[Changeling] A Gathering of Mists IC

[SiuiS]

"Pardon my curiosity, miss, but how old are you?" Charlotte asks, wonder overcoming social mores. "Is this something that will affect us?"

[Thanqol]

Originally Posted by Anarion

"Well really, girl, you ought to know better than to freeze out an old lady. Now come in and join your little friends here, where it's warm, and we can see if we can help you out with anything, hmm?"

Rose comes in about this time. She walks up the stairs as well, making absolutely certain to avoid any eye contact with Stephanie, and moves over to a corner, intently examining a bronze telescope next to a particularly voluminous wall-hanging.

"Oh, right. We-eelll, I might be enrolling in a police academy in a few days and I don't know what kind of background check they're going to run..." said Stephanie.

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by SiuiS

"Pardon my curiosity, miss, but how old are you?" Charlotte asks, wonder overcoming social mores. "Is this something that will affect us?"

"Why you impertinent whipper-snapper. Don't you know better than to ask a lady her age? What has happened to manners these days?" *She continues for a moment to bemoan the loss to society before focusing back in on Charlotte.
"I was back here for VJ day. If you don't know what that is, go look it up. And yes, it will affect you, to some greater or lesser degree. You ain't human, dearie."

Originally Posted by Thanqol

"Oh, right. We-eelll, I might be enrolling in a police academy in a few days and I don't know what kind of background check they're going to run..." said Stephanie.

Namine lets out a long sigh. "Oh boy. I might need you to run an errand or two for that one. How long ago were you taken, and do you think your old self is recognizable?"

[SiuiS]

Originally Posted by Anarion

"Why you impertinent whipper-snapper. Don't you know better than to ask a lady her age? What has happened to manners these days?" *She continues for a moment to bemoan the loss to society before focusing back in on Charlotte.
"I was back here for VJ day. If you don't know what that is, go look it up. And yes, it will affect you, to some greater or lesser degree. You ain't human, dearie."

Charlotte expected such a response, though she gets the impression that Namine is being rather good-natured about the rebuke, so her calm face is already well buttressed when her heart collapses in on itself.

'You ain't human.'

Her breathing gets subtly heavier, though se maintains her slow, susaurant rhythm. It's not an act of will to stay still, sy calm, but it is an act.

Namine lets out a long sigh. "Oh boy. I might need you to run an errand or two for that one. How long ago were you taken, and do you think your old self is recognizable?"

"Her old self is a hat rack, miss. But her sister was convinced they may be twins."

[Thanqol]

Originally Posted by Anarion

Namine lets out a long sigh. "Oh boy. I might need you to run an errand or two for that one. How long ago were you taken, and do you think your old self is recognizable?"

"Uh. I think 07?" said Stephanie. "And yeah, Hatsy's still around, but she has a day job and it'd be kind of awkward to use her ID. Especially if anything goes wrong."

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by Thanqol

"Uh. I think 07?" said Stephanie. "And yeah, Hatsy's still around, but she has a day job and it'd be kind of awkward to use her ID. Especially if anything goes wrong."

"Right, well, for the police we'll need some official documentation. I don't suppose you'd like to break into a fingerprint database, would you? We'd fix yours right up, of course, and if you could change a couple others for me, that would more than pay me back for my help. You can do it at any police station, they usually put the finger-printing machinery in the basement."

[Thanqol]

Originally Posted by Anarion

"Right, well, for the police we'll need some official documentation. I don't suppose you'd like to break into a fingerprint database, would you? We'd fix yours right up, of course, and if you could change a couple others for me, that would more than pay me back for my help. You can do it at any police station, they usually put the finger-printing machinery in the basement."

Stephanie's smile this time was entirely legitimate. "I could do that,"

Instantly her mind was flashing again, images and plans. "I'm not great with computers, so while I can get in you'd have to walk me through the changes."

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by Thanqol

Stephanie's smile this time was entirely legitimate. "I could do that,"

Instantly her mind was flashing again, images and plans. "I'm not great with computers, so while I can get in you'd have to walk me through the changes."

"Alright dear. Let me write it down for you."

She actually goes to a little computer that she has next to a luxuriously draped desk that sparkles in gold and scarlet. She types for a few moments and prints a page, then hands it to Stephanie.

Instructions
1. Get the password of a police officer of detective rank or higher
2. Go to the fingerprinting machinery, log in, create whatever name you want for yourself, follow instructions on fingerprinting yourself.
3. Print out a copy of the record if you want one.

Request
1. Find and delete the profile for a man named Donovan L. McCloud.
2. Find and delete the profile for a man named Star Child Youngston (his parents were hippies)
3. Find the profile for a woman named Priscilla K. Sullivan. Delete the prints and create new prints by following the computer instructions and using the attached impressions

Time required: ~10 minutes for all printing+whatever time needed to find a password.

