01 Sept 2024, 1100	Putting Out the Fuse
01 Sept 2024, 1500	Trujillo House
01 Sept 2024, 1915	The Stampede
01 Sept 2024, 2330	MaMa’s Offer
02 Sept 2024, 0350	The Ox’s Execution
02 Sept 2024, 0415	A Moment With Family
02 Sept 2024, 0515	Dawn Breaks
02 Sept 2024, 1015	Catching Up
02 Sept 2024, 1545	The Loose Thread

Putting Out the Fuse

	ST Last time… “CITIZENS OF BAKERSFIELD! YOU LISTENS! I BEARS A MESSAGE FROMS MY MASTER, PRIDE’S DISCIPLE! HIS ARMY MARCHES, TWO WEEKS AWAY! IN TWO WEEKS, YOU GIVES US THE TEMPLARS AND THE TEMPLAR-ALIKES AND WE LEAVES! IF YOU DO NOT… YOU ALLS WILL DIE!”
	Sanura Sanura looks to the creature and then to Johanna and Angie.. “Should we.. detain him for.. questions?” Having faith that Angie can go snag him before it’s too late but wanting Johanna’s ok on the move since he was addressing the Templar guarded city.
	ST Electricity arcs from the tips of Johanna’s gauntleted fingers to her pauldrons. “Ye —” Immediately, the group is buffeted by a hot blast of wind. Where Angela was is now an empty space save for a two small trails of dying flame. Not long after, a stifled squawk echoes across Bakersfield — and in an eyeblink later, Angela returns, a full-nelson hold on the raven-man. The air around her swims. “So, we gonna do this whole questioning thing Superman or Punisher style?” she asks, her voice carefully level.
	Sanura Sanura gives a grin to that “Nice work Angie! Well let’s go Superman for now?” she suggests “No need to make a mess if we don’t have to” She gestures for Johanna to lead the interview if she’d like.
	Sanura Sanura pauses "or .. should I try to be sure he’s co-operative first? I’ve been getting better at influencing people.. "
	ST Johanna glances briefly to Sanura, her gaze inscrutable. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather speak to him without someone else’s influence. At least to begin with. Though if you have any pressing questions, you may step in to ask.” She takes a step forward, towards the raven-man. “You say the Disciple of Pride is your master.” The captive nods, eyes wide and wary, flicking over Johanna. “Are there other Disciples with him?” The captive hesitates. Johanna’s expression hardens. “Are there other Disciples with him?” she repeats, her voice ringing off the walls of the college buildings. The captive blanches and attempts to shrink. Angela tightens her grip on him, which elicits a pained squawk. He nods, vigorously. “Who?” The question is like a quick bark of small thunder. It sounds command-like, strangely compelling. “Wrath, Envy, Lust!” cries the raven-man. “Thems the Disciples my master leads!” His beak clicks shut and his expression drops as if he just realized what he said.
	Sanura Sanura nods her head to that plan finding no fault with it. She finds herself grinning faintly at the effect and the expression on the beings face following it. Her own question is stated with a calm expectance that probably sends a shiver of dread down ones spine at the thought of denying proper response. A faint glimmer over her eyes would have them reflect slit pupils for a moment as she reaches to the raven like creature and asks her own question while turning the beak towards her. “Will they really leave the city in peace if given the Templar?” [Blurt it out 1L]
	Sanura [13 successes]
	ST “No!” cries the raven-man. He begins to tremble a little in Angela’s grasp. “My master wishes to rules over Bakersfield and one day conquers the Queen of Fallen Angels’s lands!” Johanna lifts her chin. “I would expect nothing less.”
	Sanura Sanura gives a faint nod of her head “I sort of figured as well” Another question coming to mind Her brow furrows and her nails might push against the soft under part of the birds lower beak. That same feline like reflection passing over her eyes that same cool calm demand for the truth “Who is helping Ox and Mama ?” She’s not certain such is the case but if it is, here is their chance to find out. [Blurt it out -1L 14 successes]
	ST The raven-man tries to flinch back, but can’t, so he resorts to clenching his eyes, as if to block Sanura out. The lower part of his beak quivers (well, at least, as much as a beak can quiver). But, despite himself, he answers. “I don’t knows! I don’t knows this Oxes and MaMas!”
	ST “What are their powers?” Johanna asks, butting in briefly, just as sharply as before. Alvaro jogs up, Lena not far from him. "Johanna — " She holds up a hand to forestall him, not taking her eyes from the raven-man. “My master controls the storms, and is a fearsome warrior!” the raven-man says, his voice strung tight with fear. “The Wrath-man can grows big, and is very, very cold; not like the Lust-man, who is very, very hots, and who wears darkness likes a cloaks! And the Envy-woman shows up wheres she’s not wanted!”
	Sanura Sanura hmms softly her brow furrowing, a messenger might not know -every- bit of a plan after all. and releases her hold. She looks to Johanna “do we release him or hold him?.. We don’t want them to know what we’ve found out after all right? Other questions might occur to us as well..”
	ST Alvaro’s brow sets firmly. Without thinking, he draws Lena closer to him, protectively. She obliges, staring intently at the raven-man. “What’s the size of this army?” Johanna asks. “I don’t knows!” the raven-man sobs. “My master commands many of us! Wrath-man commands a herd of boars!” “What do these Disciples —” “Johanna.” Johanna straightens, almost like a solider, and turns to make way for Derrick. His golden eyes flick over those gathered around, still seeming very distracted. He hardly seems to react to Sanura being there, despite the fact that he’d commanded her to leave not long ago. Then they fall on Angela and the raven man, who opens an eye to peek… and immediately regrets it. The muscles in Derrick’s jaw flex. “I see. Please proceed.” “Describe these Disciples,” Johanna barks. Though she was quite fearsome before, the effect is lessened by the sheer weight of Derrick’s presence. “My master is very, very handsomes, and wields his naginata with great skills! Wrath-man is white, and past his primes, but very big muscles and very many scars and scary-white eyes. Lust-man changes his looks as he pleases, but he keeps his hairs blue and his skins dark. Envy-woman has brown-red hairs and freckles and a nasty smiles.”
	Sanura Sanura straightens slightly though without the soldiers displine of Johanna, her chin lifts a notch and she looks from Derrik partly to hide her surprise at his emergence. “A minion would hardly know the weakness of their rulers.. would you think?” she questions of Johanna, seeking her opinion of it before bothering with the cowed bird.
	ST “My master has no weakness! He will destroys you all and laughs the whole time!” The raven-man’s voice breaks and wavers a little, completely obliterating what little bravado his statement held.
	ST Johanna doesn’t pay the captive’s words any heed. “I think not. Even a Disciple of Pride wouldn’t be so foolhardy as to send a valuable troop to deliver a threat.”
	Sanura Sanura nods her head and glances to the bird again. "He must know more about the forces coming though eh? I mean he’d see that with his own eyes.. " she considers “The size of the .. oh you know” She flaps her hand "platoons or whatever.. " Clearly she wasn’t the one to phrase these questions.
	ST Johanna considers, then turns back to the raven man. “Are there others from the army around here?” The raven-man’s face screws up as he realizes just how alone he is and he shakes his head. His knees go watery, causing Angela to dip briefly to have to compensate for the deadening weight. But she rights him quickly enough.
	Sanura Sanura changes tacts a moment and reaches out to rub her hand along the bird creatures beak. “You know you’ll be here when they arrive.. you should tell us all you can, it really would help you in the long run” [maybe Charmer? though don’t know if it’d help or be needed]
	ST The raven-man looks to Sanura, desperate hope written on his face. Derrick crosses his arms but does not contradict Sanura, waiting to see the results. “I don’t knows, I don’t knows, Wrath-man will kills me and feed me to his boars and my master will yells at him but won’t stops him and I haven’t seens Lust-man or Envy-woman for in a long times and I don’t knows anything, I swears!” The captive has clearly descended to babbling.
	Sanura Sanura sighs faintly and looks to the others "I think we should… make him securely comfortable and possibly try to chat with him again later.. " She is clearly making a suggestion in this case and will defer to those with greater military experience. Her hand absently pets the bird mans head soothingly.
	ST Sasha steps forward, looking to Sanura. “I think it’d be helpful if we knew what exactly this army’s consisted of.” The raven-man helpfully fills in. “Th-there’s m-my people, th-the tengu, ands Wrath-man’s boars, ands cold giants, ands ands ands a tank!”
	Sanura Sanura nods her head and then purses her lips “Sounds.. formidable .. surely you can guess at the numbers” she looks to the tengu in their clutches and her hips give a subtle sway almost reminding one of a feline tail flick.
	ST “I don’t knows c-counting… Wrath-man will fight g-giant who sasses him, and the other giants will make a big circle around them, biiiig circle, because there are m-many of them. And theres are more of m-my people than that.”
	Sanura Sanura gives a faint nod of her head to that. Another question occuring to her. “Was the time you gave us true? Two weeks?” she debates putting force behind her question but she surmises that he’ll likely be truthful and if either of the others doubt it then they’re free to pry the truth from him.
	ST The raven-man nods vigorously. “Two weeks! Two w-weeks the army will be heres!”
	Sanura Sanura turns her gaze then to Derrick and Johanna. “Well.. do you have any other questions? Will we be finding a room for him or setting him free?”
	ST Johanna glances at Derrick who looks back to her expectantly. “No. I have no further questions,” she offers, half to Sanura, half to Derrick. “One last thing.” Derrick steps forward, placing a bare hand on Sanura’s shoulder briefly as he passes. Part of it could be a commendation, perhaps, but even so it gently but firmly urges her aside. He lifts his chin and looks at Angela. “Thank you. You may release him.” Angela hesitates, looking to Sanura. “Please,” Derrick adds, afterwards turning to Sanura as if to reiterate to her.
	Sanura Sanura’s brows furrow slightly but she gives the faintest of nods. If she wanted Derricks trust for what she’d planned then she had to show some in him.
	ST Angela slowly lets the raven-man go. The raven-man steps away, warily. But, before he can revel in his newfound freedom, Derrick stretches across the short distance between them and grabs him by the face, just under the beak, and draws him close, eyes quickly beginning to glow just as bright as they had before. His gaze seems to pierce into the raven-man’s. “You will go back to your master, and you will tell him that the Knights Templar will not let him or anyone else threaten the innocents in Bakersfield.” Light seems to shine through at the very edges of the flesh of Derrick’s hand, and his grip grows tighter, sending up little crunches. Alvaro rushes forward, putting a hand on Derrick’s shoulder. “Derrick, you’re hurting him!” Derrick doesn’t so much as falter. “Alvaro, please do not touch me.” Despite the mildness of his tone, it’s clear he’s not making a request. “Derrick —” “Alvaro. Take. Your hand. Off me.” Alvaro quickly removes his hand as if he were suddenly burned, his expression that of someone who has just been stricken. “The Disciples will not take this city while I still breathe.” The raven-man lets out a little stifled groan, and foul-smelling smoke begins to rise from where Derrick’s hand makes contact with his skin. “Am I clear?” “Awk,” the raven-man affirms, his voice very small. Derrick lets him go and, without even bothering to see what he does next, turns his back on the raven-man and heads back to Regency Hall. Though the raven-man hasn’t proven too terribly bright before, apparently he’s smart enough to know when not to overstay his welcome. Quickly he scrambles into the air and flies off, leaving a light shower of discarded feathers.
	Sanura Sanura watches impassively untill the audible sounds of trauma reach her. She tries to hide her wince but her eyes show pity for the creature being harmed. Sanura looks at the feathers and glances to Ange “can you grab those for me please?” She’d pause and look to Alvero asking silently if he’s alright. She meant to follow after Derrek though unless someone stops her. Part of her wanting to ask why he’d felt the need to harm the envoy but she wouldn’t be -that- foolish. Instead she wants to get him pinned down to let her try and help him get his head in the right place.
	ST Angela gives Sanura a puzzled look, but, after a half-moment’s hesitation, sets about collecting the feathers. Alvaro still looks quite stunned, and more than a little hurt. His eyes have turned towards the ground as he tries to piece together what he could’ve possibly done to anger Derrick. Sofia, unable to help herself, steps forward and grabs both of his hands. He looks up to her (indeed, he has to look up), and gives her a puzzled shake of the head. His mouth opens, then closes, then his gaze drops again. Sofia wraps him in a tight hug. Johanna, on the other hand, watches Derrick go, the fine gears ticking quickly behind her eyes but not so much as touching her expression. “Excuse me… I must… prepare.” She starts off back towards the interior of Bakersfield College. Sasha, after giving a reassuring smile and squeeze to Lena (who had taken to hiding behind him), quickly follows after Sanura. “Ah… I don’t know what your plan is, but… I think this might very well be the worst time to go after him.”
	Sanura Sanura comes up short and frowns as she allows. “I .. yes you’re probably right but.. we need to.. do something.” She murmurs. “Perhaps when he’s had a bit to.. recover.” she’d not seen Johanna’s expression but the halting words make her think that perhaps the woman is realizing there is more wrong with Derrik than a case of stress. She pauses and sets her hands on her hips then. "What then do we do now because sitting still right now is not an option…. We’ve got to move to the Shop for starters I suppose.. but that can be done without me I think.. " she takes a few paces towards the others. “If you guys don’t mind grabbing my stuff as well when you move?” she frowns “I think I want to check the library for anything about the seven deadly sins.. or about creatures that move in darkness .. or -any- of this stuff..” She looks to Sasha “Tell Dovile to come home for now.. bigger problems” she makes an etcetera sort of motion with her hand. Clearly her mind was running a mile a minute over everything currently.
	ST Sasha patiently hears her out, then steps in front of her and places one hand on each shoulder. “You don’t have to bear this alone.” He lets the silence add its weight to his words. “It’ll only take a couple of us to move everything to the shop. Take some help with you to the library. Have some others tackle other immediate problems. And then let’s figure out how we’re going to deal with these bigger problems when we’re all together.” He pauses, hesitant, then says, “Ah… are you certain you want Doviluze to come home? She says it’s not urgent, but… the opportunity’s still open to… finish what we started.” He pauses again, and says, “She says she can watch and wait to see what the Ox is planning.”
	Sanura Sanura considers his words and nods her agreement to the first before her brow furrows in concern. “If she’s safe.. and the boys are safe then learn what she can.. don’t do anything foolish” she murmurs as she reaches up to tug her lower lip. She takes a deep breath. “Who’s up for research duty?” she questions of those with them.
	ST Angela hesitates, looking to Moe. Moe herself, though, is holding her chin a little higher, an expression set on her face that’s decidedly not one of emptiness, though it is a tad bit hollowed by it. “Go on, Ange. I’ve got an idea myself,” she says. “Well… if there’s one thing I can do to distinguish myself among all of you, it’s handle books,” Lisa says, a little wryly. “I’ll help.”
	Sanura Sanura chuckles a little at Lisa “If you distiguish yourself anymore you’ll start showing us up” she murmurs as she glances to the others “We can meet up say.. two hours from now at the shop, get the word out to everyone else” she starts towards the library then.

OOC Discussion

	ST What would you guys like to go over/find out? Again, I have your agenda open, but I want to know what plans you want to follow through on are.
	Dovile 1. Do we know if the disciples infight, seriously or just as bickering? 2. How long will it take to fix the bus? 3. Can we do an occult roll to find out what’s up with Mama? 4. Lots of people’s opinions about a lot of things.
	Sanura *pipes up* also looking to do occult rolls for Tengu, the boar creatures and growth as well as well the rest of the description we got for our enemy trying to match it to some panteon to better know our enemy.
	Dovile OOh, yes! Good call!
	ST Okay. 1. Are you talking about the Disciples in general or just this particular group? Because if the latter, you certainly won’t be able to tell unless you had some way of actually observing them for alittle while. 2. It’s hard to say. The tengu’s warning has hit home in the hearts of the citizens of Bakersfield… who’s to say the expert wants to have anything to do with you anymore? 3. You can certainly make an Int + Occult roll to see what you can find out about MaMa based on Aida’s report! 4. I need more specifics. 5. Int + Occult for each particular thing in question you want to know about. Go ahead and roll everything, just as long as you specify which roll you want for which. 6. Int + Academics if you want to find stuff out at the library. Angela and Lisa will also be rolling.
	Sanura 1. Knowing about the Diciples as a whole would at least give us a starting point on how cohesive their group is I’d imagine.
	Dovile 1. In general, are they one big group, or seven smaller ones. 2. … We ask? 3. Wanna roll that Mel?
	Ken’s Player Sorry to jump in, but maybe the charisma-types (Sanura and Sasha, I’m looking at you!) should rustle up some support from bakersfieldians? You don’t want to be fighting on both sides when/if the time comes…
	Sanura truth though I don’t think they would ever turn on Derrik so I’m not sure it’s a big worry?
	ST Well. This is not a good day for Lisa. Her morning sickness appears to be particularly nasty, getting in the way of her usually keen focus on research.
	Sanura Hey can I roll occult and -then- research.. as in she starts researching on top of her base knowledge to get a better grasp of what she’s looking for?
	ST Sure!
	ST Angela, in frustration at having to flip through books, grumbles under her breath about how much faster computers are… hell, she doesn’t even need to type anything, it just needs to be on and she can just link with it directly and then… wait. She can link with computers directly. Without need for an interface. She quickly excuses herself and zips out of the library.
	Dovile 4. Templars.(..sans Derrick): What’s your plans involving this whole thing? Do you think destabilizing gangs is still a good idea? (If so, perfered or recommended methods?) How can we help with your seigiy plans, or at least stay out of your way? Can we try more braining stuff on Derrick? Sofia: Can you use shaping to make the shop cough bunker cough safer? Is this a good idea? Aida, if we wanted to send someone to spy on Mama, assuming Dovile is busy, are you the best person for it? ((That’s all I can think off. Mel, is using deprogramming on Ollie still on our list, or are we chalking it up to Discpile and letting it go?))
	Sanura Do I have to roll for each Disciple
	Sanura if so I can note on each roll who it’s for
	ST Templars: Current plans are to continue to help the citizens of Bakersfield with the plague and blight. And then do everything they can to gird Bakersfield for what’s to come, try to rally the Bakersfieldians to help build up its defenses. And then try to set up defenses outside of Bakersfield, to hopefully stall or whittle down the army before they can arrive. If you want to assist them in any of these ventures, they will welcome you. Derrick has not given any indication as to what his plans are, but it’s clear that he’s got his heart and mind set on… something. Alvaro is convinced beyond all doubt that there’s something fishy going on with Derrick, but he’s exceedingly worried about what might happen if you guys try more braining stuff. Sofia: “Yep! There’s plenty of scrap metal here to work with. I could probably set it up pretty nice. But… um… I can only make it so secure before it’ll become a corner that we can’t get out of once we’re backed into it…” Aida: “That’s all you want? Piece of cake.” Mel: What exactly are you trying to find out about the Disciples?
	Sanura I want to know who they are likely connected to in Myth and if that can help us figure out any weaknesses they have..
	ST No, you can just make one roll.
	Dovile Tunnels are suggested to Sofia, or at least making it big enough for everyone to fit.
	Sanura [also maybe Sofia should help with the outter walls instead of our already sweet bunker?]
	Sanura oh after tunnels
	Dovile (( :P You’re prolly right about those walls. When she’s done making it big enough for all of us and stuff.OOoh, and putting a neat sniper nest on top. Because you never know.))
	Sanura heck yeah.. a couple of those actually, who knows how many crack shots we have in the city? ]
	Sanura [gonna need that too.. for arial attack >< how do we guard against that!?]
	Dovile ((….I’ll put that on the list of things to think about. Right now, I’m thinkin’ Angie.))
	Sanura [she did pwn that one didn’t she ]
	Dovile ((lill bit, yeah.))
	Dovile Oh, also! We are waiting on Johanna’s scientiests about the vail.
	ST Okay. The answer to that is going to take a few days. How far ahead do you guys want to get?
	Dovile Not that far!
	Dovile Megs, to be clear/just to make sure you know, we DID send Aida to spy and Sofia to do bunker things and then wall things.
	ST Thank you.
	ST The Disciples as a whole do not fight each other. They, like the Knights Templar, are often teamed together for missions by the Sins — which, as far as everyone knows, is an organized council of seven very powerful people. The expert is not keen on helping anymore. As far as he’s concerned, his and his family’s safety is more important than building a bus. And he states that if you guys are as well-intentioned as you seem, you’ll turn yourselves in to the Disciples and leave Bakersfield in peace. Ulcer calls him a faithless coward. After the fact, though, when he hears about it. He wasn’t there to hear the expert saying the thing.
	Dovile Has/does ulcer say anything of interest in the last week?
	ST And no, Ulcer has not said anything of interest in the last week. But now… now he says that the sun is setting on Bakersfield, and the stormcloud is coming to block out the sky. This makes Sasha freeze and go very pale.
	Dovile (To Sasha) -Okay, what?-
	ST (To Dovile) An image: The sun setting on Bakersfield and the moon and 15 stars coming out. All but two of these stars are flickering. A massive stormcloud begins to roll in, sweeping across the sky, carrying a dark shadow beneath it and sending lightning and hail crashing down. The cloud slows as it approaches the stars, as if held back by them, but proceeds inexorably onward. Just before it coats one of the outermost stars, that star flickers out and goes dark. The cloud keeps sweeping forth, ready to cover more stars. And then three more stars flick to life, as strong as the two strongest.
	Sanura level one boon with uhh 13 succs so pretty sure that’s a go right?]
	ST You gonna reroll, then?
	Sanura yeupdoing it
	Sanura The occult ones are don now doing the academic ones
	Sanura done .. sorry bout the wait
	ST Roll 1: MaMa — that sense that Aida described, the sense of deafening silence, is a trademark of the Titan Soku-No-Kumi, Titan of darkness, and the titanspawn it begets into the World. Roll 2: The Ox — You already know the answer to this one: Jotunblut powers the Ox. Any Scion of the Aesir has access to Jotunblut potential, as it’s infused in their blood. Roll 3: Disciples — The Disciples seem to be based on the Seven Deadly Sins. This is largely a Christian invention (though specifics are debatable). Roll 4: Tengu — They are shapeshifters, illusionists, and master martial artists. The younger ones — karasu-tengu — aren’t particularly skilled and cannot really take on a human appearance, but older ones — dai-tengu — can (though they often have a comically long nose). Roll 5: Boar creatures — There are many vicious boar creatures in a wide variety of myths, particularly in Norse and Celtic ones. You don’t have enough detail to really be able to pin it down. Your best guess would be Nemean Boars, which would be nasty all on their lonesome. Though it’s possible to enhance beasts with Jotunblut, as well as people. Roll 6: Tengu feathers — They don’t really have any special uses. In fact, should the tengu die, the feather will dissipate. The only trophy one can receive from a tengu is its wooden mask, which is said to enhance one’s mastery of martial arts. Roll 7: Frost giant weaknesses — Fire is certainly a weakness (( in mechanical terms, it’s treated as Piercing damage ))… but other than that they are very powerful and well-suited to war. They can also heal if they put their injured parts in water and then freeze it onto themselves, thus repairing the damage. This is relatively easy for them to do.
	ST (Those are the occult rolls)
	ST Unfortunately, there’s no really useful information in the library. Not many books were preserved after the world ended, and, strangely, none of them have anything strongly folkloric or mythological in them, aside from names lifted from such to label celestial bodies or the like. Sanura was able to find Dante’s Divine Comedy, however, which mentions the seven deadly sins.
	Dovile ((This library cleaned out, courtisey of your local censor!))
	Sanura Sanura’s brain is way more useful than the library .. legendary feat! XD
	Sanura yeah I agree Elena]
	ST Anything else?
	Dovile ((I thiiiink that’s everything.))
	Sanura [I think so.. Hope so!]
	ST Okay. Where would you guys like to go from here?
	Dovile Has the family been moved to the bunker succesfully?
	Sanura Uh we have Mama to deal with tommorow?
	Dovile Tonight, actually.
	Sanura or today rather? .. what was she on about do we quite know?
	ST That’s going to take most of the rest of the day. And no, none of you really know specifically what she was on about. She was vague, stating only that she’d offer shelter to you.
	Dovile OOh, there you go. Occult roll on that titan to figure out what Mama’s going to use on the hotel?
	Sanura If allowed I’ll throw it? though did she say it was on the hotel specifically?
	Dovile No, she did not say that.
	ST There’s no indication that she’ll “use” anything on the hotel.
	ST The only information you have is that if you accept her offer, put an M on the doors to all the rooms of the people you want her to shelter.
	Sanura Can I surmise from what I’ve learned that she’s with the titan even? I mean.. seems super likely but ..
	Dovile …. so, we lookin’ at a bunch of souped up gangsters running through with knives, not opening rooms which have doors with M on? Alright, alright.
	ST Are you guys worried about the other hotel residents?
	Dovile Maybe a little.
	Sanura o.o yes of course
	Dovile I mean, you know, innocent people…
	ST Unfortunately Mel, you just don’t have enough information to be able to predict what MaMa’s going to do, if she does anything.
	Sanura yeah figured as much
	Sanura maybe she just knew about the raven and assumed she could get on Sasha’s good side..
	Sanura can one deprogram Jotenblut?
	ST No. That’s a very physical thing.
	Sanura thought not just checking
	ST Not a bad thought.
	Dovile Okay! Things remaning on our agenda for today: 1. Derrick? 2. Deprograming on the Trugillos/Kendar/Rochella/Ollie to find out who the client was. 3. Decided if we’re leaving or what.
	Dovile 1. Avlero is scared about us doing this.
	Dovile 2. Probably the disciple of envy or lust. Do we care enough to do this?
	ST Also I’d like to mention that Johanna’s not a fan of the idea herself.
	Dovile Kay, good to know.
	Sanura What if he -is- brain effed .. though that number on the crow.. but that -could- be to throw us off!?
	Dovile Well, brain controll can be pretty subtle. If he’s instant hypnosised, it won’t be showing up yet, will it?
	Dovile Also, does Johanna agree that something is wrong with Derrick/will she say?
	Sanura possibly not yeah does she.. bet she wouldn’t say though.. loyalty and all
	ST She refuses to say. Though judging by the way she sidesteps the issue, she thinks that there’s something wrong with him but doesn’t want to undermine him by saying so.
	Sanura yeahhh
	Sanura that’s the feeling I got for sure

