[Changeling] A Gathering of Mists IC

[Anarion]

[I guess this is, uh, manipulation+stealth?]

[Yeah I think that works. It sort of borders on dex+stealth, but it's less about Stephanie completing the action than about how effective the completed action actually is at creating the impression she wants. So manipulation+stealth will do. Rats near docks are common enough to practically be their own trope, so that's worth +1 on the roll.]

[Thanqol]

[Yeah I think that works. It sort of borders on dex+stealth, but it's less about Stephanie completing the action than about how effective the completed action actually is at creating the impression she wants. So manipulation+stealth will do. Rats near docks are common enough to practically be their own trope, so that's worth +1 on the roll.]

[Manipulation 3+Stealth 3+ Darkness speciality 1 + circumstance 1 = 8

Environmental penalties are doubled for him. Night-time in an area with dim streetlights around is usually -2, so that'd upgrade to -4.

2 - 3 - 1 - 5 - 5 - 10 - 10 - 9 (Avg: 5.625)

9 - 2

4 successes total]

[SiuiS]

"I do have a better door," Marchande says, jerking one thumb back over her shoulder. "How's your skill with chains?"

Charlotte stands and Looks crookedly at her friend. "I don't know. We can check?"

[Raz_Fox]

Charlotte stands and Looks crookedly at her friend. "I don't know. We can check?"

"Excellent," Marchande says, crisp and confident. "Come along, come along." She turns, tail swishing between her legs, and makes to lead Charlotte to the back door.

[SiuiS]

Charlotte follows dutifully to the chained doorway.
"Do you have any plans, Madame?"

[Raz_Fox]

Charlotte follows dutifully to the chained doorway.
"Do you have any plans, Madame?"

"The plan," Marchande says, with a hint of tested patience, "Is for me to facilitate your plan to assist Rose and Stephanie. That is why you dragged me here, right? Because we need every advantage we can get."

[Anarion]

[Manipulation 3+Stealth 3+ Darkness speciality 1 + circumstance 1 = 8

Environmental penalties are doubled for him. Night-time in an area with dim streetlights around is usually -2, so that'd upgrade to -4.

2 - 3 - 1 - 5 - 5 - 10 - 10 - 9 (Avg: 5.625)

9 - 2

4 successes total]

"Oh, ****!" the guard shouts as the coffee pot goes tumbling and shatters on the floor. He leans out the window and looks around, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever did it. When he hears the skittering from Stephanie, he looks up as well, but he rubs his eyes several times, like he can't see clearly. He then pops back into the window, light still on and Stephanie hears him shuffling around inside. A couple minutes later, he opens the door and exits, still pulling his brown field coat on over one arm. Stephanie hears him muttering to himself "gonna kill them for assigning me to this damn rat-infested warehouse" as he's walking away.

[SiuiS]

"The plan," Marchande says, with a hint of tested patience, "Is for me to facilitate your plan to assist Rose and Stephanie. That is why you dragged me here, right? Because we need every advantage we can get."

Charlotte blinks languidly. "pardon moi, I mean the plan for this particular door, that is easier."

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Couls you be more specific Anarion, s'il vous plaît? I am unsure of it is a chain with a lock, or if it is a household deadbolt chain, on the inside of the door and designed to stop it from opening more that a crack?

I guess wits+larceny to examine the entre door set-up for weak points, now that I have more time and less random passerby, and will formulate plan from there? Or does this fall under making too many things into a roll?

[Thanqol]

"Oh, ****!" the guard shouts as the coffee pot goes tumbling and shatters on the floor. He leans out the window and looks around, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever did it. When he hears the skittering from Stephanie, he looks up as well, but he rubs his eyes several times, like he can't see clearly. He then pops back into the window, light still on and Stephanie hears him shuffling around inside. A couple minutes later, he opens the door and exits, still pulling his brown field coat on over one arm. Stephanie hears him muttering to himself "gonna kill them for assigning me to this damn rat-infested warehouse" as he's walking away.

Bingo!

Stephanie hopped down from the roof after he was out of eyeshot. She first quickly checked inside the guard shack in case there were any Clues, weapons, security cameras, or anything else she hadn't been able to see from the outside.

Depending on what she found there, her next order of business was to start searching this place comprehensively. She gave Rose the thumbs up once she exited the guard shack before beginning.

[Wits+Investigation? 'Unrestricted access to the scene' is worth +2]

[Anarion]

Charlotte blinks languidly. "pardon moi, I mean the plan for this particular door, that is easier."