Memorize these instructions and then destroy them.

[Thanqol]

"Okay... and I gotta do this before I become a police officer, which would make it super easy," said Stephanie. "And I'll have to do Rose too..." her mind whirred. "I'll need all of your help when I do this," she said to the others.

[Raz_Fox]

What finally breaks Marchande out of plans and hypotheticals isn't the admonishment to think in less monetary terms, or the reappearance of Stephanie. It's, quite predictably, Namine's comment that they aren't human. "Like hell we aren't," she says. "That's why we came back."

To Stephanie, after the hackles have dropped: "Fine. As long as you don't get me arrested." Wine and politics and exciting things, all around.

[Anarion]

"Well all right then. You young ladies planning your midnight break-in now, or do you need a place to spend the night?

[Thanqol]

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

What finally breaks Marchande out of plans and hypotheticals isn't the admonishment to think in less monetary terms, or the reappearance of Stephanie. It's, quite predictably, Namine's comment that they aren't human. "Like hell we aren't," she says. "That's why we came back."

To Stephanie, after the hackles have dropped: "Fine. As long as you don't get me arrested." Wine and politics and exciting things, all around.

"No chance of that," said Stephanie, scribbling furiously onto a set of note cards she'd pilfered from Swifthoof earlier in the day.

"Okay, here's the plan," she said, holding up the cards and flipping through them one by one.

(offsite)

Spoiler

"There are a few holes," said Stephanie with a totally straight face, "but I think those can be worked out."

[Anarion]

Namine stands on her highest tippy-toes to see the notes too as Stephanie goes through them. Then she starts laughing uncontrollably, that dry old woman's cackle, to the point that tears start to fall out of her many spiders' eyes.

[SiuiS]

Spoiler

Originally Posted by Thanqol

"No chance of that," said Stephanie, scribbling furiously onto a set of note cards she'd pilfered from Swifthoof earlier in the day.

"Okay, here's the plan," she said, holding up the cards and flipping through them one by one.

(offsite)

Spoiler

"There are a few holes," said Stephanie with a totally straight face, "but I think those can be worked out."

Anarion, I would like to give Thanqol my role play experience point for this session.

Charlotte watches dutifully during the postcard-note sequence, before raising her hand near her shoulder, fingers curled in the beginnings of a princess wave.

"Yes, I have a question. What do I do?"

[Thanqol]

"You make stuff, right?" said Stephanie, hoping she had this right; she could never remember. "IDs and badges, and second anyone who needs it?"

She flicked through her notecards to try and figure out why Namine was laughing.

[Raz_Fox]

Marchande looks over the plan, rolls over doubt and wit on her tongue. Darling, that looks distasteful, did you even think it over? Where were you when the brains were handed out, playing cards with the devil? Absolute twaddle. And yet someone else is laughing at it - someone who deserves to be impressed - and so she leans over Stephanie, all sharp corners and twitching ears.

"I think it needs some improvements, but it's not the worst start. For starters, why in the world would the police let the speaker's campaign staff muck about on the computers? For that matter, I'm not quite sure there are big central computers these days." She glances over at Namine. "Are there?"

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

She glances over at Namine. "Are there?"

"No, hahahaha, no hehehe." She pauses to catch her breath. "*ahem* no dearie, it will just be a normal-sized computer, although if it's set up for fingerprinting there will be a glass scanner, that is a machine to actually put your hand on so that it can get the prints. It really should be easy to tell if you've found it."

[Thanqol]

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

Marchande looks over the plan, rolls over doubt and wit on her tongue. Darling, that looks distasteful, did you even think it over? Where were you when the brains were handed out, playing cards with the devil? Absolute twaddle. And yet someone else is laughing at it - someone who deserves to be impressed - and so she leans over Stephanie, all sharp corners and twitching ears.

"I think it needs some improvements, but it's not the worst start. For starters, why in the world would the police let the speaker's campaign staff muck about on the computers? For that matter, I'm not quite sure there are big central computers these days." She glances over at Namine. "Are there?"

"Just say you want to see how it works and jump in the chair without asking," said Stephanie. "Then use your words to convince them to tell you the password rather than standing up and letting them type it in. It worked for me the last time I did it."

She'd been ten, but hey, the principle was sound.

[SiuiS]

"We need some way to remember the names, miss. So we don't mess up." Turning to their spidery hostess, Charlotte tilts her head like a wound-down clockwork ballerina. "And to give Priscilla new fingerprints we will need some. you said they were imprints, madame? Like gloves with prints? Or something else?"

Charlotte leaves alone Stephanie's question of Making. A truly difficult practice, and Charlotte knows her will is waning unde the odd stressors of normality. All she can do for sure is swap pictures, and not even writing, just pictures, so she needs to...