Trujillo House

	ST Okay! So!
	ST 1. You’ve decided to contact Morpheus for help re: Derrick’s dreams. He agreed to check them out. 2. You are now headed to figure out why the Trujillos closed down Trujillo House.
	ST Sanura is going with Sasha, Lance, and Carmen, right?
	Sanura yeups
	ST The journey to Trujillo House is… cut short. Just a couple blocks outside of Padre Place, the group runs into Rochelle. She calls them out, and then runs forth — though she’s dressed ever-fashionably, it looks much more subdued than her usual getup. She hasn’t been sleeping well, either — it’s evident despite the tasteful makeup covering the dark circles under her eyes. “Oh, thank fuck,” she breathes as she draws closer at as much of a run as she can manage in high heels. She’s slightly breathless. “Could any of you please get a message through to the Angel of Union Avenue? I was told she lives ’round about your parts.”
	Sanura Sanura blinks a few times and comes up short "Oh fuck… it got you?.. " she frowns as she rubs her brow “I can probably get a message to her but … she’s sort of living at the hospital..” She frowns as she walks over “how bad is it?” she questions with concern.
	ST Rochelle waves her hand dismissively. “It’s not me, not yet, anyway, it’s… it started with Quince, after he got back home from an outing with… with a client… and… and it spread to Lily and Dickie and Kirsten and now it’s got Kendall, and…” She stops and closes her eyes, placing a hand over her breast. Then she takes a deep breath, lets her hand drop, and opens her eyes, her face once again schooled to its usual composure. “So I would much appreciate it if you could get the message to this Angel of yours.”
	Sanura Sanura gives a faint nod of her head and she glances to Carmen “can you go take a look so we can inform Susan what’s going on here a bit more exactly. That is if ms Trujillo doesn’t mind”
	ST Carmen nods. Rochelle’s shoulders drop slightly in relief. “Okay. Okay, thank you. I would be indebted to you.”
	Sanura Sanura nods her head and gestures to the group. "let’s all go see if we can help at all.. " Sanura would head in with the others, a bit watchful till she confirms the truth of the situation.
	ST Rochelle leads them onward to Trujillo House; its outside is no longer populated as it once was. And the interior… well, it’s clear that the place has been put on hold. The Trujillo girls and boys have been put to work taking down decorations and cleaning the place, and every last one of them is wearing a pair of gloves and some kind of face mask. Rochelle puts on her own set of protective measures and offers Sanura, Sasha, Lance, and Carmen masks and gloves as well — which Sasha and Carmen accept (as does Lance, once prompted to by Carmen). Finally, she leads them down the hall, to a room. She opens the door. It’s clear that a number of beds have been dragged into this one room. They’re crammed side to side, and lying on them are the people Rochelle had indicated before. Quince looks to have suffered the worst of it — he’s pale, sweating, and very frail-looking. Carmen enters the room fearlessly and looks them over. She comes back and says, “It’s what hit Regency Hall all right.” She looks at Rochelle. “Was this client from Templar territory?” Rochelle takes a breath as if she’s about to respond, but then her well-groomed brows crinkled towards the center. “I… I don’t remember.” She looks to the side. “That’s… strange. First Ollie’s client, and now Quinces…” She shakes her head and regards Carmen once more. “Can you do something for them?” Carmen gives Sanura a meaningful look when Rochelle mentions that she doesn’t remember the client, then glances back at the patients. “Well… I can give them more time. Susan’ll be able to do a lot more for them.” “Please,” Rochelle says.
	Sanura Sanura nods her head faintly "Carmen.. do what you can and then you and Lance can go back to the town to get Susan if she can possibly come… " she murmurs as her gaze turns to Rochelle. “I have a feeling I can help you with your memory loss, if you’d like.. if you will share your information with me once you’ve regained it.. what do you say?”
	ST Rochelle furrows her brow, considering. After a moment she regards Sanura directly “Do you think it’s… related to this?”
	Sanura Sanura nods her head softly “It most likely does I think.. and if not it has to do with our current threat to the city.. either way you want us to learn about the threat right?”
	ST She nods sharply. “Do what you have to.”
	Sanura Sanura, who’d also donned a mask by the by, gives a faint nod of her head and gestures for her to lead the way. “Some place quite if you can manage it” she’d follow Rochelle and once they get to a quiet place she’d indicate for her to be seated. Reaching up she’d take the combs from her hair which still somehow stays mostly in place at the moment.
	ST Rochelle complies without another word, waiting.
	Sanura Sanura gives a slight nod of her head and takes a steadying breath as she starts to run the comb through Rochelles hair, imagining a weaved basket as she does so, the ends slowly coming undone and begining to unfurl. Black ribbons coming out with the drag of the comb and pulling away from her hair.
	Sanura [14]
	Sanura Sanura tugs the darkness free of Rochelle and the whisps fall to the ground to be ground under her foot before disipating.
	ST Rochelle’s eyes widen. “I remember! Shit, how did I forget in the first place! He was gorgeous. Like some kind of model. Black dude, too, probably hung like a horse. And this bright blue hair!”
	Sanura Sanura blinks faintly and clears her throat. “Well ahem aside from speculating on his endowment can you tell me any more about him.. do you remember a scent .. a feeling.. his speach anything else?”
	ST She pauses, considering. “Well. I watched him and Quince go, through the window. He gave Quince this… strange… doll-looking thing. It was kind of fucked-up looking. Like it was diseased or somethin’. And then they turned the corner and… and I guess I forgot.”
	Sanura Sanura grimaces at that “Did she bring it back.. where are her rooms?” she questions as she wants access to this doll -now-.
	Sanura *he
	ST “No, I don’t remember Quince bringing it back.” At Sanura’s insistence, Rochelle leads her to Quince’s room. It’s been mostly stripped of bedding and other linens. “We cleaned much of it out. Don’t wanna take any chances, y’know. But you’re welcome to look around.”
	Sanura Sanura nods her head softly "Thanks.. " she murmurs as she -carefully- starts looking through the room for sigh of this suspected disease voodoo doll.
	ST (( Per + Investigation ))
	Sanura Sanura would first go to the sick room and attempt to question Quince on the doll going to retreive it if informed of it’s location. Failing that she’d then return to the room to search on her own.
	ST With Carmen’s help, Quince wakes up and is mostly coherent. He doesn’t seem to recall any sort of doll. Nor does he remember the client in question. He certainly doesn’t have it in his possession. [11 on wits emp psyc profiler]
	ST Age: 19 Addictions: One Compulsions: Two Relationships with others nearby: Most definitely Divine Heritage: No Nature: N/A Calling: N/A Virtue: N/A Secrets: No Fatebound Role: No
	Sanura [1L for detail pls]
	ST (( On the compulsions? ))
	Sanura [yios]
	ST Compulsions: * To forget something as soon as it’s mentioned, just like the other citizens of Bakersfield… * To go somewhere and place something there, and then forget and leave…
	Sanura Sanura frowns as she returns to Quinces bedside. “I wanted to .. help you remember some things it won’t hurt and it might help us all, may I?” she questions gently of the young man as she lowers to perch on the side of the bed.
	ST He looks at her blearily. “O… okay… s-sure.”
	Sanura Sanura smiles and the warmth reaches her eyes as she nods “Good, thank you” she reaches once more for the combs and gently would run it through Quinces hair, once more picturing the basket and willing the weaving to come undone. She’d watch this time as the shadow’s start to pull and tangle around the tines of the comb. [16 success] She then flings the offending shadow to the floor and grinds it under her heel. Her gaze turning to Quince again. “That should help, can you tell me anymore about the doll?” she murmurs gently.
	ST “I…” He stops, his eyelids flickering as he thinks. “The doll… I remember… I left it… somewhere… under Regency Hall, I think…”
	Sanura Sanura goes wide eyed and gulps softly “Please.. try a little harder.. if you can remember it will mean a great deal to everyone” she murmurs softly.
	ST “I’ll… I’ll try.” He’s still feverish, and clearly having trouble focusing. “It… It was underground… a cellar… ? I buried it… somewhere… seeds… or grain… or something… sand… ?”
	Sanura Sanura nods her head softly and a gloved hand strokes the boys cheek. “Thank you, if you remember anything more you’ll have to get a message to us ok? You’ve done really well, now get some more rest and hopefully we can get you all feeling better.” She’d rise and go looking for Sasha like nowish.
	ST As Sanura goes out in a tear, Carmen quickly follows, and wordlessly summons Lance to accompany them. Eventually they’ll find Sasha; on the way back to Trujillo House with Susan.
	Sanura Sanura runs up to Sasha “Hey you’ve still got that link with Dovile right?” not waiting for a response because of course they do. “I need you to tell her that there is a doll under Regency Hall and we need it now” she murmurs “Tell her to swing by and get Aida and those two need to be on it.” She speeds her steps. "Who the hell can break a curse or .. reverse magic.. "
	ST Sasha furrows his brow. “Certainly… but… why?” He pauses. “What should they be looking for?”
	Sanura Sanura gives a shake of her head and chuckles ruefully “A doll.. a sickly looking doll that was planted there by a dupe of Lust” she smirks “We might be getting somewhere with this plague guys.”
	ST “Ay, finally something good coming our way,” Carmen says.
	ST Sasha straightens and nods firmly. “She’s on her way. Ah, without Aida, as Doviluze says it’ll take too much time to find her.”
	Sanura Sanura hums softly and nods her head faintly “Well if she thinks she’s up to finding it on her own” she doesn’t seem to mind very much and would only move at her top walking speed.
	Dovile Dovile, still grumbling under her breath, walks into Regency Hall. The hall is quiet at this hour, though the kitchen is still bustling from clean up. Dovile grabs a passer-by by the arm. “Cellers?” She asks gruffly. The startled citivlian gives her a blank look, then points. Dovile nods and then clomps down the stairs, easily located with directions. The cellar is dark but as dry as old, old bone. Dovile narrows her eyes, sighs, walks over to the corner and picks up a doll. She stomps back up the stairs and out of the hall, to where Sanura and company wait in the garden. “Here.” She drops it in Sanura’s hands. It’s an old rag doll, rotting through, the skin, once tan, splothced pale with mold. Sewed to its hand is a wilted, blighted sheif of grain. Dovile pulls out a ciggarette. “Very difficult to find.” She says drily, holding the ciggarette out to Sasha absently.
	ST Sasha lights it, just as absently.
	Sanura Sanura frowns at the .. delightful little creature.. She glances to the group “I think we’ve found our culprit..” curling her lip slightly. “Where are Alvero and Johanna?” she murmurs, walking towards the hall.
	ST “Likely inside.” Sasha steps forward with purpose, his long stride taking him to the door before the rest. He pauses as he opens the door, thinks twice, and then holds it open for the others.
	Sanura Sanura wrinkles her nose and hands the doll back to Dovile. “If it moves.. shoot it.. a lot” she murmurs… only half joking. She’d jog towards the hall and search out Alvero and Johanna if both can be found easily. A quick synapsis of the situation and awaiting their reaction.
	Dovile Dovile snorts, kicks the doll off the path with one foot and rests her weight on the body of it, leaving only the pale face showing, stark against the dark dirt. She takes a deep inhale on her cigarrette, watching the enterance to the theater sort of absently.
	ST Under the doll, the garden dirt dries, and the plants surrounding it blacken. Only Alvaro’s about, briefly checking in on the displaced youths. Johanna is busy helping the Bakersfieldians learn how to defend their city. But at Sanura’s urging he quickly follows her outside to see what the fuss is about.
	Dovile ((12 for occult int for doll))
	Sanura Quickly leads the way back out and stops a ways short of Becky Blight there. “She does much more than wet and blink her eyes.. I was considering just.. getting rid of it.. but well what do you think?” asked of them all really.
	Dovile Dovile nods aknowledgement to Alvero when he aproches, moving her foot off the doll.
	ST Alvaro sees it, and the withered plants around it, and gingerly picks it up, examining it. He looks again at the black spot it left behind. He looks at Sanura. “I can… feel the disease on this.” He considers it further. “I don’t want it to fall in someone — or something — else’s hands. It should be destroyed, or… cleansed, if possible.”
	Sanura Sanura points at the thing "put it down.. " she smiles a bit “Sasha.. you know that cigaret trick?.. take this outside the gates and have at it till the ashes are ashes, if you’d be so kind”
	ST Sasha gives Sanura a half-smile. “You know, it’s been a while since I reduced something to ashes. I think it’ll be refreshing!” He takes the doll and starts off. It’s not long before he returns with a distinct lack of doll and the faint smell of smoke, whistling a cheerful tune.
	Sanura Sanura smiles to Sasha as he returns “Thank you lovely” she links her hands in front of her. “SO I think we can actually start making progress now!” Sanura glances to Alvero “Can you fix this patch of grass so we can see what’s what?” she murmurs.. “And I think we owe it to Quince to see him to better health quickly, if no one has any objections to it, he was very brave”
	ST Alvaro nods unwinds one of his bandages, pulls out his jar of dirt, and squats down by the black patch. He scatters a little over it, and then gently rubs open one of the many cuts on his arms. His blood plops on the dirt, and then the green of new grass springs up almost right away. It quickly overcomes the blighted flowers. He looks up at them, a relieved, weary smile on his face. “Thank you… God, thank you so much.” He rises, then pauses. “I just… I can’t even begin to… Do you all mind if I hug you?”
	Sanura Sanura gives a faint cheer “Sweet, well done my boy!” she is quick to open her arms for hugs. “Now you.. maybe Dovile here can give you a little help before you go crazy in there?” She predicts he’ll soon be just as bad off as he is now but it seems worth it to help the lad. She glances to Dovile and smiles in askance of her assitance.
	Dovile Dovile takes another drag on her cigarette, looking over Alvero as he moves in for his hug from Sanura. ((Asess Health.))
	ST Alvaro’s still strong, but it’s clear that it won’t take long for him to burn through his own health. (( 11/20 health boxes filled with lethal damage. ))
	Dovile Dovile breathes out smoke and looks at the boy for confirmation and once he nods she lays a hand on his arm. She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment and taking in the smells: the savory smell of ciggarette smoke and sweat, the sweet, thick smell of damp earth and growing things, the coppery flavor of Alvero’s blood, the smokey smell of ash on Sasha’s clothing, and the lingering perfume of the Trujillo house. “Леди Маtushka, этот мальчик любят Yesen. Пожалуйста, исцелить его.”“Lady Mother, this boy is loved by Yesen. Please heal him.” She breathes out. Alvero’s cuts begin to close, the flesh growing together. ((1 Wp, Heal.))
	Dovile ((13))
	ST (( All lethal damage, converted to bashing! ))
	Dovile The cuts fuse slowly, leaving large bruses in their wake. Dovile takes her hand away and re-opens her eyes, blowing more smoke toward the moon.
	Sanura Sanura smiles brightly “Thanks Dovile, you are a woman of many talents” it might be a trite compliment from most but Sanura really means it. She pauses "Susan needs a .. meal to go I think.. I’m certain she forgets to eat.. it’s a physician thing.. " Anyone feel like taking it to her?" pausing “Speaking of that Alvero has Sofia been making sure you eat?” her tone perhaps bland but her lips curling in a teasing smile.
	ST Alvaro puts a hand over a forearm. “Th — I mean…” He pauses, summoning up the memory of Sofia’s mini-lesson. “Ačiū?”“‘Thank you’?” The edge of his word is tilted up inquisitively, as he’s unsure of if he pronounced it correctly. He glances at Sanura, and then smiles a little. “Yes. And she’s even convinced me to sleep every once in a great while.”
	Dovile Dovile blinks at Alvero, blank face hideing her shock.
	Dovile She grunts at him. “Prašom.”“You’re welcome.”
	ST Sasha grins and claps Alvaro on the shoulder. “Puikiai padaryta!”“Well done!” Alvaro brightens with the combination of Dovile’s response and Sasha’s praise.
	Sanura Sanura smiles brightly at the good feelings swimming around them and the hope she feels rushing back to her. She glances to each of their faces and nods. “Alright Alvero I know you’re going to go get on the healing, be safe about it sweetie.” She gives his cheek a little pat and then looks to the others. “I think we’ve got some visits to pay to a few of the cities .. ah upstanding citizens” her lips curl at the ends and one gets the feel of a preditor for just a moment before the more pleased kittenish expression returns and she starts off in the direction of Ox’s territory with a purposeful step, clearly whoever wants to come along is surely welcome.