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Couls you be more specific Anarion, s'il vous plaît? I am unsure of it is a chain with a lock, or if it is a household deadbolt chain, on the inside of the door and designed to stop it from opening more that a crack?

I guess wits+larceny to examine the entre door set-up for weak points, now that I have more time and less random passerby, and will formulate plan from there? Or does this fall under making too many things into a roll?

[The lock is a household deadbolt, on the inside of the door and designed to prevent it opening more than a crack. I think wits+larceny is very appropriate to examine it for the best method to open it.]

Bingo!

Stephanie hopped down from the roof after he was out of eyeshot. She first quickly checked inside the guard shack in case there were any Clues, weapons, security cameras, or anything else she hadn't been able to see from the outside.

Depending on what she found there, her next order of business was to start searching this place comprehensively. She gave Rose the thumbs up once she exited the guard shack before beginning.

[Wits+Investigation? 'Unrestricted access to the scene' is worth +2]

[You may want to wait before going to the whole warehouse, but that's the right number to roll when you get to it. Though it's really large, so a full investigation might take a long time, long enough even for the guard to come back.]

Stephanie finds two items of note in the guard shack. One is a ledger in a filing cabinet. It lists all the shipments coming in and out of the warehouse for the last week and what dock they were picked up from.

Here's what's on the first page, dated for today and with a bold line marking yesterday about 2/3 of the way down

UPS: two crates, U2, U3

New Taiwan Shipping: 1 crate, E7

Royal Crane Transport Lines: Picked up 1 crate, A15

Myriad transport Co.: 4 crates, A3-6

-------------------

Royal Crane Transport Lines: 1 crate, A15

Hong Kong Shipping: 5 crates, C11-15

Hong Kong Shipping: 2 crates: C8, C9

The second item of note is that there is a security camera. It's just on the inside of the door to the guard station and there is one on the inside of the door to the vehicle entrance too. They pick up and record anyone coming in or out of the warehouse itself.

[Thanqol]

Royal Crane Transport looked like her guys - picking up one crate and then dropping it off in the exact same slot? She'd check them first, then the others on this list, then the warehouse proper.

She doubted the security footage would get her anything, she didn't have time to review it and who knew what Charlotte and Marchy would blunder into when they got here. Better to be safe than sorry. Stephanie turned the power off, then drew her knife, cut the cord, and frayed the edges to make it look like it had been chewed through. Then she turned the power back on and touched the broken cables together over a piece of paper to provoke a small fire. She quickly stomped the fire out and got rid of the burned paper, but now there was a slight unpleasant burning smell that'd back up the rat story.

Then she set off to check out the warehouse, starting with the Royal Crane.

[Anarion]

Then she set off to check out the warehouse, starting with the Royal Crane.

Unfortunately, Stephanie had read the ledger backwards. It was listed with most recent on top and older entries down below. She realized this when she got to the Royal Crane slot, A15, and found an empty space that would fit a crate about 15 feet tall and 30 feet long. They had dropped it off the previous day and picked it up earlier today. She had missed them.

[Thanqol]

Unfortunately, Stephanie had read the ledger backwards. It was listed with most recent on top and older entries down below. She realized this when she got to the Royal Crane slot, A15, and found an empty space that would fit a crate about 15 feet tall and 30 feet long. They had dropped it off the previous day and picked it up earlier today. She had missed them.

... Darn.

She ran back to the guard shack. The cable to the desk computer should be still functioning even if no new footage was being recorded, and she should be able to rewind through past trucks to find the number plate she needed.

Who writes bottom-to-top? Who does that?

She had no idea how she was going to track numberplates without a police division behind her. She'd figure that out later.

Hanunoo.

What?

The ancient Hanuoo tribe in Africa. They wrote bottom to top. So did the Ancient Berbers.

Huh.

That's about it.

[SiuiS]

Charlotte looks at the door, thinking. It opens inward – a chain on an outward door is too easy to open, and door with chains like to be challenging, it's that rebellious teenage phase, for sure.

"Doors like opening, you know?" she mutters to no one in particular, and Marchande in general. "Some doors have high sense of worth though, they test you first, but they all like opening, letting you through. But those teenage years, when no longer are they a young portal fresh in the wall, but not yet revered and austere? They go out and they get piercings, you see, and everyone knows piercings are a sign of rebellion, known? Next the door will be smoking, burning holes in its nylons. Terribl'."

Charlotte pulls her freehold token from her pocket amidst the clinking soul stones. It moves between her fingers, reflecting the lights of the city back at it in an appropriate polychromatic spray.

