A Dream of Quiet (IC)

[Recaiden]

[Lava Tube Entrance, slightly in the past]

The box contains a scroll, which contains the following words:

To: Cathak Pyrus
From: "Sparrow" Drake

Okay, I think everything here has gone as well as could be expected. I will be heading back soon to tell you all about it.

Would appreciate summary of how things have gone in fight with you-know-who before heading there, though. Worried about everyone. Please also tell me a rendezvous point.

Please answer on the reverse of this scroll and put it back into the box. Nothing sensitive, this communication method is hard to tap but technically possible.

It also contains a quill pen and a tiny ink bottle, for the responding part.

[Cult Hideout, present]

Kendik smiles widely at his cult leader and ushers them all inside. "We understand that sort of 'refugee' perfectly fine, sir. Is there anything I should tell the others about this new enemy, or will you handle it all yourself?"

[Rhyvurg]

To: "Sparrow" Drake
From: Cathak Pyrus

No fight, target used decoy, might be useful ally. Rendezvous at my townhouse, current location unknown but not in danger.

He puts the scroll in the box.

[Leliel]

[Cult Hideout, present]

Kendik smiles widely at his cult leader and ushers them all inside. "We understand that sort of 'refugee' perfectly fine, sir. Is there anything I should tell the others about this new enemy, or will you handle it all yourself?"

"Don't worry, she's mostly been explained."

[Drascin]

Drake receives the scroll soon after the box goes *poof* on Pyrus's end, and reads it. Then spends a while absorbed in thought. Well, that was unexpected. And what did he mean "location unknown"?

Well, either way, he has to head down now. There'll be time to think on the way back. He heads out of the Loom chamber, stopping for a moment to burn the scroll on getting out, as it's customary, then takes a hand to a pocket, and rips a page from a small poetry book he bought down in Gem, letting it fly for the pattern spiders. They always appreciated when you gave them well-written poetry, and Drake quite likes them, the poor overworked sods (and let's face it, he always thought spiders are damn cute, which helps).

When he gets out, he gets into his rickshaw again and asks the driver to get him to the Gem gate and then go park it at home.

And so, a short while later, he's heading back through Gem, back into his role as Sparrow - just a merry bohemian performer who just got some coin and spent it in a good meal, by all appearances, as he munches on a little snack bought in a street stall. He heads straight to Pyrus's townhouse. Cover story is pretty easy - if anyone asks Pyrus hired him as musician for the month, with a pretty penny as compensation. Dynasts had crazy whims, after all, everyone knew that.

(And with this, I might be back into the game, more or less... if nothing happens on my way back, of course)

[Tavar]

Seeing Sparrow walk by his alley, Onyx once again hides as best he can, and then transforms back into his human shape. Walking out to the alley's mouth, he waves Sparrow over, in Fire-tongue.
"Hey, Sparrow, over here! The others sent me to wait for you."

[Drascin]

Drake turns, sees Onyx, and nods, approaching. "Hey there fella!" he says, in his happy bard role. "Nice of you to wait for me - I was wondering where everyone had gone! It's not nice to leave the bard behind while he goes get a change of clothes, you know!" he jokes - giving Onyx a split-second "sorry, have to keep character, just roll with it" face as he turns the corner before returning to his smirking fool act.

"So, what's the plan now?"

[Tavar]

As soon as he's sure that it is Sparrow, he switches to English, and lowers his voice a bit. Shouting at the person next to you isn't that conductive to stealth or normal conversations, after all.

Well, we can meet up with the others. They're hanging with Raziel's...well, his cult, I guess. The guide's a demon. And there's some other stuff I'd like to talk to you about, before we go. We should get out of the street, though. Someone was following me at some point, but I couldn't get a good glimpse of them.

[Drascin]

"<His cult? You know, a guy with more sense would probably have objections to being taken to the hideout of a Yozi cult, what with the "if they find out what I am they'll kill me" thing. Luckily for us, basic common sense is a subject I failed back in school>" Drake smirks, ironic. Plus, Raziel doesn't look like the kind of guy to go for that kind of traps. Oh so very feeble thing to hang your life on, granted, but...

Man, what I wouldn't give for having taken the time to learn the Avoidance Kata now he thinks wistfully. Hindsight is always 20/20. It just never seemed too important while on fate comittes and pushing paperwork and math...

"<Anyway, if you needed to tell me stuff, yeah, let's get out of sight. Have any hideholes in mind or did Pyrus leave you the keys to the house, so to speak?>"

[Tavar]

"The alley, out of sight should be safe enough. As long as we keep it in English."