The Stampede

	ST The nigh-waned moon makes its slow climb over Bakersfield as Sanura, Lance, Carmen, and Sasha make their way to the Ox’s whereabouts. Before they breach Stampede territory, Lance steps forward, making a show of leading the group; Sasha takes rearguard, walking behind the women, his eyes alert. Stampede territory has expanded vastly since Damien’s death — Ox can be found overseeing operations in his half of the newly conquered Strip. The cries of people and shouts of Stampede members in the last little bits being conquered are still hanging in the air.
	Dovile Dovile shifted her gaze as her family, and Sanura, came into view. Then she returned her gaze to Ox. This roof was taller then the last one had been, and significantly less verdant. Old concret and dust are the smells of the evening.
	Sanura Sanura walks with the others and sticks close to Sasha as they travel further into the territory. She’d pause a moment and undo her buttons letting the corset show underneath her top, it -never- hurt to be a distraction if it was called for. She takes Sasha’s arm wrapping both of hers around. “Gosh I’m glad to have such a big strong man protecting me.” She says partly to tease Sasha and partly incase the walls had ears. She was just a bit of fluff for the moment and she could play the part well enough. After all the play was a form of controling and influencing their ememies, as usual in a subtle fashion that wouldn’t be noticed by many at least not conciously. She doesn’t dote on Sasha though, no matter how handsome he is, her gaze is moving over their surroundings as they venture further into hostile territory. She glances to Lance with a bit of concern.. she knew the guy as a lil smart ass when he was younger.. and a bit of an adorable goof with his wife. She takes the words of the others that he could handle the role he was to play in this Coup d’etat.
	ST Sasha schools his face to stone — a look that actually is quite scary on him and evokes, more than anything else, his Slavic heritage. He does not acknowledge Sanura’s display. The sheer presence put forth by the two musclebound gentlemen goes far to clearing the way for them. Almost instinctively, most of the lesser Stampede step away from them. It doesn’t take long for them to push through to the building in which Ox and his Lieutenants are currently strategizing. Their voices drift through the door. “… doesn’t make a difference that Dis has been reopened. Damien’s dead; nothing’s changing that. We’ll conquer it. And I personally will conquer that spirited red-head.” “Yes, sir.” As they draw close enough to the Ox’s building, Sasha cups his hands over his mouth and says, “MAKE WAY FOR THE WOLF! THE WOLF WISHES TO SPEAK TO THE OX!” Lance stops, does a double-take, and then looks at Sasha. Sasha offers a shrug and a stifled smile in response. “Thought it’d be appropriate.” This elicits a grin from Lance. “Niiice.” “Ay, dioses…” Carmen rolls her eyes and heaves a small sigh.
	Dovile Dovile lies still on the roof, following the group’s progress. She can see the table that Ox and his luetenants are gathered around through a window, heads ocassonally flicking through her vision as people pass infront of it. It’s easy to see the area infront of the building, made easier as the recent fighting has leveled some of the smaller obsticals. In the silence following Sasha’s shout, Dovile listens to the city settle in the cooling night air.
	Sanura Sanara’s eyes roll at about the same time as Carmens and she smirks faintly though she is careful not to seem to amused especially as it could be seen as at the expence of their oh so masculine and powerful leader guy there. Yeup.. we follow this guy he rules. She actually keeps her head down to hide the amusement on her features but it could easily be taken for a show of submissiveness by the mysogyny bros. She studies the toes of her new heels and smiles a bit at the comforting click of them on the concrete.
	ST There’s a suspension of voices and of activity as Sasha’s voice rings through the buildings. Finally, activity starts anew. The Ox’s Lieutenants file out little by little, surrounding the group and eyeing them appraisingly. Slowly, subtly, Lance spreads his feet, rolls his shoulders back, and lifts his chin. The Ox is the last one to emerge from the doorway. He’s massive — a full two inches taller than Lance, and much broader and thickly built. He looks this Wolf up and down, and then the fellow hanging back, then lifts his own chin and offers a slight sneering smile. “Well… ‘Wolf.’ You have my attention.” There’s a brief pause as Lance tries to figure out how to segue into the part where they question his intentions. “The Wolf wishes to know if the Stampede has been cowed by this most recent threat,” Sasha prompts. At this Lance takes the cue and crosses his arms, directly gazing at the Ox. The Ox snorts. “Why can’t you speak for yourself, Wolf? Cat got your tongue?” This elicits a laugh from the Stampede members surrounding the Ox. “Or do you just not like to get your hands dirty?” “The Wolf would like it known that if he didn’t understand the request, he can have one of the others re-state it,” Lance retorts, motioning to the ladies. The Ox goes stony. “No threat concerns the Stampede.”
	Sanura Sanura smiles faintly at the exchange so far, looking over the gathering from beneath her lashes rather than directly. She’d take stock of the various builds.. and try to dicern if possible who’s been touched by holy fire though it may well be to hard to pick up on without the certain feel for it. She pursed her lips fainty and then cracks a bit of a grin at the third person stuff.. it was good though.. and the crack that Ox might be so dense he needs the question rephrased for him.
	ST “So then, you intend on banding with… my Pack and the Templars to defend Bakersfield?” Lance asks. The Ox lets out a loud belly laugh, which prompts an echo from his Lieutenants and all those gathered there. This mocking continues for a while, before he stops. He waits until the laughter dies away and speaks. “Sure, sure. But let’s say, hypothetically, I intended instead to… trample your ‘Pack’ and the Templars.” He then steps uncomfortably close to Lance, drawing himself up to his full size and staring him down. “What then?” Lance doesn’t so much as blink. “You don’t want to do that,” he states. The Ox smirks, amused. “And is ‘The Wolf’ going to explain why or does he have nothing to fill this empty threat?”
	Sanura Sanura lifts her head at this point, eager to see Ox get taken down.. not just a peg to the ground, his face rubbed in it like a naughty puppy.
	ST “Hypothetically… if that’s what you intended to do, well… an Alpha’s gotta protect his Pack. He can’t just lie down and let them be trampled,” Lance says, casually, slowly pacing around the circle. He glances around at all the Lieutenants there, but seems unconcerned. He’s clearly working the crowd a little. His journey takes him to a derelict Dodge van that just so happens to be in the circle. He stops, regards the van as if it’s in his way, and sends his fist through the side. Then, with the car stuck on his fist, he lifts it up easily, pulls it off his fist with his other hand, and then turns around and tosses it over his shoulder to a spot nearby. He returns to his uncomfortably close spot in front of the Ox, taking his time. “How much do you wanna bet that a Wolf’s teeth beats an Ox’s horns?”
	Sanura Sanura watches the display and has to stop herself from applauding though her painted lips do stretch in a wide grin at the display and banter. Good job kid!
	ST The Lieutenants exchange looks with each other. The Ox looks Lance up and down appraisingly. “Well. I’ll have to be honest with you, then.” He nods to his Lieutenants, who begin to broaden the circle. “We’re gonna have to find out.” Lance shrugs. “Or… your Stampede could join my Pack. No fuss, no muss. Everyone wins.” The Ox sneers. “You haven’t even seen my horns yet, and you’re already backing off?” He lets out a bark of laughter. “They should call you ‘The Cub!’” “No. I just wanted to give you the option of not being renamed ‘The Steer,’” Lance retorts. Carmen puts a diplomatic hand over her mouth.
	ST (( Anything anyone wants to do before the fight begins? ))
	Sanura [nah we can just watch the madness ensue]
	ST (( No Boons, Knacks, or anything? ))
	Sanura [Sanura is holding off for Mama, seems like Lance has this covered]
	Dovile ((Nothing on him, I assume he wouldn’t agree to that.))
	Dovile Dovile shifts her attention from the fight to the crowd. Sasha can give her a play by play, but her concintration is on watching for interfearance. A disciple, an overly feisty Stampede memeber… another sniper. The breeze picks up a little, bringing the smells of sweat and blood up to her.
	ST The Ox gives Lance a vicious, humorless grin, then pulls away to turn to his Lieutenants, making grand, sweeping gestures to get them riled up, cheering and jeering and shouting. He goes so far as to rip his shirt apart in a display of manly, testosterone-fueled aggression, then turns to Lance expectantly. Lance watches impassively for a bit, then takes that cue to remove his own shirt. He does so casually, making a show of undoing the buttons and slipping out of it, revealing the dual wing tattoos that cover the length of his well-muscled back and the back of his shoulders and arms, then carefully folds it and turns to Carmen to present it to her. Carmen receives the folded laundry with a stifled smirk on her face, using the noise to conceal her words to all but those in the immediate vicinity. “Hey. Since when did you smarten up, Gorman?” “Since you married me,” he says with a smile and a lift of his brows. Her smirk fades a little as the tenuous edge to her teasing is dulled in one fell swoop. She looks down, briefly, then looks back up to Lance, her own smile small. “Fuck him up,” she says. He kisses her, and then stoops to kiss her abdomen. “Wolf! I don’t have all night!” Lance turns to face the Ox, leaving Sasha to usher the women out of the circle. “What’s the win state?” The Ox tilts his head to either side, cracking his neck. “Until one of us drops. Whether that means knockout or death… well, I don’t give a shit.” He pauses. “If that offends your sensibilities, though, we can come to another arrangement.” Lance shrugs noncommittally. “Works for me.”
	Sanura Sanura smiles at the tender exchange and -almost- brings her hands up to her cheek clasped together. The sweetness shown to his wife and child was a good example of how to behaive and she hopes some of the men might take it to heart, her gaze flicks around them curiously wondering if anyone had taken note of the exchange and their reactions to it.
	ST Lance squares himself for the fight. It’s a quiet, prepared squaring, one that bespeaks the utter confidence of countless fights. He knows he’s going to win this one, and that fact leaves a bad taste in his mouth. To the Ox’s credit, his own squaring is similar. This isn’t his first rodeo, and he knows when to turn the bravado off. Lance brings his fists up, waiting for the Ox to move first. The Ox obliges, charging forward. Lance squares himself, ready to put his elbow in a position for the Ox to run face-first into it, Muay-Thai style… and then suddenly his hands drop and a confused expression overcomes him. Suddenly nothing is familiar, and Lance begins to look around wildly, paralyzed with panic. It isn’t long after that, though, that the Ox’s fist smashes into his face. (( The Ox gets full overflow… ))
	Dovile ((Can Dovile use Animal Aspect and look for the scion whose causin’ trouble?))
	ST (( Sure! )) (( The Ox passes his soak, dealing 5 Lethal damage ))
	Dovile ((He has DC, right?))
	ST (( He does, but he can’t use it at present. )) (( 5/12 health boxes down, by the by )) (( Let’s roll JB to set up some kind of turn order. ))
	ST Lance’s face snaps to the side, sending up a loud CRACK! and a spray of blood from his nose. He staggers back and blinks, utterly stunned, then shakes the cobwebs out of his head and brings his hands back up quickly. The blow’s made him come to, it seems.
	Sanura [14 JB]
	Dovile ((10.))
	ST (( 12 for Lance, 3 for the Ox ))
	Dovile ((Caremn, 15))
	ST (( Sasha’s at 11 ))
	Dovile ((Can we have her do Snap It Out automatically, or do we have to tell her to do it?))
	ST (( Actually, she’s going to Psychic Profiler Lance, to see exactly what it is that’s messing with him. ))
	Dovile ((Well okay then miss smarty pants!))
	ST Carmen cringes a little at Lance getting hit so solidly. But she swallows down her sudden, visceral fear and wastes no time in assessing her husband. She looks back to the others. “Whatever it was, it’s gone now. Can’t tell what hit him. I’ll keep an eye on him.” (( Guard Action ))
	ST (( Sanura. ))
	Sanura Sanura puts her manicured nails to her lips and blows out a whistle that would put cat calling construction workmen to shame. Shrugging out of her blouse she balls it up and tosses it at him “Hey Ox, is it true what they say about all those steriods?!” Drawing his attention both with her taunt and willing him to meet her gaze. She holds up her pinky and wiggles it at him as her smirk curls to something more devious. She focuses and her lips loose the curve and purse ever so slightly in concentration. “Takes a real man take advantage and land sucker punch like that huh, I guess I shouldnd’t expect less of a dairy cow huh?” She crosses her arms over her chest and glowers. “A -real- man would Let Lance get a hit in return for that bull shit pussy move.” She slides her command into taunting and hopes for the best. “It is only fair after all.” That last bit aimed at Lance in case his concience decides to act up. [Center of Attention and Instant Hypnosis]
	Sanura [also stunt for ballsy approach and added.. er sass?] [worth a shot]
	Dovile ((I’d vote yes on stunt. I think Lance’s gonna be a bit twicked at you though, :P ))
	Sanura [Psh he can be mad as long as he’s alive]
	ST (( Roll Center of Attention ))
	Sanura [12]
	ST (( Okay, roll Instant Hypnosis ))
	Sanura [17]
	ST (( That mows over Ox’s MDV of 6. ))
	ST (( 1 WP left ))
	Sanura [uuuuug]
	ST (( It works, but I’ll post results on Ox’s turn. ))
	ST (( Instant Hypnosis takes “a few seconds” so I’ll say that’s a 5-tick action. ))
	ST Though Lance has squared himself, suddenly he staggers in agony. It’s as if there was a time lapse — dark bruises form around both of his eyes and his broken nose swells and takes on the angry red hue of severe infection. (( Additional 6 Lethal damage dealt from this mysterious source… puts him down at 11/12 health boxes, and then he’s got his Incap box. If he’s dealt 2 more damage of any kind, he’s out. ))
	ST (( Carmen and Lance ))
	ST As Carmen watches this unfold, a fire lights her eyes. “Not my fucking husband, you fucking penedjo,” she growls. At that, she furrows her brow in concentration, focusing on the beating hearts of those around her, the pumping blood and winding, river-like veins. Then she begins to redirect the flow of life in Lance. (( Bolster, channelling Conviction ))
	ST (( Aaand Legend to reroll ))
	ST (( She gives him 4 additional health boxes. ))
	ST Lance blinks through the pain, tears his gaze from Sanura, and takes a swing at the Ox, throwing his weight into it. (( Heavy Unarmed, fierce blow… suffers -4 dice due to Sanura’s Center of Attention and another -2 due to fierce blow… but Ox is at 0 DV due to Sanura’s command ))
	ST (( Aaaand a Legend to reroll. The dice do not like me today ))
	ST (( 12 overflow + 1 hit + 8 Bashing + 3 fierce blow + 7 autos… ))
	ST (( 24 damage! ))
	ST (( 13 post-soak damage. ))
	ST (( All bashing, by the by ))
	ST Lance’s fist plows into the Ox’s gut. The Ox is lifted in the air a little by the blow and a mouthful of blood spits past Lance to plop on the cracked pavement behind him. Lance withdraws his fist, which sets the Ox back on his feet. For a moment, the Ox wobbles… then he brings his fists back up… then he drops, thudding against the ground like a 300lb sack of potatoes.
	ST (( Dovile, you may act ))
	Dovile Dovile snarls, teeth growing longer as her eyes widen and darken into a pure amber. Her pupils narrow and then widen suddenly as they expand to fill the space. Her noise seems to spread slightly and her nostrils flare. Her vision sharpens as color fades, simply unimportant now. The smells around her are suddenly powerful, urgent. Blood first, powerful as it is fresh. (Its the comfortable, familiar copper-and-cool wind of Lance, covering the older blood, mortal men, women, children, dying frightened and afraid. Sasha’s smell is next, rising like the sun’s heat. Sanura’s cloying flower-hiding-sand follows, and the sharp smell of fresh obsidian and clean water from Carmen, mingled with the smell of damp earth, her child stirring in her womb. Dovile takes them in, holding everything, letting it pass through.) Flowing around the blood, the scent of every member of the crowd, thick with sweat, adrenaline, and sweet fear. The stink of corrupted, inhuman blood from some of the bigger ones. Underneath the cacophony of human scent is the dry dust, the ever-present kiss of Bakersfield, the sour smell of cooling concrete and drying wood. The voices are a symphony, each one distinct and blended with the others. The sound of a hundred breaths, out of sync, a hundred heart-beats. She knows every one by the pace of their heart, by the rising and falling of their breaths. No plants rustle, not here, only the broken, hollow echoes of voices on stone, dancing in the growing breeze. Speak to me, hearts of men. Who wounds my cub?
	Dovile ((Stunt for Animal Aspect?))
	Sanura [That was some good writing, very evocotive and I love the preditory feel through out till the end where the protective mama surfaces]
	ST (( Three bonus dice, Elena! You may also regain 3 Legend OR 1 WP, your choice. And it was pretty freakin’ awesome, I’ll add either another 3 Legend or 1 WP to that. ))
	ST (( Alternatively, you may recover both, but I won’t double the recovery ))
	Dovile ((SWEET!! I’ll take 2Wp, thank you all! Channeling duty and flaring for autos.))
	Dovile ((24, which I belive gives me 24 bonus to perception for 20 ticks, since I’m paying 4 legend?))
	ST (( All righty! ))
	Dovile ((Perception! And now, may I please roll per-aware to find that… gentleman?))
	ST (( Yes! ))
	Dovile ((Yeah. Only a 27. SO SAD))
	ST There. His scent, hidden. But not his shadow, his heartbeat, not the sounds of the slow, ever present growth of his blue hair and his immaculately manicured fingernails, not the sounds of the curse nearly fires from the synapses of his brain to fall from his lips, not the abrasive sound of cloth against skin as he rises and prepares to flee. He’s hidden well, eyes on the scene below. But not well enough.
	Dovile ((Do I add pthe 24 to my attack pool as well?))
	ST (( Yes. It’s active for 20 ticks, after all. ))
	Dovile ((25 to hit.))
	ST (( Whoa, if you’re taking a multi-action, did you account for the -4 dice on both rolls? ))
	Dovile ((Ah, only for the Animal Awarness. Thank you, let me go again with four less dice.))
	ST (( Go ahead. ))
	Dovile ((Ummm, I got a 28 that time. Should I take the 25 intead?))
	ST (( … No, that’s how the dice go. ))
	Dovile ((Soo… Do I roll damage now?))
	ST (( Yes. You caught him by surprise, so you get full overflow. ))
	Dovile ((Okay. I’d also like to use eagle eye.))
	ST (( Don’t forget to add 1 dice for hitting the dude. ))
	Dovile ((Yes Ma’am. Okay, so I’a roll… 40? And thats 1L for Eagle Eye))
	ST (( 16+29 is 45 ))
	Dovile ((Okay. Thanks!))
	Dovile ((30. I’ma write the shot, will you do the hit?))
	Dovile ((I did hit, right?))
	Dovile ((Oh, yues, duh, because I rolled for damage. Sorry.))
	ST (( Oh, hold up, you’re rolling Perception? That counts for Animal Aspect. ))
	ST (( Because Eagle Eye is dealing Perception damage ))
	ST (( So roll another 24 dice ))
	ST (( No autos ))
	Dovile ((oh, okay. 13 more. :D))
	ST (( That’s 43 Lethal damage right there ))
	Dovile ((… You know, maybe I shoulda taken aiming ticks… ))
	Dovile Dovile opens her mouth, breathing out a silent prayer of thanks to Svantovit as the sounds of her prey reach her. Her fingers are already moving, smooth, cool metal under fingers as the cartrige slides into the chamber, the bolt clicking, incredibly loud in her ears. Dovile breathes out, and her rifle barks.
	ST Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump — crack of gunfire, crunch of skull, splattering of blood and brain matter… and the clink of an empty shell falling on the rooftop. One more small silence in Bakersfield.
	ST Sasha bolts, his powerful legs carrying him towards some mysterious destination. Then, as the gun cracks, he slows to a halt. Carmen doesn’t hold back anymore, starting towards Lance. He waves her off and straightens, staring down each of the Lieutenants. “The Wolf has won!” he states. “Does anyone contest my — and my wife’s — right to rule?” The following silence is louder than any commotion that came before.
	Sanura Sanura jumps once for Lances victory. “Sorry ass busta” she mimics some rap video she’d seen at some point in time. Though her eyes widen at the gunshot.. but the silence that follows.. Her brows furrow a moment before she glances to Sasha for confirmation and low his taking off is pretty much what she needs a faint grin curling crimson lips as she sets her hands on her hips and watches Lance go to work. Her eyes flashing with ire at the seemingly heavy silence surrounding them.
	ST “Be right back,” Sasha says, starting off again.
	Sanura Sanura chuckles a little and nods “Be careful” she calls after him before walking over to examine Ox for breath, careful to stay out of arms reach just in case.
	ST Lance then turns back to Carmen and holds his hand out to her. She looks him up and down, then takes it. He lifts their hands up and turns back around to regard the gathered crowd. “You are all now members of our Pack. If you disagree, I will give you this once chance to yield all your property and leave our territory in peace.” Carmen, despite herself, allows a proud smile to overtake her. “While they’re deciding, Mi Lobo, I move that we all get up off our asses and give the Templars a hand. What do you think?” He looks to her with a smile. “I think that’s a great idea.”
	Dovile Dovile continues to search the crowd for trouble until Svantovit’s blessing wears off, leaving half blind and almost deaf. Even softened by the dark, the browns, blues and yellows seem garishly birhgt.
	Sanura Sanura watches with a proud smile, their victory one for everyone in the city. Her smile only falters a little as she looks at the Ox again and swallows thickly. Goddess that had been close.. who the hell did she think she was leading people into a situation like this. She pales as she realizes Lance could have died because of what she’d asked of him. She sits heavily on the nearest thing, possibly Ox’s unconscious body she doesn’t seem to realize where she is.
	ST It doesn’t take long before Sasha returns at an easy stride, carrying a long load wrapped in some canvas he managed to salvage, slung over his shoulders. Blood has stained through the canvas, and very soon it will begin to drip.
	Sanura Sanura blinks softly and turns a fetching hue of jade as her gourge rises. “So.. who was it?” she questions with a faint shudder passing over her.
	ST “If the tengu’s description is anything to go by… the Disciple of Lust,” Sasha says, quietly. His expression is truly stony now, not the affectation he put on before. He pauses, then adds, “Doviluze would like to heal our injured Wolf over there. Is that all right?”
	Sanura Sanura looks up and nods her head “Yes of course.. Dovile can dance a bloody jig on the wall in her underwear if she so wishes after that shot” Her tone not nearly as vibrant as one might expect with such a victory.
	ST Sasha pauses, looking her over, seeing the lack of heart. He swallows down his own unsettlement (being bothered by death can wait) and sets the canvas load down. “Hey. C’mere.” He steps before her, then holds out one of his big hands, wordlessly offering her help up.
	Dovile Dovile slips silently down the shadowed fire escape. Her face has returned to humanity but her step is still silent, her movements mostly hidden by the night. She walks quietly up behind Lance, rifle causally swung over her shoulder, almost hidden by Veles will. “Atsiprašymą vilkukas, aš mačiau jį per vėlu.“”Apologies little wolf, I saw him too late.“ She says, just too quietly for mortals to hear. She rests a hand on his shoulder, her voice growing even quieter. ”knack" href=“#”>"Леди матушка , мой ребенок пострадал. Я прошу еще одну услугу.“”Lady Mother, my child is injured. I beg another favor." ((Speding one WP to convert leathel to bashing, got a 19.))
	Sanura She looks up and blinks a bit dazedly as she tries to ignore the body for moment. She swallows thickly and rests her hand in Sasha’s, a faint quake to her fingers that only worses as she tries to still it. “What can I do ya for, Doll?” she attempts to put on a brave face but the lie of it shows in troubled eyes and a faint line between her furrowed brows.
	ST Lance would start a little, were he not in so much pain. He turns to Dovile, quiet and shadow-like, seeming almost not to exist in the dark. Carmen, on the other hand, has busied herself relaying orders. His brow furrows as he struggles to translate. But, as the infection fades and his face pieces itself back together, his shoulders drop and his eyes close in relief. Though nasty bruises mottle his face, at least it looks like a face again. “Agh, gods, Dovile. Ačiū. Taigi daug.”“Agh, gods, Dovile. Thank you. So much.” Sasha tugs her past standing into a warm, tight, but not uncomfortable hug. “The sun might be setting on Bakersfield, but we are the stars in the night sky. And the stars in the sky are part of your domain, jo?” He pauses. “Thank you, for your leadership. For bringing Doviluze to me, and a new, incredible family along with her. And thank you for your efforts to become part of it. As far as I’m concerned, you are.” (( Sasha’s using BFF; all of Lance’s lethal has been converted to bashing. ))
	Dovile Dovile gives Lance a half nod and an almost smile, then gestures to Ox’s unconcious form, her face turning blank again. “You want me to kill him for you?”
	ST Lance shakes his head and swallows back a little self-disgust. “I’ve already… knocked him down. If he’s going to die, he should at least have a fighting chance.”
	Dovile Dovile nods and find a quiet, dark place to watch from while she waits for further orders.
	Sanura Sanura gives a faint meep and then returns the hug. A small smile curling her lips after a moment hearing his words. “Jo,” she starts, having sussed out the meaning from hearing it often enough “We are as the stars, none more comforting and reliable than you Sasha. They are in my influence and Sopdet herself has given me her blessings. Can I rely on you to be in my orbit?” She’d tease playfully with a cheeky grin to Dovile before the woman phrases the question regarding Ox. Sanura nods to Lance and then her eyes darken and her lip curls ever so slightly. “Fine.. we will release him in the Ruins.. if he can out run Dovile… maybe he can live” she murmurs. “Perhaps he will learn a lesson being the one who is prey”
	ST Sasha begins to respond, then furrows his brow and presses his mouth shut. “You mentioned the word orbit in relation to yourself. I’m not touching that one.” He offers her a grin. “But, rest assured, I’ll be sticking around.” Lance looks over to Sanura, then looks down, nodding his semi-approval of that plan.
	Sanura Sanura gives a faint twitch of her lips to Sasha’s response, or rather his stilted response. She takes a breath and glances to Lance, “You did really well and he would have ended you by any means.. we can’t risk his recover and hurting more people.. I can’t even fathom how his heart will weigh..” she shakes her head.
	Sanura All this done, and victories had, Sanura takes hope in Sasha’s kind words and having someone who cared enough to notice her shaken state. She purses her lips softly and looks to the others. “We have one more house call to make.. I wish it could wait but I think we all know it can’t.” Unless there are objections then Sanura would start planning what to happen here when they leave [with Lance or Carmen giving the orders] and then begin to plot their meeting with Mama.

