, say what you want to do.
The GM will give you one to four conditions you must fulfill to complete your solution:
❑❑ First, you must _______________________
❑❑ You’ll need help from ___________________
❑❑ You and your team will risk danger from ______
❑❑ The best you can do is a lesser version,
unreliable and limited
❑❑ You’ll need to mark one box on your doom track
❑❑ You’ll have to obtain ___________________
Dervish appears in the room in a flash. He’s wearing cargo shorts and a black tank top. Tied around a belt loop on his left hip is a black and red handkerchief.
”Oh? Y’all need my skills? Guess that’s all I’m here for, huh?” he says snarkily as he makes his way towards wherever snacks are kept.
"You missed the window where your sunny personality would've been useful."
Dervish says ”Normally I’d shoot you the bird, Mr. Miss Magic Person, but I owe you for the Best Wingman Work of the Century, so you get a pass,” as he opens a bag of chips with a smirk.
"Me!" Ziss exclaims at the opportunity to visit the lamp. She was curious since the first time she met Wesley, but it was rude of her to ask to see it, believing it is a private place of his, much like his home.
She then thinks about what he was asking, and realises she'll probably not be very helpful. "But I read very slowly still and I don't know many words, specially de ones dat are not very used."
Ziss drops her snack when Dervish blinks into the room, frowning and picking another one.
As Dervish passes by Ziss, he does a brief double take before commenting ”Growing up quick, chica. You make a wish from boyo over there?”
"No... I doubt Wes would mess up wif a 'you know what' and make me older dan I wanted." Ziss answers, still a bit bummed. "It was a serum from Razzara dat I had not de time yet to check why it changed me so much."
”Whatsh Razshara?” Dervish asked back with a mouth full of chips.
"It is de world where dose cyborgs came from looking for me." She explains, happy to change the subject from her. "It is very cold on de surface, so most cities grown downwards into de underground... I have no idea why, but dey speak de same language and look de same as de Japanese here from Earf."
"I can take you dere someday, if you want to, but I'm not sure if you'll like it dat much... dere are very few girls dere and it would be extremely unlikely for you to get lucky. Unless you are also into guys of course, den you'll have a lot of luck!" She jokes and shrugs, not expecting Diego to be into guys at all.
"Okay, everyone. Not going to another world, but if you want to see the inside of the lamp, take hands. Diego, you can come too, if you want. I'm reasonably sure there won't be any gender-swapping going on, but no guarantees." He smirks, but the smile fades. "I'm serious. You'll be fine." I hope.
Everyone who takes Wesley's hand feels a brief sensation of falling and spinning, but it's not unpleasant. Before anyone can react, they're back on solid footing.
The floor is covered in soft, pillowy carpeting, and there is the sound of far-off tinkling ancient-sounding music. The entire area is bathed in warm, golden light from lit braziers set along the walls and hanging from the ceilings. Walls covered in rich tapestries woven with golden thread arch ever so slightly inward, giving the feeling of being inside a curved vessel. Low tables bear platters heaped with wonderful foodstuffs -- grapes, dates, figs, olives, and flatbreads. It is a place of opulence and luxury.
"So, yeah. This is it," Wesley says as everyone takes it all in. "Help yourself to the food. It's always here, always fresh. There's chilled wine, and it might be alcoholic, so, you know. Moderation."
Wesley pushes a golden tapestry aside, revealing another chamber of the lamp's interior. Beyond it is a ancient-looking library with some bound books, but also lots of rolled scrolls of papyrus and parchment. There are even some inscribed tablets and metal plates with ancient, etched writing on them.
"Cool, huh? If I wasn't so paranoid about leaving the lamp unattended, I'd be spending days in here."
"You have a team, anyone of us could look after it," Tumbler points out as she wanders around inside of the lamp. It seemed interesting, and if it would get her some distance from Diego, all the better in her case. She does corner Derby for a moment to speak in private.
Afterwards, she heads for the library, looking around. "I don't suppose you have any treasure maps for finding some undiscovered cache of Californian gold, do you?" She asks Wesley, brushing some hair out of her face.
Ziss looks around, marveled with the interior of the lamp, even if she is definitely an outdoor girl. She picks an olive, since she loved them, and also a glass of wine. She sips it, liking it a lot. "Wine, right? Dis is very good!" She then takes a large swig.
"Can't you hide de lamp somewhere only you know, and access it trough a tiny hole in de wall by turning into a mouse?" She asks Wes, as he mentions his worries about the lamp.
"...yeah." Wesley sheepishly has to agree with Tumbler about delying on his team. "There's no telling what all is recorded here. Knowledge of the ancients."
He scratches the back of his neck when Ziss suggests another way of hiding the lamp. "Well, I've never tried going that small. I always was concerned with conservation of matter. Which... I don't know why assumed that's a problem since it's all magic..."
He gingerly picks up a scroll and starts to unfurl it. "Maybe I should experiment more, huh?"