"On our way here, Madame, you remember those ladies leaving the clothing store? With the wedge heels so like paws and the choker that you thought tacky? They did say that the rebellious ones were always more likely to 'put out', non?"

Opening the door ever so slightly, she checks the extent of the door's modifications.

Spoiler

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Wits+Larceny, 4 dice. No successes Dx

[Anarion]

Opening the door ever so slightly, she checks the extent of the door's modifications.

Spoiler

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Wits+Larceny, 4 dice. No successes Dx

The door grins back at Charlotte and sticks its tongue out at her.

[Raz_Fox]

Marchande crosses her arms, watches Charlotte, takes deep breaths of infinite patience as Charlotte rambles about her philosophy of doors. Be nice, something within her whispers. It's not her fault. They're all broken. "So, are you saying that the door is a floozy, or not? I would much rather have a floozy of a door here."

[PhoeKun]

Life on the rooftops is interesting, Rose decides. Perched above everything like some sort of great bird of prey, observing a domain and waiting to swoop in when the moment strikes. She can see why Stephanie always seems to favor high places.

Stephanie. Kalina frowns. The other woman dances on the edges of her mind on the border of an obsession. Even here in this moment, when she's here to do a job she's decided to dedicate her remaining life to, that wretched shadow springs right into her head. Rose claws at her face, and drops a punitive elbow into her own stomach. Knock it the hell off. You aren't her. You can't be. You don't even want to be. Her list of character defects stretches farther than the boundaries of this city. And yet...

She sighs, pulling out the stone with her soul painted on it and staring at it in mournful contemplation. Stephanie has so much black. So much potential. Autumn said it was nothing, but it took less than an hour to prove that wrong. Whatever might be wrong with her, Stephanie was blessed with room to grow into a real person. And Rose? Well, Rose was trapped. Locked in a pool of awful reds oozing over depressed grays. Rose was potential fulfilled. Stephanie could become Stephanie, but nobody would ever be Kalina Rogers again. The colors were proof of that.

She pockets the stone. Raises her head to wipe a tear from her eye, and just happens to catch a 'thumbs up' from Stephanie across the way. Always her. Rose plants her feet on the edge of the roof, leans over, and takes a long look at the ground. She backs away. Breaks into a run, and leaps off the roof with all the strength she can muster. Her body aims at the ground like a missile. And her wings, her beautiful angel's wings, spread wide and catch the air, pulling her softly through the wind.

She hits the ground on one knee, wings flared wide and proud. Stands up and stalks toward the warehouse.

"...That was fast. Find anything?"

[SiuiS]

The door grins back at Charlotte and sticks its tongue out at her.

Three steps back, on tip-toe, ready to flee.
A door with a tongue is a mouth, a trap, and yet...

_________Charlotte looks at the increasingly agitated Marchande.

...and yet, maybe it's just her? Maybe she is seeing things? Maybe the door is friendly?

Marchande crosses her arms, watches Charlotte, takes deep breaths of infinite patience as Charlotte rambles about her philosophy of doors. Be nice, something within her whispers. It's not her fault. They're all broken. "So, are you saying that the door is a floozy, or not? I would much rather have a floozy of a door here."

Her face scrunches. "Floozy, Madame? I don't know this word. It sounds like an insult, though. Is it an insult? Don't insult my door!" Charlotte leans up against the door, protectively, petting it lightly to sooth the plank'd thing so as to avert whatever agitation the thoughtless hound-lass may have caused. "We have to woo her, not rule her up! Do you want to deal with guards drawn to growing hinges? Get your tail caught in the too-fast closure? Manners, Marchy. Manners."

Charlotte isn't quite sure how much of that is a joke an how much is possibly stepping outside the neat little box of sanity she had drawn on the floor to occupy. But one worry at a time, an this one is mechanical.


Bending down she takes several long strands from her now-ripped dress and plucks out nine filigreed hairs from her head. Rooting around for a moment, she locates a washer – the flat metal doughnut ubiquitous of back lots as much as trash and moon-wielding Cheshire men. With the string and the strands and metal ring, she begins to weave the makings of a lockpick pulley.

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okay! So. I have an idea on how to open this thing which I think is quite brilliant and is backed by minor experimentation.

I also have a history of utter failure at technical description. So I am going to draw some diagrams, if you do not mind, to explain my methods. Acceptable?


Eh, I'll try to explain anyway.