MaMa’s Offer

	Dovile Alright, Plan: 1. Sanura and Sasha use brillaint Charisma Rolls to get civies out of Padrea 2. Brendan escorts civies to Regency 3. Sanura and Sasha stand infront of Padrea to confront MaMa. Question and possible deal with. 4. Dovile is a sneaky person and looks for MaMa and her minions approching, and hopefully contact Aida.
	Dovile ((Perhaps a short couple of charaisma rolls and then a discription of what happens and RolePlay if we can speak with MaMa.))
	ST (( Yeah, I’d call that Cha + Command ))
	Dovile ((Dovile will use MindLink(3L) on Brendan.))
	Sanura [13 on convincing plebs to vacate] [23 from dat dere Sasha]
	ST Together, Sanura and Sasha manage to get people up and out of Padre Place within a couple of hours. By the time the sliver moon starts reaching its peak in the sky, Padre Place has fallen dark and quiet.
	Dovile Dovile’s on the rooftops, watching for everything.
	Dovile ((11 on per-aware))
	ST (To Dovile) Shadows, shifting through the streets. It’s clear they fancy themselves stealthy, but they cannot hide the scent of sweat, thick on the night breeze. There is something more under that scent, something Dovile can’t quite place, but it doesn’t smell right. Five shadows peel away from the rest, flitting through buildings surrounding Padre Place and settling on high-up floors before pointing long muzzles through their windows. The shadows are spreading through the ENZ, followed by the sounds of commotion and cries of surrender or quickly cut-off defiance from citizens. A number are converging on Padre Place, led by one that makes quick, sharp motions. A man’s silhouette.
	Dovile Dovile will keep Sasha updated, as well as let Brendan know about the sort of things he might be up against if his herd of civvies comes under attack.
	ST Sasha leans in a little towards Sanura. “They’ll be here soon. Five marksmen.” He tries to keep his motions tight and casual-looking, while indicating their locations to her. “The main contingent is being led by a man. For now, it looks like they’ll be approaching from there.” Again, he motions, before regarding Sanura again. “We staying?”
	Sanura Sanura frowns some but nods “We can either stay now and find out what’s going on with the civilians out of the way.. or we wait for her next move… and I don’t think she’ll be kind enough to warn us then.. do you?”
	ST Sasha shrugs one shoulder. “Just checking.” He pauses. “Also just thought I’d mention, no sign of MaMa yet, looks like.” Gently, he presses a palm against her, urging her back into the doorway. “There’s more cover here,” he offers, before stepping forward to make himself an easier target. It’s almost as if a wind sweeps through the nearby buildings, snuffing the lonely candlelights shining through windows, deepening the darkness that bleeds into the streets. A burgeoning commotion from the citizens around them goes up but quickly dies down before it has a chance to gather steam. Soon, only the faint silvery light of the sliver moon and the twinkle of stars above offers any solace. A voice drifts from the darkness. “Petrov. You got MaMa’s message.” It’s quiet, almost whispery, seeming to come from everywhere all at once. It’s a man’s voice, gruff, curt, utilitarian. Almost inquisitive.
	Sanura Sanura nods softly "I feel like we should at least try for some information.. " she steps back with the urging though it goes against her instict to protect those she cares about. A slight frown turning her lips as she know’s its the wiser course. Sanura adjusts her bag on her hip and palms the brass orb that once graced the visage of a basilisk. She frowns more so and her other hand clutches the star of Sopdet at her neck, a swift glance up to the stars before she speaks up. “We’d hoped she have a little more to say on the matter, isn’t she going to pop by to join us? If not then the least you can do is step forward and introduce yourself like a gentleman.” She urges in what seems a mixture of coaxing and yet with the edge of a taunt as well.
	ST (To Dovile) Shadows swirl around Sasha and Sanura, slipping behind them, around them, past them, into Padre Place. Neither seem to notice.
	Dovile Dovile settles down onto her patch of roof, Sasha and Sanura in sight, and most of the sharpshooter’s muzzels also visible. Keeping herself hidden, muzzel NOT poking out of window, Dovile focuses on the leader, the man’s silhouette, preparing to shoot him on command.
	ST “I am stepped forward.” There’s a very slight upward tinge of humor in that statement. Sasha straightens a little and glances around himself, as if looking for something. “Uh… is MaMa around, Joe?” “No.” A pause. “You declined her offer.” Again, almost inquisitive.
	ST (To Dovile) In the pause between the “No” and the “You declined her offer,” a shadow had slipped out and rejoined the spokesman briefly, clearly giving a report. Apparently Sasha and Sanura can still neither hear nor see them.
	Sanura Sanura takes out the eye and attempts to pass it to Sasha, she’d have her own sorce of light in a moment and if he wanted to illuminate something he planned on hitting she wanted him to have that option. The darkness usually welcome was unnerving with it’s unnatural depth. “We’re not exactly clear on her offer or what she wants with our new home, we did just get settled in after all” she peeks around Sasha and offers a little pout. “I’d just gotten my closets situated after all.. so why do we want to move?” She pauses and continues with a firmer tone “Who graced you with these new abilities? [Blurt it Out] What has Mama so busy she couldn’t come by herself? [Blurt it Out] surely she’d want to show off her own talents eh?”
	ST Sasha takes the eye, glances at it briefly, then discreetly pockets it. His hands drop to his sides, fingers slightly tense and still. (( Need those Man + Emp rolls ))
	Sanura Sanura rolls 9d10x7+11 = 12 ℹ ones:1 #Blurt it Out Who Gave Power Sanura rolls 9d10x7+11 = 16 ℹ ones:1 #Blurt it Out What kept Mama
	ST “Don’t know, don’t care. MaMa told me to take an injection, so I did,” replies shadowy Joe. “She’s busy taking territory in the Strip right now. I’m here to get you. Whether you accepted MaMa’s offer or not.” Suddenly, an internal alarm goes off in Sanura’s head. (( You have one tick, thanks to Subliminal Warning. ))
	Sanura Sanura yells “Incoming” to Sasha mean while she attempts to blind whomever is making her ‘fur’ stand on end. [Blinding Visage]
	ST (( Need that roll, Mel ))
	Sanura [Sanura rolls 12d10x7+7 = 15 ℹ ones:1 #Blinding Visage]
	Sanura [was gonna do any math for it if there was any]
	ST (( You can blind a number of people equal to your Epic App dots — who are you blinding? ))
	Sanura [well it says who is looking at her, I’d imagine Joe would be since they’re talking and then whatever of his group who are also looking..
	Sanura [five total]
	Sanura or four rahter\
	ST (To Dovile) Joe lifts his hand, making a clear signal.
	Dovile Dovile updates Sasha and fires in one moment.
	Dovile ((21))
	Dovile ((27 for damage))
	Dovile (( 4 aiming dice))
	ST (To Dovile) The spokesman drops, shadow pooling onto the pavement from his head.
	ST The crack! of a familiar gun and shadow drops at Sasha’s feet, darkness like blood beginning to coat the ground and collect around Sasha’s shoes. Briefly, in the midst of Sanura’s glow, dark humanoid shapes stand out in sharp contrast; it’s almost like an army, surrounding Padre Place. And then the light fades, concealing them again.
	ST (To Dovile) Thp! Thp! Thp! Thp! Thp! Almost in unison the guns fire. Not the usual crack of bullets… the quiet firing of tranquilizer darts.
	Sanura Sanura grimaces and glances to Sasha “I can net a few to get them busy, you think you can plow through enough to get us free?” she questions quietly as she looks around them into the darkness.
	ST Sasha grunts softly, as if he’d been pricked. “Tranqs,” he says to Sanura, his voice low. “Leave, I’ll buy you time.” And then the shadows surge forward.
	Dovile Dovile, face blank, takes out the five marksmen, one after the other in quick succesion. They rythum comes easy and fast.
	Sanura Sanura curses a blue streak glowers into the darkness “All of you back off!” [Overt Order] followed by “Return to your mistress empty handed” [Mass Hyp] [if I can?]
	ST (( You can only Overt Order one being at a time. But you can certainly Mass Hyp. Make your roll. ))
	Sanura [meant hard sell actually whoops anyway rolling Mass Hyp legend flair]
	Sanura [19]
	ST (( So you affect up to 19 people. ))
	Sanura [the closest ones then I guess.. ]
	ST (To Dovile) Sasha: -Sorry, Doviluze, you should look away now.-
	Dovile Dovile flips off of her belly and sits up, facing the wall, back to her brother. Then she closes her eyes and pulls her head scarf down, bending in half and buring her face in her arms.
	ST Some of the darkness is pushed back, but it’s not enough. More comes forth to replace it. Sasha steps forward, and, in a flash of fire Devchuska is in his hands, the air swimming a little around her. “Look away!” he shouts at Sanura. Then what little light there is catches on his golden earrings, growing, spreading to the rest of him. He’s illuminated briefly, as well as the five empty tranq needles that stick out of him in various places. And then the illumination overcomes him entirely, and fills the streets, lighting up the Padre Place sign. Once more the shadows stand in stark contrast, easily 50 of them. They silently flinch back, almost as one, attempting to shield their eyes.
	ST (( Heavenly Flare ))
	ST (( 13 sucs ))
	Sanura Sanura sheilds her eyes with his warning and prays he can hang on a little longer.
	ST “Now go!” Sasha calls back to Sanura.
	Dovile (To Sasha) -Mamija always said you were bright.-
	ST (To Dovile) Sasha: -Hah! That’s… whoo…- He pauses, a little dizzily. -Doviluze… are you… can you find your… your way out?-
	Dovile (To Sasha) -I’m safe.-
	ST (To Dovile) -Oh good.- He wades into the shadows, still shining a little even though the worst of the intensity has faded, swinging Devchuska this way and that. Each swing sends splashes of shadow up and back, disappearing into the deeper dark of night. There is no crunch of bone or smash of bodies hitting buildings. But each swing also gets significantly slower, more sluggish, his steps and motions starting to push through the empty air as if it were molasses.
	Dovile Dovile starts picking off shadow-men. She keeps an eye on Sanura, starting with any that head for the less physically capable woman.
	Dovile Dovile’s rifle begins to bark out in a sharp rythum.
	Sanura Sanura rushes after Sasha and rests a hand on his shoulder “Be at peace” she seems to order him before looking around at the dark threat that surrounds them both. He wanted her to leave, but would he have left her? She knows he wouldn’t and she’d be damned if she’d let him down when he was in need. She reaches her free hand to her combs, the gift from her mother. Praying to her as she focuses on the divine warmth she held always at her core. Not a fire that burns through the veins but a warm safe haven of power that would expand from her and surround herself and Sasha before pressing on. The feel warm desert sun whispering over them as scents of home feel them with a sense of safety and well being. Her sheild is visible a moment spreading around her in a dome of golden sand that somehow shimmers even in this inforced darkness. Those who would do them harm cannot remain in the safe haven she has created, she wills them back from herself and her friend, they cannot have him or harm her for that is her decree. [unseen sheild]
	Sanura [stunty?]
	Dovile ((I vote yes.))
	Ken’s Player ((I vote yes))
	Sanura [I’d spend to flare but I’m down to 4 L so can’t afford it.. virtue uh.. Conviction to protect those in need IE Sasha atm?]
	ST (( That works. ))
	Sanura [8]
	Dovile (To Brendan) -When you’re done with your sheep, come back here.-
	ST (To Dovile) Brendan: -Got it.- He pauses, picking up on her “tone.” -How long can you hold out?-
	Dovile (To Brendan) -Don’t know. She has a sheild up, but she is not strong.- Dovile drops him an image of the battle from her point of view. -I just don’t have that many bullets, jo? Maybe Johanna is not busy?-
	Dovile (To Brendan) -Sasha was tranq’ed, no one is hurt yet.-
	Dovile ((Aiming for ones who are most ‘threatening’ to the sheild, or any that she sees who look like they’re figruing out the whole ‘Dur, sniper’ thing.))
	ST (To Dovile) Brendan: -I’m coming back NOW.-
	Dovile (To Brendan) -Eh, I won’t tell the Boss Lady you left your flock if you don’t.- Dovile says, making it clear she doesn’t exactly object to Brendan’s…. shifting of his orders. I mean, it was more a suggestion anyway, riiight?
	Dovile (To Brendan) While Brendan is running toward them, she updates him on the rest of the details.
	ST (To Dovile) -Thank you.- A pause. -She’d kill me. Heh.-
	Dovile (To Brendan) -Only a little.-
	ST Once the hand touches his shoulder Sasha hesitates. But that moment of hesitation is too much. Devchuska’s head slips out of his hand and clinks heavily to the pavement. He reaches to lift her again and then follows — collapsing to his knees and lingering there a little as he fights for consciousness, before toppling entirely. His light fades, giving way once more to nighttime. The shadows surge forth and then are pushed back by some kind of invisible dome. (( Shield has a soak of 5 and 8 health boxes. ))
	Sanura Sanura kneels a moment as well “Thank you, Mother” she murmurs, even if it’s only a breif moment of respite.
	Sanura “Dovile you better be ready for this!” she calls out as she peers into the darkness. “Hug the guy closest to you as tight as you’ve ever hugged anyone” A faint smile turns the edges of her lips as she imagines a bunch of ninja’s just hugging away at each other. She meanwhile bows over Sasha and holds tight praying help arrives fast enough. [Mass Hyp again]
	ST (( Roll away! ))
	Dovile Dovile’s shots continue to ring out, shards of shadows dropping away.
	Sanura [12]
	ST Some shadows pull away at Sanura’s orders. The effect seems to last… for now.
	Dovile Dovile will update Brendan. Or at least show him the hugging.
	ST It doesn’t take long, however, for more shadows to sweep in, closing around the dome. They linger, waiting. Then one slams against the dome, and then another, and another. It begins to buckle under the pressure.
	Dovile ((Assess Health on Sasha.))
	ST Strong heartbeat, but very slow. Almost frightening how slow it is. The strange sedative pulses through him with each beat. It’ll take a while for it to wear off completely — a few hours at least.
	Sanura Sanura looks around them “Go Home” she barks out, still keeping her smaller form protectively over the prone Sasha. [Hard Sell] [-1wp]
	ST (( Man + Command ))
	Sanura [9]
	ST (( MDV of 10. Doesn’t work. ))
	ST (( Are you re-rolling? ))
	Sanura [20]
	ST Once more the shadows pull back. For a short eternity, it seems like they’ll be gone for good. But then they start to surge back, smashing against the shield. It flickers heavily, ready to go out. And then… “LEAVE SASHA ALONE!” The voice resounds through the night, rattling windows as if heavy thunder had struck. Small bits of pavement rubble fly up alongside more shards of shadows as they part, revealing Lena, her brow set heavily in a glare and her fists clenched. Then Brendan steps behind her then past her, smoothly sheathing Fragarach, and charges through the newly made path towards Sanura and Sasha’s fallen form. He doesn’t waste any time stooping and reaching around the big fellow to heave him awkwardly over a shoulder. He then reaches out to Sanura with his free hand. “This way.” The voice is a whisper this time, off to the left. A quick glance will reveal Lena standing at a solid wall with seemingly no entrances or windows, only after what seems like an instant after she was spotted shouting away their enemies a dozen yards away. An urgent, expectant look is on her face.
	Dovile Dovile rifle barks again, the echos ringing around the plaza, and scraps of shadow between Sanura and Lena wither and leak away.
	Dovile (To Brendan) -Your timing is wonderful. Thank Lena for me.-
	ST (To Dovile) Brendan: -Wish I could take credit for the whole timing thing, but she beat me to it. Real smart girl. Why isn’t she on our team yet?-
	Dovile (To Brendan) -She’s not?-
	ST (To Dovile) Brendan: -… Isn’t she a Templar?-
	Dovile (To Brendan) -Yes. Does that matter?-
	ST (To Dovile) Brendan: -It does if Derrick snaps.-
	Dovile (To Brendan) Dovile sends Brendan a mental shrug. -Maybe you are right.- She says, after a few more careful shots. The casings are beginging to make quite a pile by her elbow. -They are not one anymore.- She conveys to him the looks of deep concern that Avlero has been throwing around, and Johanna’s careful discomfort with Derrick’s recent behavior.
	ST (To Dovile) Brendan: -I’m not sure whether to be comforted or on my toes.-
	Sanura Sanura seems to wilt just a moment in releif at the sound of help.. then she realizes it’s Leena and she hesitates a moment but seeing the girl can handle herself. She takes Bren’s hand “She’s going to be alright?” if assured she’d be quick to make a speedy escape.
	ST Brendan pulls Sanura forth towards Lena, a little forcefully if he has to, his pace urgent and perhaps slightly difficult to keep up with. “Honestly… I’d sooner ask that about us than her. She caught me by surprise on my way back here. First good startle I’ve had in a while.” Lena motions for them to hurry up.
	Sanura Sanura goes with quickly then and manages a shakey laugh at Bren. Hurrying as best she’s able. “Good on her then” she murmurs.
	Dovile Dovile continues to give covering fire, shooting stratigically to conserve ammo.
	ST Once they draw close, Lena grabs Sanura’s hand and starts forward, towards the wall… and then through it. She takes them straight through the building, phasing through the walls of various rooms like some kind of collection of dreams or mirages. They make it out to the street on the other side, and then through another building, and then another. Lena’s pace flags a little after the fourth building, but by then the streets are mostly clear. She begins weaving through those, leading them onward.
	Dovile (To Brendan) -Know where you’re going?-
	ST (To Dovile) Brendan: -Man down: hospital.-
	Dovile Dovile sends aknowledgement.
	Dovile Dovile stops firing a few moments later, gathers her brass slithers over to another roof, further away from the plaza. These creatures are shadow biengs, so she takes her time, moving slowly and quietly, eyes peeled. Eventually, confident that no one has seen her, she picks up speed, heading for the hospital.
	Sanura Sanura gives Lena’s hand an encouraging squeeze “Thanks for the save, you were amazing!” she manages to get out despite being winded more than likely.
	ST Lena briefly sends Sanura a glance over her shoulder, but doesn’t have the breath to respond either. Instead, she forges onward, eventually leading them through Templar territory. It’s comforting to step back into someplace where lights still flicker in the windows. It seems the shadows haven’t bothered with the Templars. Not yet anyway. Still, Lena doesn’t slow. Bakersfield Memorial Hospital comes into view a short time later. Only then, when they approach the doors, does the pace slacken and Lena’s quickened gasps of breath can be heard.
	ST (To Dovile) Her heartbeat pounds, so small and so fluttery, like a bird’s.
	Sanura Sanura is panting as well but holds her arms out. “Come on let’s follow the boys and see them wake Sasha up ok?” she urges.
	ST Lena nods, unable to speak.
	Sanura Sanura trails after Brendan hoping Sasha is as easily healed as she imagines
	Dovile After a time, a rather long time, Dovile arrives. She stays outside for a time, still on the rooftops, watching for shadow-men, or anything else.
	Sanura Worried about the contents of those darts she strives not to let it show.
	ST Hurry up and wait. The theme of the ER. Sasha’s life isn’t in immediate danger, so, for a time, they’re relegated to the waiting room. It’s almost funny, how Brendan has to prop Sasha up in a chair, and hold him there while he slumps to one side. A few hours later and two attendants come out with a wheeled stretcher. It takes a call for two more (as they decline Brendan’s help) before they’re able to move the sheer dead weight. Just a half-hour later and they’re allowed into his room. Susan will be there soon, to give her diagnosis. Meanwhile, during the waiting, a nurse breaks several of her needles trying to take his blood, stifling curses. It takes five needles before she gives up entirely and leaves.
	Dovile After a time, satisfied that they weren’t followed and that there isn’t going to be an immedaint counter attack, Dovile slips down from the roof, through a handy window, and down the hallways.
	Dovile A few moments later she slips silently into the room, cool gaze going immedently to Lena. She nods, deeply. “спаси—-” she starts, before remembering Sanura’s presense. “Thank you.” Her voice is full of respect.
	ST Lena tilts her chin to her chest, her eyes flicking briefly to Sanura. “You’re welcome,” she says, a little shyly.
	Sanura Sanura smiles faintly at the various allowances and steps taken because of Sasha’s abilities. She’d either offer silent comfort to Lena or hold Sasha’s hand while they wait. She looks over to Dovile"You made it back safely" She seems releived. She looks to Brendan and smiles a bit “good thing we’ve got another pack mule around” she tries to make light though she is a bit worried Sasha hasn’t shaken this off yet. “I’d have thought fire and vokda would have burned up whatever that is..” she murmurs with a faint furrowing of her brow.
	Dovile Dovile turns her attention to Sanura and nods. “You weren’t followed.” She says. Then she looks Sasha over, a small frown forming on her face.
	Sanura Sanura nods softly “That’s comforting, thank you” she responds as she squeezes Sasha’s hand. “Come on big guy wake up” she urges quietly.
	Dovile Dovile moves over to the wall and leans against it, facing the door, out of the way of the bed. She watches the door expectantly.
	ST Brendan hesitates, then puts a hand on Sanura’s shoulder. “Still giving orders, huh?” he teases lightly.
	Dovile Dovile looks to Sanura, “Yes. You have orders for me?” Her voice is flat, but not unfriendly. Her hand rests causally on the barrel of the rifle that’s hung over her shoulder.
	Sanura Sanura glances to Bren and laughs a little “More a heart felt request this time” she responds before she looks to Dovile “Not yet.. let’s wait for the doctor then we’ll know.. how.. severe we need be”
	Sanura [because there’s death and then theres what will happen if Sasha is hurt]
	Dovile Dovile raises an eyebrow. “It matters?”
	Sanura Sanura’s jaw clenches and she nods “oh yes”
	Dovile Dovile keeps her gaze on Sanura for a bit, then shrugs and leans back against the wall again.
	ST Lena watches this exchange, and then stares at her hands, which are pressed together between her knees. Soon enough (or perhaps not, depending on those waiting), Susan enters in a full doctor’s outfit. It wasn’t until recently she got at all comfortable with lab coats — she vastly preferred the worn apron that she’d utilized outside Bakersfield. She offers a polite but familiar smile in greeting to all those gathered there, and then turns to the unconscious Sasha, her eyes examining him. “What happened?” she asks, her tone of voice mild though not quite conversational.
	Dovile “Tranq.” Dovile responds immedently. “Five. Shadow-men, MaMa’s.” In similar terse, and to the best of her ability exact, lanugage she discribes Sasha’s symptoms and the time it took him to go down.
	Sanura Sanura steps back to give Susan room, her brow furrowed slightly.
	ST Susan listens while looking over Sasha. Finally, after she rests a hand on his head and on his heart, she regards those who wait. “Well, unless you can find Moe… this is going to have to run its course.” She pauses, thinking. “Maybe even if you could find her… long story short, I’m not entirely sure what it is that’s in him. But I do know that it’s… a lot, and it’s mixed with the same chemicals that make up Rapture. He’ll live —” Susan pauses, then adds, reassuringly, “without a doubt — but judging by the dosage, he’s going to be in for a… well, a rough time after he wakes up.”
	Sanura Sanura looks releived at first .. before loosing a string of curses in several languages.. hopefully none Lena knows. “The b— beastial … woman is going to pay for this” she growls softly half to herself though clearly aware enough of the company not to use a known bad word.
	Dovile Dovile looks to Susan. “Is going to need to be restrained?” she asks calmly.
	Sanura Sanura takes a breath and releases it.. “Is that even possible with him?”
	ST “Can try,” Brendan offers.
	Sanura “I’m imagining tow chains at the very least..” she rubs her brow as a worry occurs to her “How long will he be out of commission..” care for a friend asside he was a damned good asset to the upcoming fight and they needed to know if he wasn’t going to be able to help.
	ST Susan sighs. “Maybe.” With a clinical tone she lists the symptoms of Rapture withdrawal: in the “lows,” aching, sweating, depression, severe nausea and vomiting, lethargy, slowed breathing, lowered body temperature; in the “highs,” insomnia, panic attacks, agitation, maybe hallucinations and paranoid delusions. It’s essentially a crap shoot. “With any luck, his body will clear it out in 24 hours, but it may last longer.”
	Sanura Sanura frowns as she considers “We need Moe.. Sofia .. and if it will help we need Mama alive to ask just what she had them use on Sasha..” the last half put to Susan, “would it help to know more specifically?” Sanura paused a moment “Dovile, when you have a moment after this we should clean up that mess we left at our first meeting..”
	Dovile Dovile pushes herself off the wall. “They vanish when He rises. You want them out of the square?”
	Sanura Sanura smiles a little, it doesn’t reach her eyes and she seems sort of sad to say it “More so I mean Ox.. can’t have him seaking a rematch can we?”
	Dovile Dovile pauses a moment, then shrugs. “Okay. You need Brendan? Ox is too big for carrying.”
	ST “Hee haw,” Brendan says wryly.
	Dovile Dovile leans over to pat him companionably on the head.
	Sanura Sanura smiles a little and glances to Brendan “I always need him. You can borrow him for a while” She squeezes his shoulder. To Dovile. “Have a good hunt but make sure he won’t be around to hurt anyone else when you’re done”
	Dovile Dovile frowns, but Sasha isn’t around to explain what she means, so she tries anyway.. “I am, dry.” She tries. “Not tired, but maybe.” She holds out a hand and tips it back and forth. “Cannot heal. Cannot see as well.” She looks to Susan, asking for words.
	Sanura She nods "Oh right well then.. " considering " he’ll need to be restrained as well.. perhaps Moe can sedate him, if we can find her that is.."
	ST Brendan looks over at Sanura, then looks away, scratching his slightly stubbly jaw to ease some of the sudden sentiment that blasted away his prior humor.
	Sanura She smiles lightly “Ox will be a good judge of what sort of restraint we might need… we can hold him till you’re in tip top shape I think?” to Susan, “have anything to put a guy like that down for a few days?”
	Dovile Dovile sighs. “Let me deal with him tonight.”
	ST Susan’s expression hardens. “Unless you want him to heal up, I refuse to waste hospital resources on petty vengeance.”
	Sanura Sanura frowns "I don’t want to risk you if you’re not feeling up to it.. " and at Susan’s words Sanura does have the grace to look chastised. “That’s fair.. though I like to consider it more justice” she murmurs as she rubs her brow. “If you’re up to it go end him, quick as you can.. then get some rest” she smirks faintly then “That’s an order” the words said with little starch in them.
	Dovile “Very well.” Dovile says. She meets Susan’s eyes and gives her a slight nod, and gives Lena another nod as she passes into the hall.
	ST Brendan exits not long after her, silent and focused. Susan watches them go then tilts her head to Sanura. “Well, if there’s no other questions, I really should be moving on to my next patient.” Lena, meanwhile, throughout this exchange, continues to stare at her hands, peeking at Sasha, Dovile, and Sanura in turns.
	Sanura Sanura nods her head slightly to Susan "thanks.. " she paused “keep up the good work” she encourages quietly before looking to Lena and Sasha in turn. Perching on the edge of Sasha’s bed she takes a breath and needs a few minutes to collect herself a few moments of peace with no life or death decisions to make. She’d pat a place next to her, next to Sasha, giving Lena a hand up if needed. “Let’s keep him company a few minutes, what do you say?” she murmurs.
	ST Lena hesitates for a long moment, not moving, then speaks up. “Why do you want Dovile to kill the Ox?”
	Sanura Sanura wince at the plainly put question and then sighs “I.. I don’t -want- Dovile to kill anyone.. not really.. but he’s a danger. If we let him live then.. he’ll continue to do all manner of horrible things.. and we can’t risk all of that or his helping the army when they arrive.” She pauses “If we could say imprison him that’d be more … moral solution but I don’t think he can be held by a prison now.. he’s just to damaged and dangerous to everyone else..” She wouldn’t get into the reasons she might seek a more brutal death, Lena may well have heard of or seen such things but Sanura wouldn’t bring them up.
	ST One corner of Lena’s mouth pushes slightly as her gaze drops. “Derrick says if you’re feeling ashamed about it then it’s not the right choice,” she mumbles.
	Sanura Sanura shakes her head “I don’t feel ashamed.. I regret that such things are a necessity. I wish we had other ways to handle this.” She pauses and rises “I suppose if Derrick is so terribly wise then I should consult with him” she smiles “That’s probably a good idea actually.. do you know where that ball of sunshine is to be found?”
	ST Lena looks up, intent. “If you aren’t ashamed of it, then why didn’t you just say, ‘Hey, Dovile, go shoot the Ox in the head pretty please?’” Lena asks sharply. But then she pulls back, looking away. “It doesn’t matter now, I guess.”
	Sanura Sanura smiles faintly “So.. you’re Dovile’s little sister right?” she chuckles a little bit and shakes her head. “I have a way of speaking that I prefer and it’s very different from the plain speach others like. I’m sorry if you don’t like it but well it’s one of the things that make me .. me and I rather like myself so that’s that.” she rises. “I’ve got to go find Moe and then Derrick and might well be glared unto death” She sighs “so I’ll have to say adieu for now and should Derrick end me it was nice to know you Lena and thanks for saving my neck. If you sit with Sasha then please be wary if he should start to stir”
	Dovile Agenda still around: 1. Find Moe, see if she can assist with Sasha 2. MaMa. 3. Get Bren to question the disciple’s body for us.
	Dovile And then a host of things we ‘want done in the next two weeks’
	Dovile Floating Agneda Items which May Come UP: 1.Get responses from Morpheus and make decisions about Derrick 2. Angie is up to something, Moe is up to something 3.Johanna’s Science in a few days on MaMa’s vial 4.Aida is watching MaMa
	Dovile So, Megs, can the amoprhes and non-embodied “we” find Moe?
	ST It’s not hard to find Moe at all. Is that your current course of action?
	Sanura that’s the start
	Dovile Yus. When the disembodied we find Moe, is she busy/ can she help/ she is updated.
	ST Moe can be found at… Dis, of all places. It’s been cleaned up, reopened, redecorated… and it’s hopping. Though some smoke spills from behind the massive block letters, it’s not as much as it once was. Inside, there are flames, yes, but there’s also waterfalls, fountains, and even an aquarium or two (in a safe space, away from the drunkards); lit brilliantly by the multicolored fires that lick through glass tubes woven carefully throughout. Despite the impending threat, it seems like half of the ENZ is in attendance for its grand reopening ceremony, none wearing yellow or purple. In the center of it all is Moe, hosting the party of a lifetime. She’s set a drop through the middle of the pond, which promises to ripple and expand. She was beautiful before, but now she’s utterly otherworldly, the colors playing off her radiant skin, making them seem like they truly belong, and the fire sending streaks of colors through her brilliant red hair, matching harmoniously with its own shine. She walks casually with the same grace a master ballerina dances after years of practice, and dances as gracefully as a swan’s swooping wings beat, feathers rippling through the air, as it slides smoothly onto the water. Her smile and smoldering eyes, on the other hand, are enough melt just about anyone. Sasha’s drugged? Well, that’s one thing she knows how to handle all too well. With a few words and languid motions of her hand, bouncers move and more people step forth to take temporary charge. Then she follows Sanura back to the hospital.
	Sanura Sanura is more than impressed and while still fretful over everything she manages to offer sincere compliments and congratulations on not only Moe’s new place but her own glorious appearance and vitality. She also fills Moe in on the whole of the situation at hand on their way on back.
	Dovile Dovile gives Moe a look as she walks in the room, quirking up an eyebrow. “You are lovely.” She says, from the wall where she is leaning, still smelling of tobacco smoke, next to Lena’s chair.
	ST At the compliment, Moe pauses briefly — after all, though she’s been hearing it all night and she knows it to be true, it’s something very different if Dovile felt compelled to speak — and then gives Dovile a brilliant, genuine grin. “Thank you!” She pauses, composing herself a little. “Oh, there you go with the flattery, you silver-tongued devil, you. Don’t go breaking my heart now.” She winks, and then pulls back some on the humor, ready to get down to healing Sasha.
	Dovile Dovile snorts.
	Sanura Sanura smirks softly at Moe and Dovile’s exchange. She pauses a moment “Moe.. before you have at it.. will he be manageable.. I mean the withdraw for what this is supposed to be… we’ve been warned it’s pretty bad..”
	ST Upon looking over Sasha, Moe tosses her hair back briefly, sending those glass earrings flying again. She looks back to Sanura and smiles, a tinge smugly. “Don’t worry. It won’t be a problem. There are a few tricks up my sleeve.” She then walks over to Sasha, leaning over him to have a closer look. “You, my friend, are wasted,” she states to no one in particular. Her hair brushes over him, light like feathers. One hand rests at his wrists and the other on his heart. His veins light and grow orange underneath Moe’s hands, spreading through his circulation. Light wisps of smoke rise from the hospital bed. Then, once the orange glow lights him up entirely, she releases his wrist and heart, and places both hands on his head. There’s a brief blue glow, and then the orange glow begins to fade, from the top to the bottom. The smoking stops. Once the last of him has cooled, he opens his eyes, brightens, does a double-take, and sits up. “Moe!” he exclaims. “Wow! You’re… absolutely lovely.” She grins. “Oh, please, Sasha. You’re embarrassing me. A simple ‘thank you’ would’ve sufficed.” Her tone is more amused than embarrassed. (( Detoxify: That was a 26, which beats the 24 hours of recovery remaining. ))
	Sanura Sanura smiles at Moe’s expression and watches with releived joy as it works and leaves Sasha well and hearty.. and fair in his right mind at that! “Oh well done Moe well done” she whispers as she seems to relax by a great bit. A little shaken actually as she’d been afraid that Sasha had been in more danger than Susan had admited, that in staying to try to protect her escape he could have hurt himself more. She smiles a bit shakily and covers her eyes a moment. In this case it was surely guilt that had fueled some of her worry. “Sasha don’t you scare us like that again or I’ll have you lashed do you hear?”
	Dovile “How come you get to smoke in the hospital?” Dovile asks Moe drily, before quieting down for Sanura.
	ST Moe smirks. “Sorry, Dovile. I can’t help it. I was born this way. Every time I enter a room the temperature goes up.” She places the back of a dramatic hand against her forehead. “It’s a true curse.” Her smirk becomes a grin. Sasha looks over to Sanura, smiles, and waggles a finger. “Hey now, I told you not to worry about me.” His eyes then fall on Lena, who has said nothing thus far. “You too?” he asks, gently. “You’ve must’ve been spending a lot more quality time with Doviluze lately. Picking up all her habits.” He begins to slide out of the hospital bed, and she looks up at him. “The price for worrying is hugs, you know. Can’t worry until you pay your hug fee.” Lena looks away but rises and begins to wander over. But she can’t keep herself comported for very long. Her walk becomes a run and she collides with Sasha. “You get hurt too much,” she mumbles into his chest. “Ah, but I wasn’t hurt this time. Just drugged.”
	Dovile Dovile snorts at Moe and then sits down on the empty space where Sasha had been lying.
	Sanura Sanura scoffs “if you want friends that don’t worry you’ll need a new set sir” she murmurs as she looks to Dovile and Sasha and Lena a feeling that perhaps Dovile might need a moment with her brother after the scare. “Moe, you’re a life saver dear, thank you. Come walk with me a bit, I’d love to hear how you managed to get Dis back up and running.. and if you’ve any ideas for our current.. issues” she murmurs.
	ST “Wait!” Sasha calls to her. “You can’t get away with not paying your hug fee. That’s hardly fair.”
	Sanura Sanura pauses and gives a laugh before dashing over happily to give him a tight hug. “Thank the Gods you’re alright Sasha” she kisses his cheek. “and don’t you tell me to run away next time, I wouldn’t leave you behind you should know!” another buss to his cheek before she chuckles “I think I get extra worry for that eh?” that said she would take her leave with Moe.
	ST Okay.
	ST I think I’m going to do the sum-up thing for Moe.
	ST After the tengu’s threat was issued to Bakersfield, Moe immediately went out and gathered up all the former Dis employees (including Jeff and Abel) and spurred them to clean up and renovate Dis. She then went around town all day, getting people hyped for the grand reopening party. They managed to fix it up just in time to open and let everyone in. It was easy, really. What specifically are you asking Moe re: current issues?
	Sanura Like does she think any of the party goers might have any clues to what’s going on any of it, has she heard any rumors yet about the Ox going down, might she be able to ‘drug’ Mama so she can be questioned for information.. erm I think that was it]
	ST 1: No rumors yet. Although Moe offers to spread said rumors around when she returns to Dis. 2: Moe says that drugging MaMa is certainly something she can do, but have you tried sitting down and talking with her first? After all, it’s only polite to have a conversation before you decide to roofie someone. (/sarcasm)
	Sanura Sanura chuckles a little “Oh well I’ll gladly have a tea service ready and tie her with silk scarves first ..but I fear stronger measures -will- be needed” she smiles and squeezes Moe’s hand. “I’m quite proud of what you’ve done at Dis.. my boys doubted it could be brougth back and there you went just as perfect and quick. Really well done” she murmurs “If you hear anything or need us at all you get in contact right away alright, I know you’ll be terribly busy but don’t forget us non club kids now” she teases gently. Allowing Moe to head off if she’d like or go back to visit Sasha. Though if she does go back to Dis she’s asked to pinch Abel on the rump for Sanura.