"If dat is a problem, you can also turn into a very long snake!" She says, happy to help, but keeping for now away from the precious looking tomes.
"...You know, we don't have to be researching the mirror. The problem's not the stolen good but the people who stole it," Tumbler suggests. "We don't even really need to go after them. All Magpie wants is to not get killed by Panopticon. It's troublesome, but doable. Get him in trouble with the law, he takes a few months staying clean until his legal troubles are behind him, and by then it's likely he'll have forgotten all about Magpie's deal."
She hops up on a table, crossing her legs. "What do you think? I could ask around, see what he's been dipping his toes in and what we could bust him for. Probably nothing that will stick in the long run, but enough to get poor Magpie off the hook."
"Dat could solve Magpie's problem for sure, but would still leave a magical mirror dat requires blood sacrifices to operate out dere, no?" Ziss points out, popping another olive in her mouth.
Knowing that her accent plus the olive would probably render her words too strange to comprehend, she finishes with it before continuing. "I fink dat if de one who stole it wanted to sell it, dey'd already have contacted Panopticon... I feel dey want to use it, which means peeping into someone or somefing and spilling blood most likely of an innocent."
Once Magpie was gone, Megan had done a quick change back to her more human appearance and duds. "Trust me, Tumbles, 's not any gold at the bottom of the sea hasn't been discovered by someone or other."
Looking around with muted interest she opined. "Same kinda goes for the whole hide the lamp plan. Magic mirror's aren't the the only thing that helps find things, better to keep it protected than hope no one's looking too hard. 'S how I see it at least. 'S why I'd rather just thump Panopticon too. Least then you know where you stand."
Wesley looks slightly morose as his teammates did not appear to share the same enthusiasm toward the library and the chance to research. He finds some texts that he thinks are relevant and starts piling them up.
"Well, you know, they're not going to read themselves." He grabs the top one and starts leafing through it.
"I'm not against going for Panopticon." Ziss clarifies to Megan. "I'm just saying dat we should also recover de mirror."
Ziss chugs the rest of the wine and takes one of the books with care and reverence before starting to look for clues about the mirror. "If de lamp can make food and drink, why can't it also make de books read demselves and just tell us what we want? Oh, and where is de bafroom?"
It takes an hour or so with everybody looking through the lamp’s library until you finally find a reference to the Eye of Tezcatlipoca. Tezcatlipocawas a central deity in Aztec religion. The god of providence, he is associated with a wide range of concepts, including the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, hostility, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, jaguars, sorcery, beauty, war, and conflict. His name in the Nahuatl language is often translated as "Smoking Mirror" and alludes to his connection to obsidian, the material from which mirrors were made in Mesoamerica and which were used for shamanic rituals and prophecy.
According to the tomes, the Eye was enchanted to be able to scry upon distant locations. A few drops of blood in sacrifice would activate the mirror, and the shaman could see any location they were familiar with. The location would appear as it was at that time. The effect was only visual—one couldn’t listen in on any sounds occurring there.
The tomes suggest the Eye has other uses that require blood from specific individuals to activate, but more details are not present.
In the lamp, the Derby notes her concern about the gang colors, and assures Tumbler she’ll chat with Dervish in private about that.
She totally geeks out about the tomes and is jealous of her great-grandfather’s speed-reading power. Then again… an hour of curling up with a good book and snacking on grapes. figs and dates? Is being normal so bad?
“I think we should go after the thief, obtain the mirror, then go to Panopticon. As Crimson Tide said, to thump him. So what if he’ll see the truth of our visit? We’re known for thumping the bad guys?
“I’d like to check in with the bots to see how far they got without me.”
In the base, the Barbed Beret is enjoying her dominion over the other bots. She has RoboBarbie keep the lamp in the compartment under her apron. “GET OUTTA MY WOMB!” a curmudgeonly Ken doll protests, but he ultimately leaves and is seen (by those not in the lamp) dropping from under the fembot’s apron, landing between her skates.
He is wearing a patchwork leisure suit and nothing else, though his body comes with fleshtone boxer shorts instead of a smooth pelvis and buttocks like a Barbie. There are wires along the back of his legs and a tangle of wires along his chest, like chest hairs. His limbs don’t bend, so he wobbles as he walks over to the Barbed Beret. “I DEMAND PANTS.”
She replies, “Pants are earned.” The Barbie doll then commands her Ken doll to watch the holotheater. He sits on the armrest of DD’s chair.
The Barbed Beret says to the Mad Magpie, “If you leave, where will you go? Do you require a sanctuary? I am not authorized to permit you staying here, but I can make recommendations. What is your safest option if you leave here? And is it safer than here?”
The Ken doll is about to switch the holotheater to a cartoon, but he sees a superheroine onscreen. “HOT CHICK AT THREE O’CLOCK! OR NINE O’CLOCK?! HEY, MA! WHAT TIME IS IT?” RoboBarbie gives Ken the exact time in hours, minutes and seconds.