Moving into the alley, he continues the discussion.
"Well, a couple things. You left pretty soon, right? We found some kind of demon impostor, and got quite a bit of information. Laurel is running a regular old cell system. Also, it seems that before the 'earth' identity came up, she was pretty anti-infernal. Not sure why the earth personality follows them, but she does."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Onyx continues.
"That's all stuff everyone else decided you should know. But, this next part, well, I have some questions, and there's also some stuff I think you should know. I know now isn't a good time for the questions, but I'd like to get some explanations later, if possible. On the other hand, I think you need to know the following before you meet up with the rest. Orchid has a plan where we essentially co-opt Gem, reinforcing it with our abilities. In addition, he's requesting that we accept the help of demons that he summons. Not sure how I feel about that, largely because thoughts of demons are so wrapped up in decidedly earthly customs. I'd like to learn more about them, and all of the cosmology here, though that can wait for later. But, and please, please don't tell him that I told you this part, both Orchid and Raziel mentioned that they do want to free the Yozi, though not necessarily in their current form. They didn't elaborate much, but I though that you deserved to know, especially if you're going to part of this group."

[Drascin]

"The alley, out of sight should be safe enough. As long as we keep it in English."

Moving into the alley, he continues the discussion.
"Well, a couple things. You left pretty soon, right? We found some kind of demon impostor, and got quite a bit of information. Laurel is running a regular old cell system. Also, it seems that before the 'earth' identity came up, she was pretty anti-infernal. Not sure why the earth personality follows them, but she does."

Sparrow frowns at this. "<That... is unusual. And probably bad. I wonder what the hell kind of life she had in Earth to make her think following the Shadow of All Things is a good idea>" There are a lot of theories already buzzing around Drake's chaotically active mind, but without more information it's impossible to know what is and isn't.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Onyx continues.
"That's all stuff everyone else decided you should know. But, this next part, well, I have some questions, and there's also some stuff I think you should know. I know now isn't a good time for the questions, but I'd like to get some explanations later, if possible. On the other hand, I think you need to know the following before you meet up with the rest. Orchid has a plan where we essentially co-opt Gem, reinforcing it with our abilities. In addition, he's requesting that we accept the help of demons that he summons. Not sure how I feel about that, largely because thoughts of demons are so wrapped up in decidedly earthly customs. I'd like to learn more about them, and all of the cosmology here, though that can wait for later. But, and please, please don't tell him that I told you this part, both Orchid and Raziel mentioned that they do want to free the Yozi, though not necessarily in their current form. They didn't elaborate much, but I though that you deserved to know, especially if you're going to part of this group."

At this, Sparrow looks absent, obviously thinking really hard as his unfocused eyes fix on a random wall and speaks absently. "<I see... many thanks for the heads-up. Yeah, I'll have no problem with answering some questions if you want - long as it's not classified stuff, 'cause I don't want to lose my job, you can ask away whatever you need to know.

As for the other things... I can't say I'm surprised, to be honest. Raziel at least wasn't very subtle about wanting to get Szoreny out. But it's good to have confirmation rather than just suspicion... Still, I'll want to hear it from them in the future, before judging. I don't like coming down on people falsely. There could be more to this for all I know.

As for demons...>" he says, snapping back to his usual friendly, sharp look, "<the thing is... are you a troper? If you are, you probably understand when I tell you that the problem here is mostly that, according to most occult manuals I've read, a significant percentage of demons run off Orange and Blue Morality. They're not necessarily actively evil, most of them, unlike in most Earth religions - you can think of them as big Yozi cells, in a way, not demons - but, for example, an Erymanthos asked to save a burning orphanage will probably use the kids inside to smother the fire, hitting it with them like you'd hit it with a rolled towel, and not understand why you get horrified. Malfeas is... not a nice king nor his body a nice place, and life or individuality isn't worth much down there for anyone not high in the echelons, so a lot of them have trouble with catching the gist of human morals unless they've had extensive previous contact with Creation>" he says, sounding a bit sad. "<Still, that's all from observational studies of "wild" demons. I think our Infernals have technically lived in Hell for a while if I understood them correctly, so they probably realize that - I hope - and took steps to ensure we don't have any serious problem with that kind of thing>"

Sparrow nods. "<Still, again, thanks. I owe you one>"

[Tavar]

"No problem. And I agree about not judging to hastily, but they were really nervous about you knowing. Like it would really upset you, or something. Not the best basis for building a trusting relationship. Tamuz did explain some things to my....original version, but there are a lot of questions I still have, and I don't want to involve him much. He was perceptive when he wanted to be.


As for our guide, well, it's a demon."
Switching to Flametongue, he addresses the demon. "Hey, Beheris, this is the one we're waiting for. Now, can you tell us how to get to where everyone else is?"

[Drascin]

"No problem. And I agree about not judging to hastily, but they were really nervous about you knowing. Like it would really upset you, or something. Not the best basis for building a trusting relationship. Tamuz did explain some things to my....original version, but there are a lot of questions I still have, and I don't want to involve him much. He was perceptive when he wanted to be.