The Ox’s Execution

	Dovile Okay, so Dovile is going to go to get Ox with Brendan. Since they’re going by there, Dovile will also stop in and quietly update Carmen and Lance on the whole Sasha situation. This will including having a conversation with Lance about Sanura’s order to kill Ox, and Dovile’s frank aknowledgement that if Ox has to go tonight, there’s really not going to be a contest, since she’s going to have to kill him instead of letting him go. Even if she heals him up first as best she can. Which she is willing to do. If they are inturrupted before then, then obviously this doesn’t happen.
	Dovile There will be some frustrated commentary to Sasha about this, and (depending on how far into Ox’s territory Lance has gone) a suprised, but rather terse, note that hey look, our coins are working even here. It must be the wind.
	ST Lance, already having been faced with a bunch of decisions to make in the context of a leadership role, is clearly feeling a little overwhelmed. He insists very firmly that the Ox be offered a chance to pull himself out of his humiliation by his own boostraps, to redeem himself at least in his own eyes. Then he pulls back as he realizes that Dovile’s caught in the middle, clenching his jaw tightly. He very reluctantly decides to let Dovile do what she’ll do, with the intention of having words with Sanura about it later. (( He’s spending that WP, for Dovile’s sake. Because he’s a good cub. ))
	Dovile Dovile gives Lance an incredibly apprecative look, as well as some deep sympathy for his own situation.
	Dovile Then she and Bren… take the Ox somewhere quiet and far away. They can dump the body outside or Bren can do his magic to dispose of the body. We’ll do his magic if he cares, but otherwise take the body outside the walls (without fighting anything) and put it somewhere sort of out of the way. With dignity, if they can manage it.
	Dovile Crickets. The air was cold in the lungs, but warm on the hands, the feet, the face. Heat wafts off of the baked desert dirt, even at this hour. Brendan’s heart beat was steady, like his breathing. Occasionally he had to shift his balance. Ox wasn’t so much heavy for him as awkward, too tall and shaped like a rectangle. Dovile stepped back out of the shadowed alcove made of fallen cement and re-bar. -Here.- She thought quietly. Brendan slipped over, foot steps solemn. No titan spawn were in sight, or sound, but it never hurt to be cautious. Besides, the situation seemed to call for some formality. Brendan laid the huge man down in the dark, sheltered spot. Ox groaned slightly, still unconscious from his wounds. The smell of his blood, not quite human anymore, wafted up. He was soaked in sweat too, a cold, hard sweat filled with pain. It would bring the demons. There was no avoiding that. Dovile felt a small frown creep onto her face as Brendan stepped back. They shared a look, his uncomfortable, hers… dark. Blank. Dovile closed her eyes for just a moment, trying to find words for her brother. She couldn’t. Her heart was full of dark things, things she normally left in her dreams. Memories crawled over it like maggots. -Sasha, I…- She stopped, stuck. Dovile passed her heart to her brother. He didn’t respond, of course. Hopefully he wouldn’t get nightmares.
	Dovile A cricket near by burst into a sudden song, trilling out. A warning, perhaps. Brendan shook his head and left the little alcove. -I’ll keep watch.- His voice whispered in her mind. Dovile nodded at his back, and then knelt down at Ox’s head. His heart was beating steadily. Too slow, but steady. He’d broken several ribs, but his breathing was unobstructed. The muscles in his stomach, chest and neck were all in major trouble, and he had at least a minor concision. He wasn’t doing well, but given time and attention he would have recovered to full strength. Dovile pulled out her pistol and cocked it, hearing the soft clink of the bullet going into the chamber. Then she put it down, small thumps in the quiet rhythm of the cricket’s symphony. It went against her instincts, but she needed her hands. Dovile picked up the huge man’s shoulders, still bare, and lifted him gently into a sitting position. Even slumped and sitting he towered over her. It was an unwieldy process. Eventually she got him up; on her knees, raised up, left arm wrapped under his left arm and pressed into his chest he was nearly stable. He couldn’t be standing when he died. But he could at least be sitting up. She picked up the pistol in one hand, the worn plastic still warm from being close to her body. Ox slumped forward slightly as she shifted, but he made no noise. It wasn’t right, firing a pistol with one hand. But her wrists were strong, and there were exceptions to every rule. She straightened the huge man back up and rested the barrel of the pistol against the base of his skull, angled upward. Dovile breathed in, a habit made ritual, then out. The gunshot was almost a bang, muffled by the weight of the young man’s head, echoing oddly in the ramshackle concert shelter. His heart screamed, then slowed. The beat drained away, loud in the sudden, sharp silence. Dovile laid him down gently, slipped her pistol away, crossed his arms neatly across his chest. The blood was pooling under his neck, and running slowly down the top of his forehead. The smell was thick, swelling as the blood soaked into the dry concrete. Time to go. Kurt Scruggs’ heart was silent.
	Dovile Some time later, Dovile sits on top of the shop, in the dark. -Had to find a match, Sasha. You know how hard that is?- The end of the cigarette brightens as she sucks in, red ember light growing strong and dying. She watches the streets and the sky, fingers moving confidently through the ritual cleaning without her. The night has grown cold, the heat fleeing after Svarovitch. Still, the crickets are blaring away, and the distant city noise is, as every, present. The fighting is lessened now, although the occasional distant scream still strips away the peace of the night. -Gods, I wish they would stop screaming.- She finishes the rifle and does the pistol, lighting her third cigarette. The motion is clumsy, unpracticed. It’s been a long time since she had to light her own. But Angie is gone, and Sasha is drugged. Soon the pistol is clean as well. She sits for a moment, watching the smoke rise to the sky. Then she frowns. It’s not working. There are too many parts of the ritual missing. -Okay, I give up. I’m going to come sit with you. Is there smoking place over there?- At least the guns were clean.

A Moment With Family

	ST -She’s out of the room. You can pay your hug fee now, if you like.-
	Dovile Dovile gives her brother a half smile. -I was good. Hardly worried at all.-
	Dovile None the less, she leans over and hugs him.
	Dovile -You ready to hear about your evening?-
	ST -Well, yes, I believe you. But you’ve built up quite a bit of interest over the years.- He pauses. -Yes, what did I lose when I snoozed?-
	Dovile Dovile gives him the evening, in complete detail. She doesn’t drop it all at once, and probably they stop to discuss it as they go along.
	ST -Hm… you have a point. Do you think maybe there was some kind of mistake? That maybe Svantovit is her father, instead of Stribog?-
	Dovile -Ha!-
	Dovile -No.-
	Dovile -He is her great-uncle. That’s close enough. -
	ST Throughout all this, Lena sits quietly at the foot of the hospital bed, staring at her hands. Then she speaks up. “I can hear you guys.” She pauses. “That’s how I knew.”
	Dovile Dovile falls silent. She looks at her brother. She looks at her cousin. She looks at the celling. She reaches for a ciggarette, takes her hand away from her pocket (they are inside, after all), and then grunts. -Makes sense.- She’s feeling and thinking a lot of things, which she’s not sure she’s comfortable sharing. Dovile looks to her brother, waiting.
	ST Sasha looks at her, then looks down, his brow furrowed. There was a lot of information shared there, very personal information. It certainly changed a lot. And how long had this been going on? If she was able to hear it this whole time… He glances over at Dovile, to assess her reaction, only to find that she was assessing his. Then he looks down again. “I… ah…” He pauses, then looks to Lena. “Do you…” He’s unable to find the words for a moment. “I hope you don’t feel like we were hiding anything from you, Yesen. We never intended to.” He pauses once more. That wasn’t quite true. “Well… not for long, anyway.” Lena looks up at Sasha. “You’re not… you’re not mad at me? For… eavesdropping?” Sasha blinks a couple times. “No, of course not. Family shares, right?” He glances at Dovile briefly, trying to see if this as an appropriate time to speak for her. Lena looks down again. “Oh.”
	Dovile Dovile nods. -Jo. At least… most family.- She gives Lena a hesitant half smile and reaches for her bag of ciggarettes to offer Lena one. Alas, they are still inside.
	ST Lena looks up at Dovile. Then she scoots closer in on the hospital bed and leans a little, on both of them at once. “Okay. I’ll… I’ll try to share too.”