The Barbed Beret zooms in on the heroine, whose goddesslike beauty makes the Bodacious Bowler appear two decades younger (or three to those who know her actual age).
Wesley shows Ziss to the bathroom, which in actuality is a full-sized hammam.
He considers sitting next to Wendy and sharing some closeness with her, but decides that it'd be awkward if not downright uncomfortable for her; he wouldn't want to snuggle with a guy so she probably wouldn't either. He finds his own spot to do his research.
Finding the information on Tezcatlipoca and his mirror was satisfying in a way that his other superheroing couldn't match. Once they'd gotten all the information they could gather, he gets ready to wait the lamp.
"Everyone good to go?"
Wendy’s good to go…
* * *
Outside the lamp, she is greeted by her little doll.
”While you were in Wesley’s Dreamhouse, I ran The Program.”
The Ken doll mutters, ”BY WHICH SHE DOES NOT MEAN ‘CARTOON.’”
The Barbed Beret goes on, ”I could not find sufficient evidence of the thief, but your aunt was in the area.”
She displays the Bodacious Bowler on the holotheater.
The Ken doll says, “SHE IS HOTTER THAN HER DAUGHTER. IF I HAD ELBOWS—~*”
A stern look from the Barbed Beret somehow causes the Ken doll to shut up. (And shut down.)
The Darling Derby uses her Cap Comm.
“Aunt Maude. I saw something interesting on the holotheater: you.”
”Well, I am a very interesting woman,” Maude replies, her tone dry. ”I do hope the cameras got my good side.”
Once Derby explains further about the situation, Maude says, ”Ah, yes. I was on the hunt for the Haberdasher yesterday. I got a tip that he had been spotted in the area, and I found traces of his signature shadow essence nearby, but I never did find him. It is a reasonable leap of logic to assume that he may be the thief you are looking for.
“Wendy, darling. You’ve never been up against the Haberdasher before. I would urge you to take a backseat on this one and let me and your cousin handle it. I don’t know if you’re ready to face his particular brand of evil. You know the emotional scars he left Daphne with during their last encounter.”
Tumbler shrugs, perusing the books and staying relatively quiet as they do their research.
Once they're outside of the lamp, she speaks up again, now that all of the party is together again. "I think that we should thump Panopticon first, go after the thieves second. We don't even know where these thieves are or if we'll find them and the mirror in time to save Magpie's skin. Going after the person who will want to kill him seems to be more important. And it'll get some kingpin off the streets for a while," She says.
Wesley still doesn't like the thought of confronting Panopticon directly. "Tumbler, Magpie said the mirror was supposed to be delivered tomorrow. That still gives us some time to track down the thief. Not a lot, mind you, but still. If we can get the mirror, then we'll have the upper hand if we have to face Panopticon. Right? We'd have what he wants?"
"We're not planning to give him the mirror anyways, so I wouldn't see it as something that would give us leverage unless things went incredibly sideways. We have the muscle and power to take him out, and the brains to find what crimes he'll have to defend himself against in a court of law. Just because he can see everything around him doesn't mean we can't take him by surprise with a little effort," She says back to him.
She looks at Megan and Ziss for support. "We can bust up his mooks, and get a huge win for the Bay Watchmen. This is an opportunity we can't pass up!"
Ziss takes a look at the bathroom inside the lamp, but she is lost as to how to use it. Bathrooms should not be that fancy and tricky in her opinion!
Once outside, she shakes her head at Tumbler's plan, even wondering if she has something to do with the theft of the mirror, since she appears to try too much to downplay it's importance.
"I'm wif Wendy and Wes. Use our time to track de tief and find de mirror. If we can't, we still get to fight Panopticon when he comes for Magpie."
"We know Panopticon will not do anyfing to Magpie before dat, but we do not know what de tief wants."
"There's another problem with facing Panopticon directly. If he is able to turn his gaze on me and figure out what I am? You get why that's a bad thing, right? I don't want him throwing around the 'w' word, causing all kinds of chaos, and pushing me that much farther along!"
He shakes his head and looks over to Wendy. "The Curator might be content to bide his time. What would a crime boss do?"
“Yes, I remember… just the other night we…”
The Derby struggles as her aunt tells her she is less than her younger (but, yes, invulnerable) cousin. She wants to prove the Bowler wrong.
Wesley's hope that Wendy could back up his own point fades as it seems like she's struggling with her family. He comes up behind her. "...Just the other night we kicked the ass of an eldritch horror, and Derby was front and center!"
Wendy’s hand lightly touches Wes’ arm. “Yes… I even pulled the Hat Trick you taught me. Same Sacrificial Maiden play you used against Queen Tegan. If the Haberdasher has our mirror, then one of us needs to get on that.”
Ziss nods to Wendy, trying to reassure her that she can deal with this Haberdasher.