"Oh! Madame, do you have any passes for the police? Like the press pass but... For them? Or security? Cleaning?"

While waiting for an answer, Charlotte ruminates. So much time has passed. According to Namine, it was only 2008, but felt so much longer... And not all of it was bad. Some of it was... Well, fulfilling, she supposes. An there were wonders there, wonders she had seen and knew this world would never truly hold. And come to think of it, so had Stephanie...

I don't know what a Fluttershy is, miss. But she looks... Nice."
If Stephanie had ridden nice Fluttershys in her capture, between wondrous adventures, then why did she leave?

[Anarion]

Namine, after she finishes her cackling, hands Stephanie a piece imprinted paper in a plastic bag that is presumably the fingerprint samples. "Names are on the list dear, how else were you planning to remember them? Want me to imprint them right into your head?"

[SiuiS]

Charlotte twists her lip into a semi-scowl, semi-pout.

"I meant how will Stephanie remember them without aid. If we are to burn the list, that is. Stephanie will have more on her mind to deal with than remmebering the names of people she has no face to attach to." Her tone is almost, almost sarcastic, even. "And Stephanie isn't disposed towards remembering names anyway, as 'Hatsy', 'Swifty' and 'Whicky' can attest."

The amber and moonlight victorian doll is flushed lightly, the tracts from her earlier tears hours before standing out in subtle relief. It has been a long few days, and the wear is beginning to show even through Charlotte's adaptive facade.

[Thanqol]

Originally Posted by SiuiS

I don't know what a Fluttershy is, miss. But she looks... Nice."
If Stephanie had ridden nice Fluttershys in her capture, between wondrous adventures, then why did she leave?

"That's a really weird story," said Stephanie. She went quiet as Charlotte started talking, happy to let others work out the flaws in her hurriedly concocted scheme.

[Anarion]

"Oh dearie," Namine puts an arm on Charlotte as if to comfort her, although as she does so part of her sleeve falls backwards and Charlotte realizes that the comforting arm is primarily spider hairs all over her.

"You'll need to work that one out yourself. Try saying them out loud 40 times then testing yourself, and if that doesn't work give yourself a good slap and do 40 more."

[Raz_Fox]

Marchande took a look around her, summed up the situation, and then nodded. It was time to go. "Thank you for your assistance, Miss Namine. And your patience with us. Although I'm sure you've had this kind of evening very many times."

She hesitated, and then said, "We're not the worst, are we?"

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

She hesitated, and then said, "We're not the worst, are we?"

"Ahahaha, not by a long shot dearie. When you come back, I'll tell you about the frog man that was convinced he was supposed to eat me. I had pieces of his tongue stuck to my side for a week!"

[And I have nothing else here. Feel free to inspect curios if you're interested in buying anything weird, to leave, or I can end the night.]

[SiuiS]

1. Find and delete the profile for a man named Donovan L. McCloud.
2. Find and delete the profile for a man named Star Child Youngston (his parents were hippies)
3. Find the profile for a woman named Priscilla K. Sullivan. Delete the prints and create new prints by following the computer instructions and using the attached impressions

Charlotte looks over Stephanie's list. "Do you have a needle and black thread, Madame?"

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Charlotte looks over Stephanie's list. "Do you have a needle and black thread, Madame?"

"Certainly. What did you need them for child?"

She moves over to a box near her desk, pulls off the luxurious purple and gold covering, and pulls out a small wooden basket that contains a sowing kit: several spools of thread, a pincushion in the shape of a heart (although a blue heart, which is odd), and a small leather fold over with several different sized needles in loops within it.

[SiuiS]

"Coversion. Normal people cannot see the scarf for what it is. If I add decorative stitching of the names, miss Stephanie could have them for when she gets to the computer."

Taking the proffered tools, Charlotte spends a minute examining them. The heft and squish of the blue heat, the feel of the leather, the chill of the metal in the night, unused. Even the thickness and texture of the thread. Satisfied, she lifts the hem of Stephanie's scarf and gently tugs.

[Thanqol]

"Oooh, that's a good idea," said Stephanie, releasing the scarf.

[SiuiS]

Finding a seat with enough ambient light an shadow for the work, Charlotte busies herself in a strange mockery, a doll sewing clothes.

It's a tricky business, considering. There's no guarantee that the thread won't show, mundane spindle used on hedge craft cloak. But moving it side to side, watching the shadows come alive an limn the note trough contrast, Charlotte embroiders the letters as if only their sides exist, cast from the bottom right. The end result begins to grow, black fruit from black soil, like any pattern on any scarf.

Spoiler

operation: illustrate failed because my eyes hurt. So no example yet.
Auto success? Extended action? Immediate action? Tool bonuses? Dexterity plus crafts is 6 dice.