Dawn Breaks

	Sanura Sanura tasked Crook with finding an offering and went to her shop to gather the tools she’d need for the ceremony. She would need a great many things to mummify the bird of pray she would send on to Rah. Bandages treated in herbs, needle and thread, a sharp blade, a jar to hold the entrails. Sacred herbs and sawdust to fill the cavity. She picks up a bottle of perfume she’d purchased from one of the local vendors, it wasn’t the top shelf stuff she would usually give her mother but it was certainly a luxury item these days and she knew it would be seen as a worthy offering. Flowers were picked from the gazebo, she’d recently been drunk at. She smiles at the memory as she returns to the shop and climbs up the ladder to the roof. The sun beginning to chase back the night. Crook returns not long after she’s set up the small wooden altar. He for once isn’t a ball of feline snark and sets the offering down carefully, seems he’d caught it perfectly, the neck snapped but not having rent the flesh to badly. She glances to him and nods her head. “Thank you” she intones to the feline before she lifts the blade she would use. “I ask the blessings of the gods on this ceremony of offering and worship. I humbly seek the guidance of the creator and all seeing Creator.” Crook sits at her side while she begins the grusome work of slicing and cleaning the hawk. She’d put the entrails in vodka in a jar and seal it tightly. The bird would then be cleaned carefully with scented water and herbs and sawdust pushed into the opening. As she works she sings softly, the words of the hymn something only guessed at by the previous worlds anthropologists. As she starts to wrap the hawk in the linens she looks up at the rising sun. “Grandfather Ra, Creator of all, Defence against Apep and his chaos I ask that you bless and guide me in the coming days to do as is your will and to keep the citizens safe from the dark forces and chaotic extremes that plague us and threaten the order and sweetness that are to be found in this city.” wrapping the bird carefully as she speaks. “We send this bird unto you to aid in your defence of us in the spirit realm and pray that he serves you well and lends you his strength in our stead.” She’d resume the soft singing as she finishes wrapping the bandages. Later once she was done she would find a pleasant clean place in the sand to bury her offering to be dried by the sun and given eternal life. She then would clean the altar and set upon it the items pleasing to her mother. Perfume, flowers and several of the rings made by Dovile. [paid for of course!] This offering is less .. structured and formal. “Mother, Bastet, Guardian I come to you this morning with weakness and seek your strength. I thank you mother for the gift of my brother Senbast, for the faithfulness of my Guardian, I pray that I can protect these people with all the ferocity and heart that you would show. She takes the perfume and flowers placing them in a box along with the rings. She would commit them to flames to send them into the next world to please her mother and let her know that her daughter thought of her and wished her well.
	Sanura Sanura rose and gathered all these things, she would return her more perminant items of worship to a safe place in the shop the others would be taken to the proper places for their final tributes. The Hawk burried and the box burned. She’d say another prayer then for the safety of her mother and the rest of the diety who were missing before taking a cleansing breath and smiling as she glances to Crook. “Thank you for your help, do you want to come nap with me?” she questions. She’d go to lay down for a bit regardless.. but despite feeling better after her worship she still wasn’t able to rest. Rising she paces a little before changing her clothes and heading to Dis, maybe dancing a while would tire her out a enough .. if worse came to worse maybe Moe would knock her out, she muses with a faint smirk. Boots click on the hard stone outside the shop and she’d invite crook along should he wish to come.
	ST During the ritual, Crook sits and watches, sentry and observer and perhaps even worshiper all in one. His respectful silence and stillness persist even throughout the cleanup process. He agrees to nap with Sanura — only to become disgruntled when, (it seems like) mere moments later, she rises to go elsewhere. He, of course, wordlessly accompanies her. He is, after all, a sacred guardian.
	Sanura Sanura smiles faintly at his discomfiture at her sudden arising. “I’m sorry I just can’t be still right now” She decides then to put a warning line around the shop, the most important people in her world were staying her now and she needed to know if they were in danger. She walks around the building laying a line with her combs, good thing they’re not mortal or they’d be scratched all to hell by now. A dome of shimmering golden tinged sand would appear around the building and then fall with a rush that sounds like water before disipating into nothingness. “Mother, Sekmet, Rah those who see all and protect, tell me if any who mean harm to those who are mine cross my barrier so I may bring to them my protection.”
	ST To Sanura’s eyes, the line glows briefly as her combs pass and then settle into quiet invisibility. Dawn has only just broken as Sanura finds herself at Dis, the sky slowly lightening throughout the hour or so’s journey by foot. The fires behind the DIS sign are stilled (but only just, as the lingering smoke drifts and weaves lazily around the letters) — the night club closes not long before sunrise. Regardless, there’s a sense of frenetic energy about the building which should be growing dormant. A commotion is going on within, one which sends Crook’s tufted ears flicking forward intently.
	Sanura Sanura frowns at the feel of her own ‘fur’ standing on end. She signals to Crook to take the high road so to speak, trusting he can get in through the roof, he’s a clever kitty after all. Her own steps resume their stride though with a greater sense of purpose as she worries for her family, many of whom could probably be found here at one time or another. She’d try the door and if it’s open still let herself in. Otherwise banging would ensue.
	ST Crook flicks his tail in confirmation and slips away. Jeff and Abel prove to be present at the front door, ushering the last of the slightly bewildered and curious guests out with hurried politeness (well, politeness as far as Jeff is concerned). “Holy shit, your timing’s fucking flawless,” Jeff marvels as he turns to one side to allow Sanura past him through the door. Abel backs this up with a wide-eyed nod.
	Sanura Sanura arches a brow “How so?” she questions with a faint frown. “Am I needed?” concern in her tone as she looks from one to the other.
	ST “I have no fuckin’ idea, dude — first it was, like, crazy busy and the place was hoppin’, and then all of the sudden MaMa comes with a whole fuckin’ army and says she wants to talk to Moe so I get Moe and she told me to stay inside and so I waited and then, all of the sudden there’s a bunch of Stampede — sorry, Pack — assholes and shadow-fucks on our side now I guess? and Moe and Carmen just carried Lance inside — shit, he is FUCKED UP — and then they told me to get people out…” He shakes his head. “Sheeeeit, I don’t fuckin’ know, but it’s gotten real fuckin’ exciting around here.”
	Sanura Sanura’s eyes widen at the information given. “Keep working boys, stay on guard” she murmurs as she heads inside as fast as short limbs, cats grace, and booted feet will take her. “Moe, Carmen?” she calls out searching the building with her eyes as she steps around a couple of straglers.
	ST Dis is not as full as it was previously, but it’s a lot busier than one would expect for a place that’s supposed to be closed. Yellow-clad men mill about and shadows flit around in the darkened corners of the place, hardly visible in the shadows that precede daylight and the shuttered windows of the building. “Clear off those tables and put them together,” It’s Carmen, her words steady and commanding, with an underlying sharp edge. After a pause of hesitation, “Now.” The lone word is forbidding. The multi-tonal clink of glasses filled with various levels of liquid, scrape of moving tables, the drag of a heavy form across a surface. The heart of the commotion is not far — as Sanura breaks through the crowd, she’ll see Moe pulling Lance to lay outstretched onto two tables that are crammed together, with Carmen standing over him. The yellow-clad men crowd around, clamoring to see what’s going on. Lance himself looks like someone took an aluminum baseball bat to his body — ugly, deep-looking bruises cover him face downward, and blood dribbles from his nose and his lips.
	ST (At least, from what Sanura can see, before the crowd of Pack members closes around him.)
	Sanura Sanura is releived to hear Carmen, firm in control.. that meant there was work to be done and -that- was reassuring. She’d come up to the backs of the outer circle. “Let me pass” she’d intone loud enough to be heard but not with any especial tone of authority for the moment.. if they don’t comply then greater volume and attutitude will be applied.
	ST Though at first the Pack ignores Sanura, her strength of presence eventually gives them pause. They part slowly, allowing Sanura through. “Hey! You guys ever heard of giving someone air?” Moe says sharply as Sanura attempts to makes her way through. “C’mon, stand back!” “Why the fuck should we listen to any of you?” asks one of the Pack members. Carmen makes a noise of frustration. “Because A) we know what the fuck we’re doing and B) Moe here is mi manita and Sanura is mi bruja. They say something, you fucking listen, got it?” The Pack member hesitates, clearly not used to being spoken to in such a fashion (at least not by a woman), then reluctantly steps back, motioning the others away. This makes it a lot easier for Sanura to make her way through.
	Sanura Sanura smirks faintly at the girls a sense of pride filling her even though she’d had little to do with their upbringing. Her smile fades though when she gets a better look at Lance. “Oh Gods.. what can I do?” she questions of the two other women. The pack around them easily forgotten in the concern for the young man laid low by violence.
	ST Moe’s eyes flick over him expertly, then look to Carmen. “That’s a damn good question.” She tilts her head. “I can speed his healing, but that won’t do much good right now, and Susan’s a good hour, hour and a half’s walk away.” Carmen doesn’t take her eyes off of Lance, but she puts a hand up to forestall Moe and Sanura. “Just… let me think.” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “Gods, I’m so… so enjuto.” She takes another couple of breaths, then opens her eyes. “Sanura, Moe… one of you… towel, please. Clean.” A pause. “Make that two. And a glass of water and an empty glass.” She slips her hand to one side of her and pulls out her black, oily-looking knife. “Alejo…” She pauses, then amends herself. “Tlilocelotlpilli. I trade you my blood for his.” Her words are in Spanish. “Please… accept my offering. Tlazolteotl… wherever… whoever you are… I have filth, secrets standing on my tongue. If I am worthy, if my heart is true, please forgive me and… please — I beg you — give me the power to heal my husband.” She takes a deep breath and draws her tongue across the knife’s edge. Then she brings the flat of her blooded knife to Lance’s forehead, and with her free hand, steadied by conviction, she cups some blood in her fingers and drips it on his lips. Then she presses her bloody hand on his chest. (( Succeeded her Conviction roll to use Obsidian Mutilation and now manifesting Heal/Infect for the first time, and channelling Conviction. ))
	Sanura [Freaking awesome!]
	ST (( 13 Bashing damage healed. That’s all the Bashing he sustained. There’s still a few Lethal damage left on him, but he’s in good shape now. ))
	Sanura Sanura runs over to the bar and with feline grace vaults it to snag a pitcher and fill it with clean water. She’d return post haste though circling the bar with the pitcher in hand. She’d trust Moe to find -clean- towels in the bar. She adds her own silent prayers to her diety for the healing of Carmens love and a brave warrior in her company. She’d watch in amazement as Carmen does something.. new. “When did you learn that?!” she questions surprised and so very releived to see Lance improve before their eyes.
	ST Moe doesn’t waste any time, subconsciously picking up on Sanura’s cue and heading for the towels while she heads for the water. The deep, nasty looking bruises fade from black to purple to blue to green to yellow and finally disappear, as if being sapped by each heartbeat. “Holy fuck,” marvels the belligerent Pack member, a sentiment that’s echoed in the gasps and similar exclamations of the others all around. As Sanura asks her question, Carmen gives her a Really? kind of look, blood dripping freely from her mouth down her chin, some drops staining her clothing. She motions for Moe to bring her one of the towels. Almost as soon as she sticks her hand out a towel is presented to her, and she presses it tightly against her mouth. Lance slowly awakens, licking his lips, and then furrowing his brow. After a moment he shoots upright, tense and ready to fight. Then he looks around, his eyes darting. Moe steps forward into Lance’s line of sight, picking up the slack. “Lance, everything’s fine, everyone’s safe.” Moe puts forth her presence, making her voice a little more theatrically resonant. “We emerged victorious through the sea of darkness, drawing away some shadows to fight alongside us and your fearless wife called upon the heavens themselves with an offering of pain and blood to ease the vast number of wounds to which you so heroically, reluctantly succumbed.” This doesn’t make him relax entirely, but he at least drops to wary alertness. “That’s the good news. The bad news…” Moe looks around before leaning in and murmuring, “You won’t be getting head for a while. So sorry.” Lance looks utterly taken aback and a little horrified. Carmen whaps Moe upside the head with the back of her knife-hand. “Ow!” Moe closes an eye in a wince and steps away out of Carmen’s reach. “I definitely deserved that. But I couldn’t keep that one to myself! And did you see the look on his face? Perfect!” Lance moves to Carmen, bringing his hands up to her towel, but hesitates. Carmen gives him a look and a little shake of her head, pushing a wan, reassuring smile around the wadded cloth. His hands drop, and he looks between Moe and Sanura. “What the hell happened? In real words this time.”
	Sanura Sanura smirks a little “That was one hell of a sacrifice.. Carmen not able to talk.. Ay dios mio, the try apocolyps is upon us.” She teases before she chuckles at Moe’s joke and then listens with a smile to the well told explination. “You fought well.. got the shit kicked out of you.. a few of the bad guys joined our side.. and Carmen cut her tongue open to keep you from taking a dirt nap” She tries to put it susicntly and bluntly. “Your wife is freaking amazing” she grins and looks around them at the Pack. “You do need to teach your pups how to heel to authority faster though” she notes with a glower at any of them who look even the least bit.. fiesty.
	ST Every last one of the Pack is wide-eyed with awe, the blood drained from their faces. Moe examines them, then a smug smile spreads across her face. She flicks her hair back. Carmen gives Sanura a look like, Ha ha, very funny, and Lance relaxes a little more at the plain speech, turning to Carmen. “Mi cielo…” he says, his words drifting off. Then he searches around with his gaze, as if something around would provide him with something to help. “Fuck. Do we have any… ice or something?” He begins to visibly panic a little as he can’t think of what to do. “Shit… I’m such a dumbass, I should’ve played it smarter… fuck!” He pauses, knocking over a table as he slips off. “FUCK!” He stops as he realizes that it’s just a table, then preses his palms against his head in an attempt to concentrate. “Okay, think! Bandages! No, you retard, you don’t bandage a tongue.” He pauses. “Stitches. I know how to sew, kinda.” Another pause. “No, I’ll just… fuck it up!” He begins to pace around, his panic growing. Carmen gives Moe and Sanura a look like Somebody please calm him down, PLEASE.
	Sanura Sanura walks over to Lance and grabs him by the shoulders. "Lance.. she’s fine.. calm down.. " Squeezing his shoulders. “She was way more in cool when you were in trouble let me tell you” she’d then describe the scene to him in plain words. “So.. as the Alpha male you seriously have to do better” she gives him a light swat upside the head. [also using calm the savage if he doesn’t calm.. ]
	ST Moe is too busy trying not to laugh too loud at this display. Lance gives Sanura a wild-eyed look and motions vehemently to Carmen. “Look at all that blood!” To be fair, the once-white towel is quickly turning mostly dark red. “She’ll bleed out!” His expression drops suddenly. “The baby,” he breathes in utter horror. He grabs one of the Pack by the collar, yanking him close. “Get Susan, NOW.” “Uh-uh!” Carmen says, her voice muffled through the towel. “Translation: no, do not get Susan,” Moe says. “Better idea: one of you grab your esteemed Wolf a bottle of vodka. Top shelf.” The released Pack member scrambles away to the bar. “Wha… ah?” Lance furrows his brow. “This is not a — fucking joke, Moe! Carmen could die!” Carmen presses the back of her knife hand to the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
	Sanura Sanura frowns “Lance.. it won’t.. count.. if she’s healed she has to go through the pain of it.. the toungue heals fast and she will be fine” she pauses “though I think some ice wouldn’t be amiss to slow the bleeding.” She grabs Lance by the collar and drags him to the bar. “If you don’t stay calm she won’t and then she’ll be stressed and the baby will be stressed and her heart rate will rise.. -so- sit the hell down and have a drink before I have Moe wammy you into next week.”
	ST “Unfortunately, ice does not exist in the middle of the desert,” Moe says. “Not without electricity to power refrigerators, anyway. So I hope you like your whiskey neat, Sanura.” She nods to the hesitant Pack member as he’s torn between doing what Lance says and doing what Moe says. Thusly prompted, he continues for the vodka. Lance finds himself dragged off. As Sanura speaks he stares at her, then, still tense and perhaps a little jumpy, numbly has a seat. Moe smoothly heads over behind the bar, pausing to push the empty glass her way and wordlessly offer to clean Carmen’s knife. Carmen hands the knife over and then picks up the glass, spits into it, rinses her mouth out with the pitcher of water, spits again, and presses the towel to her tongue once more. Once behind the bar Moe brings out three shot glasses, and pauses before opening the bottle of vodka. She tilts her head to Sanura. “I trust Dovile and Sasha taught you all the rules… ?”
	Sanura Sanura smirks “Need help holding your tongue Carmen?” She questions sweetly before she’d groan “I keep forgeting that sort of thing.. we -really- need to start converting car engines to generators.” she mutters “Though then there is still the question of fuel but we’d be half way there..” she shakes off the musings though and grins a little as she looks to Moe “I don’t need a drink thanks though, double up for Alpha Papa here” she pats Lance on the back lightly. “I really need a clear head .. especially after tonight.. if you’re up for it I could use some more details on those who defected.. how it happened.. how much you guys trust the turn over..”
	ST Carmen gives Sanura a flat look, her gaze not breaking as she spits into the glass. She offers her a sarcastic smile, free of towel this time, before pressing the wadded towel back to her tongue. Moe shakes her head. “The rules don’t work that way.” She sighs, refraining from opening the bottle, and sets it aside for now to draw together her yarn of a tale. “Not long after I got back, Aida came by to warn me about MaMa and to tell me that Lance and Carmen were on their way with some of the Pack. MaMa was marching from Trujillo House to here for whatever reason — presumably to conquer, considering how she demanded my surrender.” She tosses her hair back, revealing one of her glass swans. “Anyway, before all that, I warned Aida about the tranqs, and asked her to grab them for me. She did. And then MaMa came by, called for my surrender, blah blah blah. I told her that she ought to surrender to me. Predictably, she didn’t. After that awkward silence, when she expected me to be tranq’d to Tir na Marbh and gone,” a triumphant, smug smile spreads across Moe’s face, “I showed her her tranqs and gave Lance and Carmen the cue to step forward. She gave her Boys a last-ditch order to attack and slipped away in the chaos.” She looked to Lance. “You reacted quick, but you really should’ve waited. The fight didn’t last much longer after you got knocked out.” Moe regards Sanura again. “MaMa’s Boys tried to drag him off, and then Carmen stepped in and totally stopped them in their tracks.” Moe grins broadly, then tilts her head Lances way. “She ordered them to bring you back, and they did.” Moe lifts her chin and composes herself. “After that, I persuaded everyone to calm down and hear me out. I asked MaMa’s Boys where MaMa was. When no one could tell me, I told them that it was a clear sign she’d abandoned them, and wouldn’t they be better off on the winning side, anyway?” Moe smiles. “As you can see, they agreed.” She looks around at them briefly. “Do I trust them? Not really. But I can handle anything they might try to pull.” She motions to the vodka, offering it once more, indicating that Sanura needn’t worry about a thing.
	Sanura Sanura hmms softly and gives a faint nod of her head. “real shot glasses maybe it’ll go better this time” she smirks a bit “Fair enough but maybe I should .. plant a little something..” She frowns and explains that she could perhaps hypnotise them for the moment they decide to turn on them.. that they won’t.. maybe that split second of hesitation would help. What did they think of such an idea? She’d glance around them and try to gauge the Pack and their overall attitude.. they seemed to be falling in line but she was cautious about an army created in a cou.
	ST After the first round and the first toast has been given (to the Gods, of course), Moe responds. She briefly gives the Shadow Boys another look, then lowers her voice a little. “Lance. You remember four years ago when Jan…” Her voice falters. She pauses, furrowing her brow for a moment and her mouth dropping as the memories hit her unexpectedly, almost physical, rocks thrown into a still pond and forcing jagged splashes to crash against the shore, followed by forceful ripple after forceful ripple. Her gaze drops, her face goes pale, and she swallows, almost audibly. “Ahhh shit.” Her breath quickens. Carmen notices and steps forward, then gives Lance a pointed look. Lance glances to Carmen, checking on her briefly, nervously to make sure she’s okay, then says, carefully, deliberately, “Moe… take five deep breaths…” She’s silent for another moment or two, concentrating on slowing her breathing. “Moe — can I take your hand?” She nods. Lance complies, placing both of his over one of hers. “Where are you right now? What do you see?” “I’m… in Dis. It’s morning. There’s a glass of bloody spit on my bar.” She doesn’t regard them directly. “I’m… I’m okay. Wasn’t as bad as I expected.” She offers them all humorless smile and continues. “But it’s time for round two. Maybe after that I’ll… be able to get to my point.”
	Sanura Sanura salutes the toast and then downs the shot before setting the glass down, her gaze looking to Moe with sincere concern, yet it seems Carmen and Lance knew just what to do or not do and so she doesn’t step in. She does give Moe a more true smile trying to express her concern and yet also her faith that Moe can handle what plagues her. The survivors had been bent and maybe even cracked a little in places but they were stronger than she’d ever dared to hope and that gives her the greatest faith and comfort when facing the days ahead. When the next shot is poored Sanura takes her turn to toast, saying just what she’d been thinking and looking to the three around her with no small measure of respect and despite the all too breif time with them as children and the long seperation a love that grew with each day. “To the survivors of the end of the world.. and those who will rebuild it”
	ST Moe toasts to this, solemnly, offering another humorless smile but not meeting anyone’s gaze. She downs the vodka like medicine, then waits another couple of moments for the moment to pass. Carmen squeezes her shoulder. After that, Moe straightens and turns to regard Sanura. She’s still not gazing at her directly, her eyes pointed instead at the bartop as she carefully collects her words and concentrates on her breathing. “What… saved us… that day… was Carmen… hypnotizing the… the cyclopes to turn against… their mistress.” She takes a breath and lifts her chin, finally looking at Sanura. “I reckon… I reckon you could make these MaMa’s Boys jump up on the tables and act like monkeys for however long you wanted them to.” She pauses, shoring herself up further. “Please don’t, though. As amusing as that’d be, I’d rather not have to replace my tables.” “That wouldn’t be right, anyway,” Lance adds. “An…” He thinks, collecting the phrase. “Abuse of power.” Crook slides his body silently against Sanura’s legs before he settles beside her chair.
	Sanura Sanura nods her head softly and looks to Carmen mouthing a thank you to her before she laughs a bit at Moe’s idea. "Maybe I could.. " and then to Lance “an abuse of power -and- a waste of it.. we’ve got far to much to do for such frivolities.” She murmurs softly as she looks to the others. “I would plant that idea though.. if it’d save any of ours.. so.. do you lot think -that- would be an abuse of power?” she questions, silently trailing her fingers along Crooks back gently as he passes her. “I might have become sort of default .. leader.. I guess.” She blush faintly at the admission of her perceived position in the group. " but I value the experience all of you have in this world. I may not always agree.. or go with your ideas but I am open to hearing them when we have a moment to breath such as this.." Her shot having been downed and the glass set down before she’d spoken.
	ST Lance thinks about this for a moment. “I don’t know. It just… doesn’t seem fair. Mortals don’t stand a chance against us. I mean… we survived in the fucking wilderness for ten years.” He gives Sanura a direct look, his brow flat. “Things come so easy to us. They can’t even begin to compete. I saw the Olympics, with Harry. Before I was like this, I had to work,” he looks away briefly, trying to find a way to drive his point home, “really fucking hard to be the athlete I was. I can only imagine how much harder Yukov had to work to get into the fucking Olympics. And Harry could practically walk at his speed. It was no contest. It was a… a fucking sham. A mockery of Yukov’s entire fucking life.” He looks again at Sanura. “And the brain stuff…” He looks to the wall, once more trying to gather the words. “They can’t even…” He frames his head with his hands. “… control themselves. They have to do what you say. You have complete power, and you’re… you’re… you’re using it to… take away all their dignity…” Lance looks at Carmen, his expression almost asking permission to use the following term. “… to violate them. With the brain stuff, I mean.” Carmen’s eyelids flicker a little, but she doesn’t respond, via expression or otherwise. His gaze drops and he says, “Sorry. Maybe I’m wrong about that, ‘cause… ’cause I don’t know what… that’s like, not really. The not-brain side of that, I mean.” He takes this opportunity to continue into what else has been bothering him, looking to Sanura. “But I’m right about this: everyone deserves some kind of chance at dignity, a chance to choose to stand up against the person opposing them, or to choose to give up and run away.” His jaw shifts as he works his way up to finally directly address his concerns. “Dovile told me that you ordered her to kill the Ox. While he was unconscious, and unable to stand up for himself, unable to regain the dignity that I took from him.” He juts his jaw. “And I had to let her. Because… because I think she doesn’t want to do it any more than I wanted it done.” He looks away. “And I didn’t want to make it any harder for her.” He pauses. “Maybe I’m wrong about that, too. But I’m still not wrong about the whole… dignity thing.”
	Sanura Sanura fixes her gaze on Lance and nods her head softly here and there to show that yes she is listening. She pursed her lips faintly as she took a few moments after it to mull over all he’d said. “As to the.. control of the mortals beyond their ability to resist.. it is.. a slippery slope.” she taps a nail on the bar top considering her words before admitting. “I was very tempted to use it on Ox to humiliate him.. and it wasn’t just for the sake of getting him out of power.. he was an affront to women everywhere and his ideas made me sick and so angry” she takes a calming breath. “I’m glad I enver did that because you are right it’s not something to do lightly for kicks… even incidental kicks. It’s not something to do unless it must be done. In this case it could be the difference between our lives and those of the citizens here and those of the threat coming our way.” She addresses Harry’s sham with “He was driven to prove he was the best.. against mortals I suppose because he had no Gods to put himself agianst yet.. as it stands it’s something I think we all learned from” she grimaces faintly at the last bit. “Lance.. what if he were to waken and get some new surge of power and hurt more innocent people? I wanted to give him a chance but.. do -you- really think the dignity of a man who stripped it from so very many is worth the risk of further lives?” She paused and her lips turn in a faint frown. “Perhaps it was a knee jerk reaction. I was very worked up at the time, Mama was much more a threat than we gave her credit for and Ox almost had you in that contest. If you truly think it’s worth that risk then I’ll leave it to you to stop his execution if possible, get healed and then give him the .. more honorable ending you feel he desrves.” She meets his gaze head on. “But if it goes wrong and another innocent is harmed by him then that will be a weight on your heart as well as his when judgement day arrives. Dignity and respect are something we should strive to afford to all even our enemies .. but in war I’m sure you understand that often the needs of the many outway the needs of the few.”
	ST Moe crosses her arms thoughtfully at this whole discussion… frankly a little stunned that Lance had all this waiting in him. Carmen, if she has anything to offer, is unable to express it, aside from a squeeze of Lance’s hand. Lance’s gaze drops to the countertop at Sanura’s response. “Yeah. I know all about war.” His voice goes a little flat. “War is where you lose perspective. Where you say stuff like that to yourself so you can sleep at night, trying not to admit you made the wrong decision. I may not have been in an all-out war before, but…” He looks to Sanura. “I’m the son of war. And, take it from me, he’s a shitty person.” He looks away again. “I’m not going to try to undo what’s already been done. Dovile doesn’t fuck around. The Ox is dead.”
	Sanura Sanura nods her head slightly to his words. “You’re likely right but I wanted to give you the chance to try if you really felt you must..” she sighs softly and shakes her head. "I’m not sure if I made a mistake there or not.. but when it comes to protecting innocent people I’ll probably err on the side of over reaction every time. Evil that threatens helpless people.. I will squash it with a stilletto every chance I get. If that’s going to be a problem then we need to figure out how to handle it now. "
	ST The young man fiddles with his shot glass a little. “Well. At least you’re open to owning up that you might be wrong.” He pauses, idly examining the glass some more. “I’m open to owning up that you might’ve saved some lives with that decision.” He looks again at Sanura. “Next time you make a decision like that… if there is a next time… if you’re convinced it’s right, you carry it out yourself.”
	Sanura Sanura paused and looks far away a moment. “You’re right about that.. I didn’t consider that Dovile might have a problem with it.. she’s .. a good soldier and that makes it easy to assume she’s fine with killing.” she swallows a lump of guilt that settles in her gut. “I should have done it myself.. and though I don’t know if it will help I’m going to appologize to Dovile for putting that task in her hands.” She looks to Lance and offers her hand. “Thank you for being honest with me and speaking up, I hope I can regain your respect if it’s been lost because of this.”
	ST Lance looks at her offered hand, then regards her directly. “This was important to me and you heard me out and took me seriously. I’ve got nothing but respect for that.” He grips her hand, firmly but not hard. “Thanks. I’m glad you’re turning out to be… to be our leader.” He pauses, then draws her close to give her a companionable half-hug if she proves willing, their hands still clasped between them.
	Sanura Sanura nods her head and gives his hand a squeeze before she allows herself to be tugged against his side in a hug. She’d return it as best their awkward positioning is able. She gives a bit of a laugh and grimaces “I’m holding out judgement on the fates that led to me making choices like this.. I mean eesh they really musta been running low on Hercules and Gilgamesh if they picked me to be a leader of men” she jokes …mostly jokes. She releases Lance and nudges her shot glass. “Time for another?” she suggests before she makes a faint .. thoughtful hmmn. “So.. you met your Dad and.. you think he was a total jerk.. how many times did you meet him?” she questions curiously.
	ST “I thought you’d never ask,” Moe says, wasting no time in pouring out the shot glasses. Once Lance settles, Carmen spits, rinses, and grabs the fresh towel before sliding under Lance’s arm and leaning against him. For the next shot, Moe supplies a toast to their victory over the Ox and over MaMa, and to the hopes that many more victories will follow. Lance carefully plants a kiss on the top of Carmen’s head after taking the drink, then looks to Sanura again. “Just a couple times. But Lisa taught me a lot about him. All those stories… based on what he was like when he talked to me… I can believe it.” Lance looks thoughtfully to the bartop. “I was a pretty… testosterone-driven kid. Part of me wanted to be like him, but there was part of me that just… couldn’t stand him. Later, the more I learned…” He pauses. “Shit, not even his mom and dad liked him.”
	Sanura Sanura hums softly and raises that shot to Moe’s toast. She tosses it back and smiles a bit as she sets the glass down. “I guess .. I can see that I haven’t heard anything too.. positive about your dad to be honest.. but well.. do all of you still hold disdain for your divine parents?” she questions these three about the group at large.
	ST Carmen huffs and rolls her eyes. She could speak volumes about her mother in just about any other circumstance. So of course they’d choose that moment to discuss them. Moe smirks a little at Carmen, half-almost apologetic, half-appreciative of the irony. She takes her turn to speak. “Mam was nothing but lovely and lively. When I first met her, I was convinced that I should become a world-famous ballerina, just because I saw how she walked.” Moe’s smile grows wistful. “Leanne wanted to play the music that I’d dance to.” Her smile fades a little as she considers. “I don’t think I ever… disdained her. There’s something about her that always… felt right.” She tosses her hair again. “But Leanne and I were terrified of being wrong about that, being taken in by that… that wonderful feeling and being led down the wrong path, like Father Pedo said. And then we were fooled into thinking that she killed Grandma and Grandpa.”
	Sanura Sanura nods her head softly and grimaces a the lengths that man went to. “Do you .. talk to your Mam? Pray?” she questions “do any of you actually worship the old gods?” she wonders curiously. Though she glances to Carmen “Well clearly -you- remember your rites ..” she’d note quietly..
	ST Carmen tilts her head, giving her a half-wry, half-sarcastic smile. “Every day, before heading here,” Moe says, firmly. “One of the first things I did when we settled in was make a shrine.” Lance shrugs. “I mean, I think about them and I talk about them, but… well, there doesn’t seem to be much point.” A fire flashes through Moe’s eyes. “Oh, really?” she asks. Lance once more proves that he can be dense. “Yeah, I mean… there’s so much we have to worry about right now, and they can’t really help us with any of that right now.” Moe leans forward, pinning Lance with her glare. “They can’t help us right now because everyone’s busy not worshiping them.” She pauses. “Besides, if you’re honoring them just because you want something out of them, you’re doing it wrong. They created everything that is. You and everything you’ve ever loved literally would not exist if it weren’t for them. If that’s not worth honoring every fucking day, I don’t know what is.” Lance pulls away a little, regarding Moe’s ire with a healthy respect. “Sorry,” he mumbles. Moe shakes her head and pulls away, at the same time pulling back on her anger, partly fueled by the rotten wood of memories. Still, she’s not able to dispel it entirely. She lifts up her shot glass, regarding it to distract herself a little. “You know, usually I’d be feeling it by now, but I’m barely even buzzed.”
	Sanura Sanura grimaces at the Irish temper but she nods a bit to Moe and then glances to Lance. “You don’t have to make it to your Pop if it really feels wrong.. you can pray to Athena maybe? She’s pretty decent I think.. for a Greek” she smirks a bit then “I was just wondering .. because I’m doing my best to teach the kids here about the Gods but well.. the way it doesn’t take with the adults .. I figure our parents need every bit of divine life we can muster for them..” she glances at the bottle and then at Moe. “Did you .. er.. turn it off or something?” she questions as she sort of does a mental check of her own ‘buzz’ level.
	ST She gives Sanura a look like Please. “Even if I wanted to, I doubt I could. I can sober up other people, not myself.” She regards the bottle, to make sure it’s one of hers. “Maybe I’m losing my touch.”
	Sanura Sanura chuckles a bit. “Or you’re just beyond it’s reach now, being a big girl and all” she teases a little as she toys with her glass and debates summoning the turn coats for her ‘insurance policy.’
	ST Lance considers Sanura’s suggestion. “I met Athena once, actually.” He rubs his arm a little, absentmindedly. “Right away she told me she was… assessing me.” He shrugs his shoulder. “I guess it was nice she was so direct with me. We played this game called Go and she talked to me for a while. I couldn’t follow half the things she said, and she kicked my ass at the game. She thanked me and left, and didn’t talk to me since.” He scratches his chin.
	Sanura Sanura smiles a little to Lance “well maybe if you talk to her a bit now.. she’ll remember you later.. and teach you to play those games a little better” she suggests before glancing to Carmen “how long do you think for your tongue to heal.. blessed as silence is we may need that sharp tongue of yours and the influence it weilds…”
	ST Carmen wrinkles her nose at Sanura. Even silent she still knows how to get her attitude across. Lance gives her a slightly concerned look and she pats him consolingly. Moe steps in. “Six hours to heal entirely. Maybe two before she can start speaking again.”
	Sanura Sanura smiles at the nose wrinkle and then nods her head. "Good.. good.. " she pauses "I’m really impressed with how you guys handled this invasion.. really well done.. " her brow furrows some. “What happened to Rochelle after the incursion on her .. home?” Sanura still didn’t like the woman but she wanted to know if Rochelle had anything to say about Mama, if she’d picked up on anything or knew why the torturess was interested in Trujillo house.
	ST Moe shrugs. “Not a clue. Haven’t heard anything from or about her. Don’t think any of her girls or boys were around here tonight, either.”
	Sanura Sanura nods her head slightly and leans back some. “So .. how much trouble do you think Mama can cause at this point..” she frowns “there’s so much to get done .. if we can leave off kicking her ass fully till after the war I’d rather.. but then even a few shadow ninja’s could probably be a real problem when the main force arrives” she muses before looking to the other three. “It’s not quite as.. simple as Ox I suppose.. his strenght in his systems and codes was also a weakness .. Mama.. what -is- her weakness..” Her brow furrows faintly as she sits up some. “Is it.. I’m not sure but I think I’ve got a decent idea.. here.. what if.. someone she doesn’t know came to her with another.. potion.. one that promises more power for her.. instead it’s.. something else.. maybe a compound to strip the power from her.. if she drank down the first thing without question.. why not another, to nutrilize her as a threat?” she looks to the others with her brows arched a bit. “What do you guys think.. you know.. I bet Sasha would have some insight into this.. wonder if he’s up to visitors..”
	ST Moe tilts her head to one side, considering. “If we could even create such a potion. It’s pretty essential to know exactly what it was that made everyone…” she motions around, “… like this to begin with. And even then, is there a guarantee that she’ll accept another shady potion?” Moe plants her elbows on the bartop. “What we need to do is figure out exactly what it is that MaMa wants. From us, from the Disciples. Why she issued that… ‘offer’ to Sasha, and why she was so willing to attack us.” Moe pauses, furrowing her brow. “Tranqs, and dragging Lance off after he fell unconscious, instead of making sure he was dead. She doesn’t want to kill us. Or at least, not right away.” Lance shrugs his shoulder again. “I’ve sized her up. She’s… small fries. She can overwhelm us with numbers, sure, but none of them stand a chance against any of us one-on-one.” He pauses. “She does have a pretty solid hold over a lot of territory, though. There’s no saying if she’ll try to make a grab for more.”
	Sanura Sanura hums softly listening to them and then rubbing her lower lip as she considers. “I’m sort of confused by .. just who her followers are.. I mean.. frankly I just can’t think there are that many sociopaths in such a small population. I thought they followed her just because she allowed such unsavory practices but.. that only follows for .. a certain percentage.. why do the others follow.. fear?” she bites her lower lip. “I think a meeting with her, with a few compelled answers is really all that will help us at this point. After all this isn’t a movie where the villian will simply divulge all their plans to a hero once they’ve been caught.. that’d be too easy.”
	ST Carmen makes a little wry, amused noise, then spits into her glass, rinses, and tamps again. She examines the glass and then pushes it Moe’s way. “Gr-oooss,” Moe teases. Carmen simply gives her a flat look. She ducks behind the bar and pulls out another glass, handing it to her. “Anyone want to take any bets on how many she’ll fill up today?” It’s Lance’s turn to give Moe a flat look. “No thanks.”
	Sanura Sanura snorts softly at that exchange and shakes her head as she pushes her own glass over for another refill. “Yeah Lance knows she kept him in this world and she can damn well take him out” she paraphrases a parents macabre threat to their offspring.
	ST Moe starts them on another round of shots. It’s Lance’s turn this time, and he dedicates the toast to Carmen, and to their child. After the drink, he picks up where they left off. “It’s more I’d rather not talk about blood loss and my wife in the same sentence.” “Lance, I hate to break it to you, but if you’re not willing to discuss blood loss, you should’ve gone for a husband instead.” Carmen makes another wry, amused noise. Lance shakes his head. “That’s different. The tongue only bleeds when something is wrong.” “Fine, fine, if you want to make that distinction,” Moe teases. “I’ll rephrase… you shouldn’t have married an Aztec.” This elicits an eyeroll from Carmen.
	Sanura Sanura happily toasts to that and then tosses the shot back.. and almost snorts it out when Moe makes the husband comment. She manages to control it but once she’s swallowed the drink she laughs at that and the further exchange. “Oh Gods Moe.. you’re dangerous when drinking” she wipes her thumb under her lower lip to catch a bit that had escaped and she sucks it off her thumb before putting her glass down empty. She glances over to Lance and smiles a little. “Gotta say I’m surprised you ended up such a doting husband.. it’s just adorable” she half teases though she’s pretty pleased to see the sweetness. This sort of thing was what they had to fight for.. the chance to love one another and build a future.
	ST Moe grins. “Just wait until I’m actually drunk.” Carmen wiggles her eyebrows at Lance and rests her head against him as Sanura gushes about his adorableness. He simply shrugs again, then looks at Carmen. “He had a good trainer is really what it’s about,” Moe teases. This gets a vehement nod from Carmen and a half-smile from Lance. He knows better than to deny it.
	Sanura Sanura chuckles and glances to Carmen, “Guess you really wanted a challenge” she smirks as she toys with the shot glass in front of her. Sanura turns over the events of the day in her mind, she’d keep up the game for as long as it took, possibly needing a shoulder to lean on when it came time to go home. Still she was at least inehbriated enough to find some sort of rest once she fell into bed. She makes Moe promise to be on hand to sober her up if another crisis knocks on their door before she manages to rise and shine.