Essentially, a dead bolt lock uses the tension of opening the door to reinforce itself. The only way to open it is to introduce slack into the chain, and slide move the securing knob closer to center of the door.

Our tool is a thin but sturdy "rope" reinforced with machined fiber, weighted with a washer.

The door opens inward, which brings the securing knob closer to the edge of the door. We will insert a hand, slowly, and flick the washer over the securing knob like a grappling hook. This will allow movement of the securing knob from our side of the door. We still need Vector and Slack.

Slack will be achieved by closing the door most of the way. We only need enough room for our thin rope to move, after all.

Vector is the hardest part. We need to be able to effective push the knob, but can only pull. This is where pulleys come in. If we introduce a pin of some kind below the securing knob, and ten another below that, we can pull in the same direction as we want to push, which will wrap around both fulcrum-things, redirecting the force. The easiest way to do this is to introduce a card – either our retained press pass or the freehold token, Into the mix.

Now, nominally I could gently ease a credit card shaped thing through the crack, rotate it slowly with my fingers and wedge between the chain and the door. As a solid object, it will naturally move the securing knob into the removable position as it closes. But the groove involved will prevent the knob from falling out, and opening the door unsuccessfully costs you both your effort (as the tension re-engages the chain into the 'locked' position) and your card. So I'm going to use a redundant mechanism.

I'm going to introduce the card in this fashion, except I'm going to wind the rope around the card such that it provides my first fulcrum. Bonus points for being an interior fulcrum, too. It would need to at least be on the narrow end of the door. So now I will have a solid arm assisting the chain in moving to the openable position, along with a slightly more precise lead which will account for gravity and hopefully lift the knob out of its groove, allowing it to fall open with minor adjustment.

Worst worst case scenario, the card isn't long enough, falls to the ground, chain doesn't disengage, and the washer can be unwrapped from the knob, and used to fish the card out of the doorway. We then have to find another way in. If the rope would break at all, it would do so during the braiding, and any fraying done will be evident long before complete failure of integrity.

The trick is, placing your finger and usin it as the second fulcrum to make sure you've got stability and fluidity in the motion of the rope. Using only the single fulcrum/pulley wheel drastically reduces your capacity to control the direction and force, which is where all the finesse comes from.


I feel really cool for figuring that out within minutes I reason why kind of lock it was =D

[Thanqol]

She hits the ground on one knee, wings flared wide and proud. Stands up and stalks toward the warehouse.

"...That was fast. Find anything?"

Thoughts as quick as lightning had been coming slow and sluggish around Rose these past few days - taking the long way around her head, fastidiously avoiding going near the incident outside the police station. In the gap was a burning incentive to move forwards. To achieve distance from that scene - not even learning, just distance.

"Yes. A few things. One, this wackjob writes bottom to top. Do you know who does that? Other than a pair of extinct cultures?" Stephanie said, handing over the notepad. "But what stands out to me is these Royal Crane guys; only one container in and they picked it up almost as soon as it came in rather than leaving it on the pile like everyone else. The box isn't there right now, so I was just about to check the security footage to see it going out, maybe get some license plates or a face."

[PhoeKun]

"Bottom to... what? No." A brief glance down at the ledger. Huh. Rose arches an eyebrow and stares blankly at Stephanie. Shrug.

"...Right. Good work so far; let's see if your lead bears any fruit."

[Raz_Fox]

Her face scrunches. "Floozy, Madame? I don't know this word. It sounds like an insult, though. Is it an insult? Don't insult my door!" Charlotte leans up against the door, protectively, petting it lightly to sooth the plank'd thing so as to avert whatever agitation the thoughtless hound-lass may have caused. "We have to woo her, not rule her up! Do you want to deal with guards drawn to growing hinges? Get your tail caught in the too-fast closure? Manners, Marchy. Manners."

"My implication is that it is a door of ill repute and I will insult the door all I want if it doesn't open," Marchande says, rolling her eyes. By Jove, she's actually petting the thing. "What are you planning to do once we get in there, anyway? Maybe if you let the door know about the weapon you're going to find down there, it'll open on up."

[Anarion]

"Bottom to... what? No." A brief glance down at the ledger. Huh. Rose arches an eyebrow and stares blankly at Stephanie. Shrug.

"...Right. Good work so far; let's see if your lead bears any fruit."

Have you ever watched a long tape of security footage? Even fastforwarded 16x, it is the equivalent of watching molasses slowly slide down a wall. There is an empty door, then someone walks in, then walks out. Then it's empty for a long time, though a single bit of rope that is hanging and swaying impossibly fast shows that the tape at least is working on fastforward.