Drake half-smiles. "<Well, it's understandable. They don't know me, after all, and many Sidereals would be rather panicking. Truth be told, I am rather upset, because I'm dreading what would happen if they are indeed completely adamant on releasing a bunch of Cthulhoid monstrosities that would love few things more than taking revenge on humanity as a whole for what we did to them in the Primordial War, on the belief that they'll behave. But, it's just, I don't really do angry, normally. I think I ever got really angry only twice, and once in my Earth memories. I hate getting angry. So I'm just panicking on the inside>" he smirks, winking.

He also files the bits on Tammuz. The famous Lunar Elder, who nobody has any idea where he went... this guy I just happened to stumble upon knows where he is and studied under him personally. Well, I'm inside a story now, these things happen, I guess. Still, must ask later he thinks to himself. Just hope I'm not the exposition dude that dies in the second act.

As for our guide, well, it's a demon."
Switching to Flametongue, he addresses the demon. "Hey, Beheris, this is the one we're waiting for. Now, can you tell us how to get to where everyone else is?"

At this, though, Drake tries to not make it noticeable that he was startled. Of course, dematerialized demons. He had forgotten about it. And he almost started talking so freely - good thing Onyx said to go English! Careless!

Thankfully, the acting lessons do help, and it's just a small, hard-to-notice jolt. "<Well, I suppose that does take care of my next question, which was going to be how do we find the others now>" he mentions, as he waits for Beheris to say something.

[Recaiden]

Kendik looks a little bit confused, but accepts the word of his Raziel and leads the group in and up to the discussion rooms.

Presumably, Beheris would lead them back to the cult hideout, going across the desert by scent or memory or the feel of the desert or something. Nearby, a hatless teen points Drake out to his friends; they're all laughing as the child runs the other direction, holding the struggling crustacean tightly in her arms.

[Tavar]

Pausing for a second, Wing turns to Drake.

Wait a second. Was that a lobster made of copper? Or Brass? Is that thing normal around here?

Spoiler

Show

I'm going to assume that Wing doesn't know what the lobster thing is, but it is going to be strange for him.

Also, I think there's a bit of a hic-up with out plan. He can't lead us anywhere while immaterial. And I'm not sure that we want him material, leading us around. Was the area that Raziel took us to relatively deserted?

[Drascin]

Drake turns and sees what Onyx is pointing at. He then looks away and keeps going. "<No. That's a demon> he says - outwardly still every bit as full of mirth as before, but obviously just trying to not call attention. "<Or rather, a consequence of one, so to say. Demjen, singing demons, bring those things to life as byproduct of their songs. They don't have any special powers or anything - I was about to say they were harmless, then remembered I'm talking about a goddamn lobster, those things are never harmless - but I could swear I read that Demjen are aquatic creatures - so that thing is either traveling very far from home or someone brought it. How damn many Yozi-aligned people are in this place?!>" he finishes, looking at the sky in exasperation. Then he remembers a small, more pressing detail. "<...wait. Now that I remember... Demjen are descended from Adorjan. You know, the Yozi that Laurel supposedly serves primarily, according to the others? Call me paranoid, but...>" he adds, looking at Onyx.

[Leliel]

There is a small whirring noise as a bit of silken paper appears. It seems the aalu can create physical silk without actually materializing.

It says, in Flametongue: I don't understand what you're saying, but I understand "demjen". In that case, it isn't a sure bet that's Laurel's familiar-heaven, I'm descended from the Ebon Dragon, and I work for a guy who hate's him-but it is probably a spy. Be catious. though neither quickeners of ores or their children are cruel or hostile.

[Tavar]

Onyx switches to Flame-tongue, now that he's done talking about 'secret' stuff.

"Right, best be careful, then. And we should probably get going. Can you keep make the silk, or something else visible, so we have a trail to follow? Or somehow else lead us to the hideout?"

[Drascin]

"Yeah, let's go. Keep an eye out, though, both of you. I'd really rather not lead Laurel's spies to Raziel's cult" Drake says, very very quietly.

"So, how are you going to guide us then?" he then asks simply in a whisper, assuming that the aalu probably has already given to this more thought than they have.

[Leliel]

Ever heard of a map? I'm blind, but I know my way by smell.

[Tavar]

Maps are a visual representation of a route; I wasn't sure if you could reproduce one that would be intelligible to us.

[Leliel]

Maps are a visual representation of a route; I wasn't sure if you could reproduce one that would be intelligible to us.

I can, however, eat an actual map and then perfectly recreate it, with directions. Aalu, remember?

Let me think for a second...

There is a rather large whizzing noise, and soon, a pair of brightly colored maps plop on the ground, followed by a spider-locust writer demon's version of a Mapquest spreadsheet.