Catching Up

	Sanura After getting some sort of rest,.. thought it is a bit troubled it still counts, Sanura gathers herself and her big leather bag to get ready for the day. Her first item to tend to is to find Dovile and offer an appology for being a crummy leader for a minute there.
	Dovile Dovile is on top of the Bunker, smoking and cleaning her rilfe after her outing to find Aida. The sun is already high and blistering, even though it’s still reletivly early. Three or four ciggarette butts are already in the small stone ashtray that’s been placed up there.
	Sanura With some questions and such Sanura finds out where to locate Dovile. Upon reaching the roof Sanura’s steps slow a little and she tries to figure out what to say. Her visage is unusually solemn and she seems thoughtful as she adjust her bag on her shoulder. How did one even voice such an apology? She walks over and pauses “Can I join you?” She questions.
	Dovile Dovile grunts and adjusts slightly, offering Sanura the grungy plastic zip-lock of ciggarettes. There’s plenty of space to sit, and even a dirty cushion ‘rescued’ from the Padrea Place gazebo.
	Sanura Refuses the offered smoke. “No thanks never liked them” Clearing her throat a little She’d fold her self down to have a seat. “I know you’re not much for talking .. with everyone anyway so I’ll just get to it. It’s been brought to my attention that my orders last night.. were.. questionable and .. frankly shouldn’t’ have been given. I stand by the idea that letting Ox live would have been a mistake.. but I may have been hasty in doing it so quickly. Frankly I was.. well scared and I wanted to at least be rid of one thing threatening our family. That aside though.. I shouldn’t have put it on you to do it.. if I wanted him ended that way I should have had the backbone to go handle it myself. Well.. and that’s it really. So I’m sorry..”
	Dovile Dovile looks out over the city for a moment, taking a long drag on her cigarette and savoring the smoke. Then she shrugs and looks at Sanura. “Okay.”
	Sanura Sanura nods faintly, it’s not OK but she wasn’t going to compound her sins by being pushy about it. “So.. did you hear about Dis?”
	Dovile Dovile looks almost suspicious for a moment. “Which part?” She asks drily, returning her gaze to her rifle.
	Sanura She purses her lips “Less the we got drunk and emotional part and more the battle where the ‘kids’ kicked ass part”
	Dovile Dovile snorts, then nods. Her cigarette is back in her mouth and her hands are busy, finishing cleaning the rifle. Again. “Heard Moe chased MaMa off.”
	Sanura Sanura nods her head "and apparently got a few of her people.. Carmen went all.. blood letting crazy to heal her hubby.. " she purses her lips. "Not sure about those turn coats though. I don’t want to send them back to Mama but .. what do you do with people you don’t quite trust.. "
	Dovile Dovile grunts, listening to Sanura muse.
	Sanura Sanura grumbles and then smirks faintly “So when are you going to start that advice column?” Shaking her head a little. “Was thinking about.. influencing them a bit.. just to give us a bit of cushioning.. sort of. Like suggest to them that.. when they are about to turn on us.. they won’t .. it might only last a second but.. might maybe it’d be enough for some sort of reaction.. what do you think?”
	Dovile Dovile thinks for a bit, putting her rifle back together. As the last peice clicks back into place, she shrugs. “Ask Moe. They’re hers, make her deal with it.”
	Sanura Sanura quirks a brow “She might set them up as dancers in the club” snirks softly and rises “I suppose that is the best bet just go see what Moe has to say about it.” pausing “Feel like coming with?”
	Dovile Dovile looks uo at Sanura, scanning her face.
	Dovile “No.” She says bluntly. She stands, picking up her rilfe in a smooth motion as she rises. She drops the cigarette and stamps it out.
	Sanura Sanura offers a pained half smile half grimace. “Right.. well I guess we sould probably have a meeting or something later today.. hopefully I’ll see you there” She’d dust off her capri pants and head toward the exit from the roof.
	Dovile Dovile nods at Sanura’s retreating back, waiting for her to clear the ladder before heading down.