Counting both people walking in and trucks coming in, it looks like you can figure out which one was the delivery truck for Royal Crane. There were two people in the truck when it drove in. It looked like one was walking in and guiding the truck to park, while the other was driving the truck. Both humans, no mien visible on the security footage. Both men as well, muscled and with dark hair and not looking especially bright. One's got a beard, the driver is clean-shaven. They're both wearing jeans and hoodies, one brown, one dark grey.

Looking at the video time stamp, they were inside for about 15 minutes, then the truck is loaded up on the trailer and heads back out, with the bearded guy closing the door behind them.

[How long do you spend looking at the video. Fast-forwarding through for the last day gets you what I've just typed. Longer review at a slower speed may or may not reveal additional information.]

"My implication is that it is a door of ill repute and I will insult the door all I want if it doesn't open," Marchande says, rolling her eyes. By Jove, she's actually petting the thing. "What are you planning to do once we get in there, anyway? Maybe if you let the door know about the weapon you're going to find down there, it'll open on up."

The door seems unmoved by Marchande's logic.

[Thanqol]

Stephanie scrawls down the plate number of the truck on a scrap of paper and pocketed it. "Hey, can you keep watching this? I'll do a sweep of the place and see if I can spot anything else. If the guy comes back, use your magic to pretend you're his boss or a cop or something," Stephanie said to Rose.

[SiuiS]

"Of course you would say that," Charlotte returns, "you were going for team scared." Stephanie has the best explanations, sometimes. The best.

Charlotte opens the door but a crack, placing the now-warm washer against the cool door, feeling its weight and depth. She twines it about the internal knob, balances the card ever so carefully...

"oh! Oops."

But of course, the wrap must be done in an overhand fashion! Or was it underhand? Or... Well, she is dimly aware it depends on which side of the door you are on, doesn't it? Sliding the slack deeper into the twists of the knob-strin union, loosing the pendulum to swing on longer arm... And then a chuckle. She could have just moved her end of the string over the chain, couldn't she? Charlotte giggles like birdsong. Moving on...

Got it! The woven rope of string and hair in place, Charlotte holds it with two fingers (well, one is actually a thumb. Is that even a noteworthy distinction?) while she pulls her card from her pocket, the corner snagging the edges of her pocket, so well sewn, and she drops te pendulum in her haste to look down and assess the issue. Of course, she thinks, I should do this by feel, non?

Card out, stoop down. Grab the string, so oddly supple in her fingers, running with heat transferred and the lightest few of breath, wind it 'bout the wrist, for now, wind, wind, ignore the sigh belabored and huff of breath hurled like subvocal javelins of disapproval. She couldn't truly be upset, else she would be helping, non?

Winding again, this time out away and off the wrist before in and on and around the knob, secure and over the chain, only this time Charlotte is coaching the card to be ready. She eases it's edges into place, tongue slipped tight against her lower lip as it lie pinned between teeth in concentration, doing the subtly Har work of coordination. The string stays static while the card moves, rotates, stutters beneath the weight of the third most polite-but-firm cough Charlotte has ever heard, but then it's back to business and it dances into place steepen chain link and chains end, and the door starts t—

*clatterclatterclatter*

Charlotte turns a burnt, dusky amber in the echoes of the dropped token. If there was one thing Charlotte and Marchande both shared, she knew, it was that Marchande disliked sloppiness as much as Charlotte disliked bein. Sloppy. Clumsy, clumsy clumsy! She balls her ivory fist, shaking, and it seems almost – almost! – as though she would strike something, but no. The upset bleeds away, a deep bruised purple seeping into nothingness. She grabs the card, wipes it slowly on her shirt to clear the dust, and begins again.

It's then of course she sees that she must replace the weighted rope.

Finally though, all things in place, Charlotte begins to rehearse. Card in place she begins to dance, closing the door, pulling the rope, holding the card. Reverse. Repeat. Pull the string, tighten the card. Close the door, partially, then open. All the way. Open. Partially, then close. Fast and slow. It's almost uncanny how little noise the process makes, save the occasional tiny swear hissed between pearlescent teeth. She finds a rhythm, perfectly synchronized. Time dilates. Loses meaning. It's as if the spiral mechanism or door and girl is a function of existence, a piston and lever to be pushed and turn'd, made spin around, eternal and forever. It looks structured like a dance, feels like a face, and there is the barest moment of synchronicity as she gets it, she understands, she even comes to envy those who slave above (below?) in the pit of the techno hell, captured eternally in the swing of the music. She knows and lives what it is to move at seemingly another's whim.