This will lead you to the entrance, though Master requests that you wait for a guide for the tunnels.

[Tavar]

Taking the map, Onyx goes to the tunnel entrance.
"So. Can you tell your master we're here?"

[Leliel]

You could have walked a bit more confusingly...

Never mind, I'll get him.

A few minutes later, a note of aalu silk is slipped under the door of the shelter.

A few minutes later, Kendik loses the honorary rock-paper-scissors match and ends up being volunteered.

[Drascin]

"No problem there. Let's go, then" Drake nods. They head for the tunnels with the map, arriving pretty quickly.

"Yeah, we probably could. But, honestly, this area is pretty much a desert, I don't think going all circuitous would have shaken anyone - would just have wasted time and have called extra attention on us if anyone unrelated saw us" Drake mentions. Then nods as the aalu goes away.

When Kendik comes up, he waves floppily. "Oh hey there. You're the friendly gentleman they sent to guide us? So pleased to meet you" he says, bowing a bit and saluting with his hat.

[Recaiden]

Kendik nods and bows in return. "Yes, sir. You're that troublesome bard I've been hearing about? Pleased to meet you as well. And who is our other guest? I suppose introductions can wait. Come in, right this way."
He'll then lead them down through the tunnels, a bit quicker than might be easy for them to follow, but not so far ahead that they'd get lost.

((Do they have scissors in Creation? I mean, probably. But do we know? ))

Soon enough, the companions are reunited! In this Yozi cult hideout! Anyone have something to say?

[Rhyvurg]

"Finally! Now that we're all in one place again, we can get something accomplished."

[aetherialDawn]

"<The first thing I want to confirm is safety; you ran off to get help, I think, Sparrow. Do I need to worry about heavenly death squads mistaking me for Laurel? Or, for that matter, hunting me as a matter of course?>"

[Drascin]

Drake grins and laughs, and does a theatrical salute at Kendik's words. "Indeed I am, sir! Proud to cause trouble as a jester is wont to!" he says, happy, and obviously crazy as a hatter.

Troublesome, huh? Nice to see I'm appreciated he thinks to himself.

Soon, though, they arrive with the others, and Kendik goes away. Drake's still grinning a bit, though, if a bit more ironically now. He waves at the others. "<Hey there everyone. Looks like stuff went well. You really have to fill me as to what the hell happened back here exactly - what did you mean, the Laurel double could make a useful ally?>" he says, leaving the hat on a nearby rock and sitting down besides it.

Then Orchid speaks, though, which makes Drake nod and answer. "<Yeah. By the way, you can all call me Drake, you know. Sparrow is just my "artistic name", so to speak - Drake's the real one. Please don't go around spreading it, though>"

"<Anyway>" he says, stretching a bit and getting more serious, "<I did contact the peeps at Heaven. I'll probably have a little backup for our plans, but a fair bit of the attention of the guys I talked to is going to be distracted in making sure other people don't find us out too much. See>" he stops and explains, knowing that the whole faction war is something the others are not going to know, "<right now the leadership in our little FBI is kind of divided on a few things. And there are factions. One of these factions are unlikely to take kindly to you - they already dislike Solars and, no offense, but the first thing people are going to think about you is "corrupted Solars", and after the disaster of the First Age that's not a word combination that engenders much, shall we say, optimism in many people - and it's the biggest faction in terms of resources. So precisely to avoid the risk of us suddenly developing a grave case of ninjas, I talked with my own superiors and asked for a bit of a smokescreen - and took a bit of convincing, but got it. We should be pretty safe for a while unless we start blowing up the streets visibly. Problem is, of course, Laurel. She didn't seem the kind of woman that half-asses things when it comes to being psycho. Which is bad for us for reasons I think are obvious>"

[Rhyvurg]

<"Dragonblood for the win! And I meant Laurel's decoy, someone that looks just like her. Laurel left her here, hoping we'd kill her and assume she was dead. But she might prove more useful alive, I remain optimistic. Also, I have a plan to bring Gem under our influence, if not outright control.">

[aetherialDawn]

"<Laurel's decoy, as far as I can tell, was mortal and helpful. Judging by what we were told that I think we can trust, Laurel has several mortals and demons working for her, and she's searching for something. We were also told that Laurel wasn't enthusiastic about serving the Primordials until her Earth influences became more dominant, and was less psycho about it. As far as influencing Gem, we have a lot to offer the Despot, and it would be useful for us as well, especially since he might have the resources to help us figure out what Laurel is actually doing. I think that's the main points as far as Laurel goes, yes?>" He glances at Raziel and Amelia, just in case.

Orchid privately files the sidereal smokescreen away as something that's good to have but foolish to trust. No need to risk a case of ninjas popping up, after all.