The Loose Thread

	Sanura [what do we do next?]
	Dovile ((Hrrmmm, well, Dovile wants to see if she can hunt down Envy, since we have some possible starting points. And I guess we need to figure out if we need to do something about MaMa or her people/ what that ought to be?))
	Dovile ((We could also skip time to the thing with Angie which I beilve schedualed for today?))
	Sanura [to the hunting of Envy then? and after that Angie and then meeting do discuss what’s what if we’ve got time?]
	ST (( What leads do you have on the Disciple of Envy? ))
	Dovile ((She’s come to the table several times! Maybe we can smell her out?))
	Dovile ((And Sanura was going to put up warding around there so we can catch her next time! BWAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!)))
	Sanura Oh yeah need to do that but the around the city warding prolly not going to happen cause of physics.. still around the bunker is in effect and she should do one around the Regency .. and Dis I imagine.. [ohh one way to tell who might turn on us.. do a warning line and have Moe order them to walk past .. weed them out?]
	Dovile ((I think for the line you have to pick a type of being it’ll tell you about?))
	Sanura [yeah so.. have it be.. Those who are working against us? or something like that?]
	ST (( Yes. ))
	Sanura [so if that gets dingededed then Dovile might have a place to start?]
	Dovile ((Ah! Then I’d have an even better place to start! Because it would be fresh!))
	Sanura Hmmn so can I roll up for those two and spend the legend to have them in effect? then Dovile can go huntin’ ?
	ST (( The Per + Awa roll determines the number of days it’s in effect. I need your roll for the one around the bunker too. ))
	Sanura [15 on Dis]
	Sanura [13 on Regency]
	Sanura [12 on the bunker]
	Dovile ((Is it going to be survial and perception for trying to find the trail, Megs? Right now, I mean, even though the disciple hasn’t set the lines off yet.))
	ST (( Okay. Results recorded. And yes, I’ll let you buy Scent the Divine. And I don’t think Survival applies here. Awareness is better. Per + Awa. Keep in mind, the difficulty will be very high because you don’t have any solid leads. ))
	Dovile ((Alright, thanks.))
	ST (( Okay! Initial diff is 18… +2 diff per day the trail’s been cold… plus another +3 diff for not having a frame of reference for what to be scenting and being unable to narrow it down to divine scents. Total diff… ouch, 31. ))
	Dovile ((Yeah, I think 31 might be actually out of my range right now, with all my flares flared and my duty running low and stuff.))
	Dovile ((And nah, Sanura just has to tell us as soon as she can after the disciple corsses a line!))
	ST (( A fresh trail will take off the majority of the diff ))
	Sanura [yeah or someone else Dovile is in mind contact with?]
	Sanura So on to Angie for now?]
	Dovile ((Sure!))
	ST (( All righty! ))
	ST Late afternoon. The sun is burning low and hot, no sign of autumn on the horizon. Indian Summer, it used to be called—California’s version of summer that lasts well into October. Angie’s return is a blast of even hotter air outside the bunker. She enters, the door slamming open, then looks around, sizing the room up in a flash, and the people in it. Her eyes are wide, not with astonishment but with purpose and hyper-alertness, her expression strung tight. Her beat-up messenger bag is hanging at one side and a large, dusty chalkboard is tucked under her other arm.
	Sanura Sanura looks up from some sketches she’s trying out, working on what might make a good arrow to shoot at wolves. "Ange.. " she smiles a bit uncertainly not sure how to feel about the expression on the young womans face.
	Dovile Dovile’s been outside with Benji, helping to prepare the ground for a new, much smaller, garden. She sees the zipping Angie and follows her, at a much more sedate pace, into the bunker. Clearly, Something Is Up.
	ST Angela’s eyes settle on Sanura, focused like a blowtorch. “Weshouldtalk. Now. Allofus. Important.” Her words are rapid-fire. “Figureditout. Stuff. Harddrive. Closetheshop.” Her whole body is tight. Where ten years ago she’d practically be vibrating with her nervous energy, she’s merely suspended, ready to act at a half-instant’s notice.
	Sanura Sanura rises and glances to the workers. “Early day guys, thanks for coming in, full pay, be safe on your way home” Ushers them out swiftly but kindly, checks the locks and looks around. “Before you start anyone able to double check for that sneaky wench Envy?”
	Dovile ((Can I roll to see if she’s, in the room with us?))
	Dovile ((Benji has scent the divine!))
	ST (( Sure. Per + Awa. ))
	Dovile ((13))
	Dovile ((And Sofia also has wards on the bunker, right?))
	ST (( Aye ))
	Dovile Dovile grunts. “Can’t smell her.” She glances to Sofia. Then steps back out into the garden to double check with Benji if he’s smelled anyone funky today.
	ST Angela is still, comeoncomeoncomeon written in her tenseness. Sofia looks between Dovile and Sanura, then shakes her head. “Not picking up anything.” She looks at Sanura. “You?” Benji brushes his hands off on his jeans. “Nope. Jeff and Abel have been gone all day.” He pauses. “I can’t remember the last time I didn’t smell Coyote’s dank-ass blend at least once over the course of 24 hours.”
	Sanura [ah should I roll something or are we going with no ding ding ding on the warning line?]
	Dovile Dovile snorts, nods, and goes back inside. “Benji also says he does not smell her.”
	ST (( Sorry, yes, the Warning Line is silent. ))
	Sanura Sanura shakes her head “Nothing on my end.. let’s hope for the best.. watcha got for us Ange?”
	ST She isn’t in her spot anymore. There’s a rattle and clatter of things being shoved off a nearby table to clear it, and a pap of the chalkboard and her messenger bag. In the time it takes to re-focus on her, she has the hard drive out and a small, prototype generator which is currently in the process of warming up. Not enough to power a city but enough to power a hard drive. Everything’s plugged in and a piece of chalk is resting between her fingers. She looks up expectantly, waiting for fellow survivors to be notified and to arrive.
	Sanura Sanura looks to Dovile. “Have an open channel with anyone? Aside from that we’ll fill them in when they arrive.. if you’re this excited I want to know what’s up..” the last said to Angela.
	ST After it’s clear that the people who are going to be there are there, Angela disappears so briefly it looks more like a video camera’s jump cut. The doors and windows close, seeming almost all at once. The generator glows and hums gently. After another instant of blurred chalk scraping and the rising dust, the chalkboard has a rough image of a bare-bones UI and a diagram of each of the continents as they are now, their borders shaved off by the risen ocean. “Okay.” Angela takes a deep breath. “Before you ask: I’m a fucking idiot. I could’ve done this weeks ago, when I first finished making this prototype, but I didn’t. Now that we got that out of the way…” She pauses, her eyes seeming to glaze briefly. “Here’s what I see.” She proceeds to draw. On the map she marks dots, labeling each of them by name and placing either a Templar cross beside the name or a Disciple pentagram. Beside ‘Los Angeles’ is an exclamation mark. They’re cities, those that remain, anyway. Then a date, written at the top of the ‘screen.’ “This is when we extracted you guys from Libya.” Then she continues, changing the date, erasing and replacing some Templar and Disciple symbols next to various names, and then pausing for everyone to see. Soon enough, it reaches and then passes September 2nd. September 8th, Charlottesville, VA, USA switches to Disciple and Calgary, AL, Canada switches to Templar; September 13th, Bamako, Mali goes Templar, and Bogota, Columbia goes Disciple. And so on. Angie eventually settles on September 15th, exactly two weeks from the day that the messenger said that the army would arrive. Bakersfield, CA, USA switches to Disciple.
	Dovile Dovile raises her eyebrows for a moment, then looks at her brother. “How come you can’t tell the future like that?” She appears to be joking, although it’s difficult to tell.
	Sanura Sanura watches all this and her eyes widen a little. “That is some pretty confident planning.. and yet another reason we can’t let them have this place. If it’s that far reaching maybe even this will be enough to throw them off course” she murmurs. [was the bakersfield marked as Templar and then went to Disciple? are all the towns marked one or the other save for LA?]
	ST Sasha rubs the back of his head. “I’ll have to ask Brother Svantovit next time I see him.”
	ST (( Yes and yes, Mel ))
	ST Sasha looks to Sanura. “Who is ‘they’?” He asks.
	Sanura “The Diciples even if they’re not fully clued in on this” she gestures. “They’re clearly a focus of who ever is doing this.” Sanura purses her lips softly and shakes her head "Someone is in so deep .. I mean this is.. " she shakes her head softly again. [ Is there anything to indicate a preference to one side or the other ?] "After we get rid of the current threat to Bakersfield we have to move on to fix this.. "
	Dovile Dovile frowns.
	ST (( There is no preference. In fact, for every city that turns Disciple, it seems one turns Templar. ))
	ST (( Always even numbers. ))
	Dovile ((Hey, who is in charge of the Templar? Like, the Pope? A council of Templars?))
	ST (( A council. Seven people. ))
	Dovile ((To balance the seven sins on top of the Disciples, I assume. Do we know their reasoning behidn that discsion, or is that not common knowledge?))
	ST (( Not common knowledge. ))
	Sanura Noting the balance of it she points it out. "It’s like.. they’re trying to run things in a way they think makes sense.. one town for the ‘angels’ one town for the “demons”.. " her brows furrow. “any names on the drive Ange?”
	ST “That’s no fun. No fun at all,” laments Ulcer. “When the puppet strings are revealed, all the mystery goes away and the play is ruined.” Angie gives him a long, hard look before responding to Sanura. “Nope. No names.” Brendan crosses his arms. “This looks like it means the Order of Divine Glory is behind all this. Or at least privy to it. I can’t say I’m surprised.” Angela continues. “What worries me more is that this goes on like this for about three more years. And then cities start getting erased wholesale. Other than our camp,” Angela points to where they were holed up before, “which is wiped in December, and LA, which is wiped in less than a year from now.” Sasha blows out a breath and lets his hand rest in its place on the back of his head.
	Sanura Looking to Angie “Good work getting the intel, thanks for that” Sanura hmms softly “We still have a great deal to do here.. but I feel like we need to warn L.A. So we go to pick up the Pegasi after we hand the Diciples their asses… by the way.. any further ideas on that?” She asks almost cheerfully. “The templar might be pawns but I think they’re the pawns that are better for the general public..” She looks to the rest of them. “What do you all think the chances are that Derek and his crew would beleive this if we show them?”
	ST Benji’s shoulders drop and he puts his hand over his eyes and walks away, putting some space between himself and this entirely too big… thing. Sofia shakes her head, unable to look away from the chalkboard. “We need to… tell Alvaro, Johanna, Lena, Derrick, everyone. We can’t let them continue being pawns.” Brendan nods firmly in agreement. “Whoever made this plan is clearly in tight control of both groups. Either that or arrogant as all hell. I’m opting for the former. Either way, they should know about all this.” “Is that prudent at this time?” Lisa asks. “I think they should know, but with a siege around the corner, can they afford the kind of doubt that’ll bring? And Derrick…” Sofia looks at Lisa, then her eyes drop as she realizes that’s a very good point. Brendan, however, doesn’t back off. “Better they know now rather than later. We don’t know what the fuck’s going to happen, whether we’ll get a chance to inform them later. Whether there’ll be a later. If they doubt enough to… for example, defect, it’s better if it gets done now rather than after we’ve all spent so much time and energy on this siege. So we don’t have to spend even more time and energy on them when we’re trying to rebuild. Besides, don’t you think they deserve to know?” Sasha rolls his shoulders uneasily. “If we tell them now, we might be able to talk them through it. Maybe even get their help with restoring the gods. But, then again, it might just… disrupt everything and make everything fall apart.”
	Sanura Sanura holds her hands up. “We can tell Alevaro .. he will be a better judge than any of us as to if his leader can handle this.. I trust him to keep it secret otherwise.. Does anyone object?”
	Dovile Dovile shakes her head after a moment, eyes still scanning the map.
	ST Sofia considers this, still uneasy, but remains silent. “If he’ll take my word for it,” Angela says darkly. “A computer and monitor would be better proof. But even then, why believe this intel is from a secret underground facility in Libya that was full of titanspawn? With Disciples practically on hand, messing with people’s minds? Whose to say this isn’t part of their conspiracy?” “Lena can do… what Carmen and Sanura do. Check people’s heads,” Sofia says. At this, Sasha glances at Dovile, an inquisitive look on his face. “Okay, so that checks that off. What about just out-and-out lying?” Sofia rubs her marble arm, the discomfort growing. “Alvaro trusts us. All of us. I think… I think he’ll listen.”
	Dovile Dovile looks up at her brother and shrugs, then back to the map.
	Sanura Sanura frowns "Ding Ding.. something is incoming and it’s … dark.. " she warns the others quickly before giving an all over shiver. “Guh.. senses on alert people .. let’s find the intruder”
	Dovile Dovile goes totally still and closes her eyes.
	Dovile ((Eerm, may I roll per/aware?))
	ST (( Yes. ))
	Dovile ((14 good enough?))
	ST (( Let me see…. ))
	Dovile ((If not, Dovile will keep looking/use Animal Aspect almost right away, to warn you.))
	ST (( No, it’s not ))
	Sanura Sanura frowns and looks around them all. Her voice lifting to be heard outside the bunker and carrying well inside. “Reveal yourself minion of darkness” [overt order]
	ST (( Man + Com ))
	Sanura [16]
	Dovile ((Okay. Can I channel Duty for this to get 7 extra dice?))
	ST Everyone falls silent, tense as they await the reveal of the villain. But there is no response.
	ST (( Yes ))
	ST (( No Extremity ))
	Dovile ((21 hits. I’d like to roll per aware again with those added on?))
	ST (( You may ))
	Dovile ((27))
	Sanura Sanura makes a faint growling sort of sound and her brow furrows. “I haven’t felt another.. crossing so.. no retreat I think..”
	Dovile Dovile opens her eyes and looks up as her nostrils flare, pupils dilating as her irises darken into an amber-gold.
	ST (To Dovile) The faint scraping as if something is slithering almost silently across the floor. But not silently enough. One moment, nothing. But then another, a chair that wasn’t there before, smelling faintly of vitality, a soft, almost inaudible heartbeat quickened by Sanura’s command.
	Dovile ((Imma roll for pistol?))
	Dovile ((Is this still within 3 ticks?))
	ST (( For sure. ))
	Dovile ((Swwet, thanks.))
	Dovile ((30.))
	ST (( 9 overflow ))
	Dovile ((I roll 21 damage then?))
	ST (( Paying to use Eagle-Eyed? ))
	Dovile ((oooh, yes! Thank you.))
	ST (( So 57 ))
	Dovile ((35.))
	Dovile Dovile’s eyes don’t even flick sideways. In a blur her pistol is in her hands, and cracking backward. The sharp shout is deafining inside the shop.
	Dovile ((‘Aiming’ for her heart, since I can hear it. Did you want me to do her death? Errrr…. assuming she died, obviously. I’m getting cocky here.))
	ST (( Yeah, go ahead and pose her death. ))
	Dovile The wood styling on the head rest of a chair across the room explodes into shards of wood and a spray of blood. Carved flowers unravel into brown hair, and a young woman, not a chair, never a chair, collapses onto the floor, arms rising to her chest as she dies. Her skin is patterend like viper scales. They fade back into, sinking into her flesh. She’s still by the time she hits the floor, leaking blood onto the carpet.
	Dovile Dovile puts her pistol back into her coat and strides over to the body.
	Sanura Sanura flinches a little at the gunfire and rubs one of her ears. “Brendan.. care to see if she hung around to chat?” she questions as she goes to get something to wrap the body in, as well as a broom and dustpan.
	ST “Shit,” breathes Benji, clenching his eyes shut after viewing the death, as if to block it out. Ulcer tilts his head, looking over the body. Then he looks up. “Shall I claim this one for you, Tlilocelotlpilli?”
	Dovile Dovile looks up from where she’s crouched by the body, flicking through clothing. Her face flickers through compassion and back to blank. “Benji,” She says quietly, “Will you tell boys we are okay?”
	Sanura Sanura brings a swath of fabric over to cover the body and manages to keep her cool.. at least outwardly. Her face is impassive at the moment save for faintly furrowed brows. “Ulcer.. I don’t think he needs you claiming dead bodies for him.. he’s got enough to drag around eh?” rubs her brow and resumes cleaning up and prevenenting futher mess. “Someone close those shutters please”
	ST Benji tilts his chin up, his eyes searching the ceiling as if something waited there, something that would help him. “Yeah. Yeah. Okay.” He doesn’t look at Dovile, numbly turning towards where the boys were last.
	ST Ulcer waves his hand dismissively. “Oh, just her tainted blood will do.” He laughs that crazy laugh of his. “Tlilocelotlpilli wants nothing to do with the corpse. Her blood and her filth, on the other hand…” Without being prompted, he stoops to begin collecting the sacrifice. Angela double-checks the shutters, which she’d closed before. Brendan strides over to the body, his expression inscrutable.
	Dovile Dovile stands up, yeilding the floor to Brendan. She moves through the shadows to where her brother is standing.
	Sanura Sanura grimaces a little at least her people dried the bodies up.. ug.
	Sanura Cleaning up what Ulcer doesn’t claim for his God, the glass is soon in the bin and she starts clearing off a space on a different table to lay out the body.
	ST (( Okay. Summon Ghost, Cha + Occ, to overcome spirit’s MDV ))
	ST (( 9 dice, 2 autos, against an MDV of 21… not promising ))
	Dovile ((Really not.))
	Dovile ((Got anything that could help him Mel?))
	Sanura [umn hmmn lemme look]
	Sanura [lol Opening Act? XD]
	Dovile (( That would be ­_halarious_ That’d be only four more dice though. D: Hmm))
	ST (( That would be pretty hilarious. ))
	Sanura “Spill the beans you bad skin regimign having hag”
	Sanura XD]]]
	Dovile ((I can’t thinl of anything to lower the disciples mdv eaither… We may just be out of luck.))
	ST (( So, are we giving up the Disciple of Envy’s spirit as a lost cause? ))
	Dovile ((I can’t think of way for him to channel courage here, so I think I’m stumped.))
	ST (( Intellect could work, but it doesn’t offer him a whole lot of extra dice. ))
	Dovile (yeah. 9 +2 (intelect) +4 (Opening Act) 15 Plus 2 autos, +5 atuos flaring? That puts him 22 if he rolls tottaly yessess))
	Dovile ((23 if he spends a WP and rolls all success.))
	Dovile ((I think we should not spend that many resoucrs on this.))
	Sanura [pretty much nawt gonna happen]
	ST (( Sounds like it. ))
	Dovile ((okay, forward brendan failing with courage!))
	ST After gathering the various required supplies, Brendan begins the ritual. He rinses the body, anoints it, his motions slow but steady and given as much care as he plays his scales, warming and awakening the sleeping piano. There’s a certain kind of tenderness about the washing, about the foreign prayer he speaks, low and coaxing, invoking the names and epithets of his father. After the prayer and anointment is finished, he closes his eyes, taking a deep breath, and then opens them. They seem to glow, shifting from blue to green to blue again as the ocean’s gentle tides. They flick around, searching. Then his brow furrows and he begins again, this time carefully laying her possessions on her chest, arms folded over them. Sweat rolls down his temples during the moment of suspense that follows his twice-finished prayer. Still nothing. He then tries a third time, more urgent and raw, pressing his voice like a hand into mud into what seems like nothing to the rest of the survivors. Then he turns, his jaw jutted and clenched. “Nothing,” he says, curtly. Then his gaze drops and his eyes’ glow fades.
	Sanura Sanura nods her head faintly “A good effort.. upon reflection how much of what a spy gave us could we really trust anyway..”
	ST Angela rubs a hand over her face. “I need a cigarette,” she mutters.
	Dovile After another moment of silence, Dovile stirs out of her stillness and pulls out the zip lock from her coat. She tosses the bag to Angela.
	ST Angela snatches it out of the air, takes one, tucks it behind her ear, then takes another, before tossing it back.
	Dovile Dovile catches it and looks at it speculativly. Then she glances to Brendan. “You want to deal with the body-” She makes a little gesture vaugley remeinicesnt of a cloud of smoke or ash poofing. “Or you want me to bury?”
	ST He shakes his head. “I’ve got it.” With that, he taps the corpse on the forehead and it wavers a little, as if he’d tapped the surface of water, and then draws his hand over it. It ripples as it disappears, as if it were naught but a mere reflection in the world.
	Dovile Dovile gives him a nod of aknowledgement, then glances at Sanura. “When do we go to Templar?” The bag of cigarrettes still hangs from her fingers.
	Sanura “Sofia.. do you want to bring Al here so Angie can show him what she learned?”
	ST Sofia gives Sanura an inquisitive look. “You sure you don’t want to go to Regency Hall? It’ll take less time.” Angela waves her hand dismissively. “Time’s nothing. I can bring people wherever. Tell me who you want where.”
	Sanura Sanura sighs “let’s finish clean up and lock down and then we can decide who goes where”
	ST In short order, Angela swiftly conveys the company to a park somewhere not far from Regency Hall—if indeed it could truly be called a park. It is, perhaps, more like a miniature jungle, the Bakersfield heat making the moisture rise only to be trapped by the thick foliage. The ground is soft and spongy, pleasant to walk upon either booted or barefooted, and scattered throughout are topiary shapes of various kinds of animals, their forms molded rather than clipped. Lena meets them shortly after their arrival, leading them through winding paths then slipping past an easily-missed cranny, into a chamber-like hovel, then up the ladder-step branches of a tree. Part of the top of the tree is sturdy and tamed flat, with walls of leaves surrounding it. The leaves can, of course, be easily parted to see what goes on below—there are children playing on the ground, with their parents watching, but those above are well out of earshot of those below. Upon the tree platform is what looks to be a tea table. On the table is a pot full of soil bearing a single moon-white lily, under light gentled by the shadows of foliage. Various cushions surround the table. Alvaro is sitting on one of them, watching the group as they ascend the tree-ladder.
	Dovile Dovile nods deeply to Lena as they arive, nods to Alvero as they ascend, and then takes a seat on the floor, looking out through the leaves to the park below.
	Sanura Sanura follows along and is utterly charmed by the arborary home. She can’t help but smile even though everything is quite dire and serious at the moment. She trails her hand over the table and then seeks to find a place to seat herself. She looks to Sofia and Angie, this is really their show and tell as far as she is concerned. She does pause a moment. “Are we fairly sure we don’t have any other ubar spies?”
	Dovile ((Per+aware to look for chairs-that-are-actually-decisples?))
	ST (( Go ahead and roll, Elena. ))
	Dovile ((15))
	ST (To Dovile) Scents of children, of parents, the thick mist of all manner of plant life… dozens of heartbeats, each at a different rhythm. Nothing of the sort seems to be coming from an inanimate object.
	Dovile “No.” Dovile answers Sanura drily. “I can’t smell them.”
	Sanura Sanura nods faintly and smiles her thanks to Dovile before making a small gesture indicating the girls should share their info.
	ST Sofia looks around the “treehouse” in wonder. “Wow. Coolest meeting room ever.” To this, Alvaro grins. “Isn’t it?” He pauses, looking around briefly. “Lena’s handiwork.” Sofia offers a grin to Lena. “Great job!” Lena tilts her chin to her chest and averts her gaze. “Thanks,” she mumbles. Then she quickly sets about ushering the remaining people to their seats. It’s a very orderly place, for a 10-year-old’s secret hideout. Angela reaches for the pot, to set it aside. Before she can touch it, though, Lena slips in and takes it away, carefully resting it in a tangle of branches. After a brief, puzzled pause, Angela sets her chalkboard down. “I don’t know how to make this sound any less outrageous, so I’m not going to bother.” Once more she whips out the generator and the hard drive, and another piece of chalk. While the generator powers up, she re-traces the map of the world. “Sofia, Lance, Brendan, and I all flew to Libya to rescue Sanura and…” An unexpected pause, which Angela barrels through shortly thereafter. “… and the others from an underground facility, full of tita—hellspawn, belonging to an organization known as the Order of Divine Glory.” Alvaro’s brow furrows, but he waits for Angela to continue. Lena sits up, examining the map with interest. “I managed to download some of the information there to my hard drive,” Angela taps the hardware, “which I was just recently able to access. I don’t have a screen for you, but, since I can… link up to the Matrix, I guess, this is… as close as we’ll get.”
	Dovile Dovile will watch the Lilly as Lena moves it to the branches, then return to her survayance of the park.
	Sanura Sanura listens quietly wondering a little at the special treatment of a lone flower in a botanist wonder. She shrugs it off for the moment in favor of watching and listening once more, perhaps she might get something more from the retelling even.
	ST With the mini generator powered up, Angela plugs in her hard drive and gives her report, in a similar manner as before. Alvaro and Lena both watch intently at the information unfolding before them. Alvaro stops the conference briefly to confirm the switches that happened in the past (unnerved at the accuracy of Angela’s intel, which is supposed to be exclusive to Templars), having received said information of from the council of the seven in charge of the Templars. He falls silent, however, as the information goes into the future, and the blood drains from his face as he sees Bakersfield’s switch—although his mouth sets in a firm, determined line. Finally, after mention of the wipe three years from now, Angela concludes with, “We strongly suspect that the Order of Divine Glory is running both the Knights Templar and the Disciples.” Alvaro’s eyes flick over the map under his furrowed brow. Then he looks up, searching each of the survivors, before looking back to the map. “But who… why?” It’s clear that he’s not asking them to prove their suspicions—instead, he’s asking why this Order would do such a thing, why they would play chess with whole cities and organizations, only the wipe the board three years later.
	Dovile Dovile shrugs, not looking away from her watch. After a moment she offers, “Keep us busy?”
	Sanura Sanura sits back as the information is shared and a frown turns her lips softly at the question. "As to who.. we have one suspected associate Dr. Panetaros.. another as their assassin Jan Diva. Beyond that we are sadly in the dark. The why is not something that I think can be answered by anyone but those guiding these things.. we plan to ask them as soon as we can arrange a meeting” her lips twist in some semblance of a smile.
	ST Alvaro finally pulls his gaze from the map, looking more than a little dazed. The names offered seem not to sink into the tangle of thoughts and suppositions. He runs his hands through his hair. “I don’t…” He laughs a little, humorlessly, helplessly. “I’m not entirely sure how to… what to think.” He quickly looks to Lena, whose gaze seems to be on the chalkboard but is actually far beyond, past it into her own thoughts. “Lena,” he says, concern overcoming his expression. “Are you alright?” She doesn’t look up, but she seems to return to herself. “What do we do?” she whispers. Alvaro seems a little at a loss for words.
	Sanura Sanura speaks up ot offer her advice “Firstly don’t be overwhelmed.. I know that’s easier said than done but really these are big picture problems that for the moment right now we can’t be overly concerned with. Our main purpose now is the citizenry of this town and keeping them safe right?” She waits for confirmation “Regardless of this larger picture our goals in the next couple of weeks are still as they were and those are what we all need to plan on. We shared this information with you because it is important in the long game and you needed to know. It is up to you to decide if Derrick should and will be informed. Those are what you need to focus on now.. the rest can wait just a little longer..”
	ST Lena looks up to Sanura, swallowing almost audibly, then setting her expression and nodding. Alvaro regards Sanura as well, then looks away, his shoulders dropping slightly as the new burden falls on them. Then they square and he looks up. “You’re right. One thing at a time.” A thought overcomes him, and he leans forward, intent, examining the chalkboard. “Do you have reason to believe the Disciples know any of this?” He looks up, his eyes flicking to each of the people gathered there. “If they don’t, we might be able to talk them out of laying siege to Bakersfield. We might be able to come to a more peaceful solution.” Sasha tilts his head in assent. Angela’s jaw works a little. “Or they might just decide that they want Bakersfield regardless. Or that we’re trying to trick them. Or that we’re delusional. Or maybe they just won’t care.” She throws a hand up. “Why bother to talk to us in the first place? What reason do they have to hear us out? Shit, if we manage to call a parlay where would we do it? Not inside Bakersfield, that’s just stupid. So, outside? Where their army’s waiting? Where they can just take us like they’d originally planned?” Alvaro looks at her steadily. “If it’ll save lives, it’s more than worth the risk.” Sofia finally speaks up. “Would Derrick agree to this?” This is what causes Alvaro to fall into silence.
	Sanura Sanura’s jaw tightens and then she looks to Angie with an expression of thankfulness that she brings up the very concerns that had lept to her own lips with the noble yet .. naive idea Alvero had offered up. Sofia’s words seem to hit home in a one two set up that gets the boy to see reason. “Do you think Derrek can handle this information right now? That he would even accept it? It’s been mentioned that perhaps we would all be better served to wait till after our current … dilemma is taken care of before adding more onto his plate..”
	ST Alvaro runs a hand over his head again and heaves a great sigh. “I don’t know. I really don’t. I should but…” He pauses, gripping his hair in frustration. “He refuses to share what’s bothering him. And just yesterday he made it clear he doesn’t so much as want me to touch him.” Alvaro finally releases his grip and looks up. For a long moment he’s silent, a lot of words waiting on the edge of his tongue. But he lets them go in a long sigh. “So I suppose I’ll… I’ll wait.” He pauses and sets his expression, looking pointedly to Angela. “But I stand by what I said before. I know the peaceful route is a long, narrow path. It’s always a long, narrow path. But it’s worth walking.”
	Sanura Sanura glances to Sofia, wondering if she will share what the diciple of lust had told them. She knows one part that perhaps would help Derrik.. maybe.. either way it was another piece of information that needed sharing. “We have .. dubious confirmation that Derrik has been .. well.. pardon the coarse wording.. fucked with. Were you made aware of this yet?”
	ST Alvaro sighs. “It would certainly explain a lot. But I don’t know how to convince him of that. Or how to undo it.”
	Sanura Sanura nods faintly to his words. “I don’t know how to convince him but .. perhaps it would help him to know the.. issues aren’t his doing?” she suggests. "We learned from Lust that both he and Envy ticked off a few switches in his head.. "
	ST Sasha rubs the back of his neck. “They started it, but they said that Derrick was doing the rest to himself. So it might be easier to solve than it normally would be.” He pauses. “Or harder, depending.” “Do you know what exactly they did?” Alvaro asks. “What… ‘switches’ they ‘ticked off’?” Sofia rubs her arm uneasily again, then looks to Sanura for guidance, the discomfort written on her face.
	Sanura Sanura clears her throat softly and her tone is quiet, she does her best to exemplify calm acceptance balanced with hope. She’d first attempt a vague explanation and hope that Alevaro doesn’t wish for specifics. “He was pushed to recognise and acknowledge lusts and guilt that he carried inside himself.” She pauses then and offers a faint smile with her gift of hope. “I plan to talk to Morpheus and request that he do something to tame and even better Derricks dreams to allow him to begin to heal.”
	ST Lena looks up at Dovile, suddenly, but then her eyes flick to everyone around them and she stares at the floor. Sasha simply lifts his chin, but holds his tongue. Sofia looks to Sanura, startled, as she mentions Morpheus. Alvaro gives Sanura an incredulous look. “‘Lusts and guilt’?” He pauses. “Morpheus? Who’s Morpheus?” He shakes his head. “There’s something else going on here, that you purposefully aren’t telling me.” He looks at Sofia pleadingly. “Please. If it’ll help, I need to know. Everything.” “Oh boy,” Angela mumbles, rubbing her hand over her face. “Not enough ffffff…” she quickly eyes Lena, “…frrrracking cigarettes in the world.”
	Sanura Sanura smiles softly “Alvaro, it won’t help you to know the specifics and the subject of Derriks lusts and guilt are not ours to share, wouldn’t you agree?” she murmurs. Her lips purse faintly “Morpheus is someone powerful enough to help Derrik have the dreams and rest that can help him heal, I trust him to do this task ashe owes a life debt. If you do not trust my judgement in this I will .. consider you Derriks next of kin so to speak and bow to your judgement. I stress that he will need to rest and clearly isn’t healing himself.”
	Dovile “He’s a dream god. Greek.” Dovile clarifies, almost absently.
	Sanura Sanura manages not to winge at Dovile’s revelation and simply gives a faint nod of confirmation.
	ST Alvaro simply blinks, dumbly.
	Sanura Sanura clears her throat softly “Right so.. back to the .. active part of this.. Do you consent for this specialist to, if possible ease Derriks nights and allow him a proper rest to begin his healing?”
	ST “A dream god.” Alvaro repeats the words slowly, as if trying to make sense of them. Sofia rubs the back of her neck, trying to smile sheepishly but ending up more with a grimace. “Did I forget to mention that we’re… um… heathens?” Her grimace becomes even more grimace-y after she realizes that, in attempting to make light of the situation, she stumbled smack-dab into the Great Wall of Doofus. Surely there was a permanent imprint of her there by now. Alvaro looks at her. Then he shakes his head. “Wow. I…” His sentence drops off as he doesn’t know where to go from there. Lena looks between Dovile, Sasha, and Alvaro. Sasha looks to everyone, taking extra time to assess Alvaro’s state. “Maybe it’s time to postpone the meeting.” He pauses, giving Sofia a pointed look. “It’s been a long couple of days. I think some coffee, or perhaps hot chocolate, is in order. Sanura, Doviluze, Angela… what do you say?”
	Dovile “Smoking?” Dovile asks, since they normally sit inside at Starbucks where smoking is, alas, still not allowed.
	ST “Seconded,” Angela says.
	Sanura Sanura smiles faintly “At the very least a recess and break do seem like a very good idea. Hot chocolate is almost always welcome..” She pauses “Alvero.. please remember that despite what our differences are.. we have one thing in common.. we want to protect this city and the people in it”
	ST Sasha nods. “We can sit outside.” He pauses, spreading his hands. “Great!” He gives Sofia another look. “We can reconvene whenever we’re all ready to.” Lena looks between Alvaro and Sasha, torn a moment. Then her eyes flick to the lily. She regards it thoughtfully before moving to it and replacing it on the table. Then she sits on a cushion again, making it clear she’s there to stay, for now, at least. Sofia nods, then, after people start heading out, looks again to Alvaro. “Do you want to talk?” she asks, gently. Alvaro looks at her for a moment, sparing a momentary glance to Sasha, then nods.
	Dovile Dovile stands up, nods to Lena, and scans the ground around the tree before following Sasha and Angela down the ladder.
	Dovile Dovile takes another glance back at Lena before she leaves.
	Sanura Sanura is once more glad for her catlike grace as she makes her way down with the rest to go in search of refreshment and air clearing and breath taking. A murmur of ‘be safe’ to any she leaves behind.
	ST Lena attempts to covertly shake her head. It works, for the most part.