And then there comes a clatter, a rattle, a clink, and a wistful sigh on once-ecstatic breath. All good things must eventually end.

"After you, Madame." she breathes, gazing ever so humbly at her shoes, gesturing.

[PhoeKun]

Rose doesn't say anything, only nodding at Stephanie as she continues to stare at the security footage, almost transfixed.

Bad enough she barely knew how to work the equipment in the first place, now she was doing it alone. She continues to work back through the tape, completely focused on the task at hand.

[Anarion]

And then there comes a clatter, a rattle, a clink, and a wistful sigh on once-ecstatic breath. All good things must eventually end.

The door gives an emphatic humph, rather like Charlotte had just told it that it wasn't old enough to stay out past 9:00 p.m. and no there won't be any arguing, thank you very much.

From Marchande's perspective, of course, the door does no such thing, nor did it stick its tongue out before. It just sat there, doorlike and unmoving, while Charlotte fiddled at it for the better part of ten minutes before it somehow, miraculously, opened.

Rose doesn't say anything, only nodding at Stephanie as she continues to stare at the security footage, almost transfixed.

Bad enough she barely knew how to work the equipment in the first place, now she was doing it alone. She continues to work back through the tape, completely focused on the task at hand.

Rose looks over the tape again. Stephanie had already written down the license number. The two men do their little routine, guide in, guide out. It plays back. A little slower. Does one of the men step to the side for a moment? Yes, at the very edge of the tape when he's coming back in, the one with the beard went to pocket something and didn't get it all the way in and it fell out as he got back into the truck.

Stephanie might find it, though from the look of the tape, it was in a blind corner near the entrance and it's hard to even tell what it is, much less if Stephanie would connect a small random item to the kidnapping.

[Raz_Fox]

By the time that Charlotte manages to squeak the door open, Marchande has devolved into pacing. There has to be a backup plan, because the chances of Charlotte knowing anything about what she's doing are getting slimmer and slimmer every second. Weapon. Not just any weapon, either, a weapon for Rose, but a normal weapon will do in a pinch. Plan B is to purchase a set of kitchen knives, with money from an as-of-yet unexplained source. Being broke is awful, no way to make a living.

Team scared. As opposed to what, team brainless? Team ungrateful? She is not scared. She is scared in a very understandable and practical way. She is scared of messing up, which helps make sure she doesn't, which keeps her on her toes. She's still learning how to factor the nose into things, how to synthesize everything, but every day is a little clearer, a little more in-control. And if that's team scared, she's all for team scared. It's team competent. It's team successful. And she is still in control.

She didn't take advantage of the meeting. She should have asked more questions, figured everything out. She was too cautious, should have sat down with Autumn with a pre-made list of questions. That's the problem, though: dogs aren't good at long-term planning. Anyone can say, "I should ask questions," and it takes a certain kind of mind to say, "I will now figure out what those questions are". She needs to be that kind of person.

Center, center. If she doesn't have her center, she won't have anything. She requires: a body full of Glamour, more money in her wallet, and transportation. If she does not have these things, she will fail Rose. Thankfully, out of all the people in San Francisco, she is the best when it comes to being strong and dependable.

The door opens. "Finally," she says, sharply. "Lead the way."

[SiuiS]

"After you, Madame." she breathes, gazing ever so humbly at her shoes, gesturing.

"Finally," she says, sharply. "Lead the way."

Charlotte freezes, caught in her half-bow-half-curtsy, eyes searching the air before her for some clue. Was this a test? In the end, Atwood beats later, she opts for compliance as the safest course, rights herself and walks jauntily ahead trough the disappointed portal with an affectionate pat.

[Raz_Fox]

Charlotte freezes, caught in her half-bow-half-curtsy, eyes searching the air before her for some clue. Was this a test? In the end, Atwood beats later, she opts for compliance as the safest course, rights herself and walks jauntily ahead trough the disappointed portal with an affectionate pat.

Marchande follows after, mentally kicking herself. She'd noticed Charlotte's little bow, the offer, but she hadn't thought about them. She'd been considering the fact that she didn't know where she was going, while presumably Charlotte knew what she was looking for. And she'd obviously offended Charlotte with her logical, reasoned, idiotic decision. "Right. Where are we going again?"

[SiuiS]

"We are looking for the Pleasure Dungeon, Madame, an it's magical castle." Charlotte says simply.