weekend mingle featuring 5 pm brunch because time is meaningless now

[pr159]

[ There probably isn't a single person among them who isn't exhausted after that trial, so it's no surprise that, like last week, there's no party when it's over. Maybe some stay out and mill about the city, while others finally take the chance to get some well-deserved sleep.

Personally, Rideaux is absolutely going to bed now, because it's fucking 10 am or something, and that was a lot.

But when he wakes up again in what is nominally the afternoon, once he's taken a shower and no longer looks like a haggard mess, he's actually going to hole up in the kitchen at the clergy housing and make some pancakes. Just pancakes and nothing else, because this mix is "just add water!" and that's the extent of his cooking skills the most effort he's going to put into anything. Some of them may be slightly burned and oddly shaped, but they're free, so shut it.

There's also some coffee and some (cheap, not his good stuff) whiskey, so if you want to make a half-assed Irish coffee, he's not stopping you.

Is this supposed to be a distraction? Is this actually all just to celebrate the fact that Cumore briefly thought he was going to die and that was delicious to watch? Maybe, but no one has to know that. ]

Comments

[pr159]

I appreciate the compliment, but at this point... not many, when it's still not clear exactly what her plan is. Ango at least showed that we could plausibly win in a coordinated fight against her, but since that body is supposedly only a temporary vessel, we don't know if it would really end anything. And even if it did, simply taking her out without resolving anything would likely just end with all of us being stuck here.

[ There's a bit of a pause there, as if he's thinking that option over, but. Moving on. ]

I think it would probably serve us well to revisit all the things we've come across here that seemed odd but not worth mentioning, as well as any places we haven't been able to get into.

[ He is certainly guilty of the "not mentioning" part, though he's also been intentionally keeping most things to himself in case any of it could give someone else an advantage or take one away from him. ]

I'm especially curious about the hotel after what Zangetsu said he found, since you don't go to the trouble of setting up that kind of security unless there's something really worth securing.

[ Of course it seems like it will be very difficult to get in there, but risk and reward usually are positively correlated. ]

Aside from that, I'm waiting to see what if any effect the stopped clock ends up having, besides confusing all of us. And there's still that computer we need to look at, isn't there?

[raventhaw]

[ (i'm gonna say that her convo with erik took place before this one for the sake of timelines) ]

You can hardly be blamed for that. We don't have enough information on her final plans to devise a solid one of our own.

[ she listens to him speak. honestly...she's on the same page as him. she hasn't really hidden any pertinent information from the group but there may be a thing or two she should be telling them about. ]

I told Erik I was going to go with him to get the computer. I want to see what's on it. Does that mean you plan on going to the hotel?

[pr159]

I'd like to see that as well.

[ So hit him up once you have it. ]

They said the hotel was safe to explore on the other side, so as curious as I am about it, I think we can hold off on that at least until we hear from them again... hopefully. We can work on backup plans for getting in there in the meantime, but even if time is running short, there's still no sense in possibly getting ourselves killed now if they can either investigate it themselves or do something to allow us in safely.

[raventhaw]

Noted.

[ she definitely will. ]

A good point. I don't doubt that those in Twilight are looking for another way to help us. With Dist there, it's a little safer to trust that they'll figure something out. But a backup plan is absolutely needed in case that doesn't happen.

[pr159]

Agreed. I'll see what I can figure out about those traps, in any case.

[ Not entirely sure where to start with it, but. Maybe they'll get lucky and the computer will have a clue or something. ]

Have you spoken with the Lady recently, by the way? You were on relatively good terms with her before, as I recall. I'm curious how much she knows about what we've been looking into.

[raventhaw]

Not recently, no. The last time I'd spoken to her was after Shin's trial. I'd asked her about her "side project" with...brains and whatnot, and she'd emphasized the concept of misdirection.

[ which is still a hell of a thing to consider. ]

The side project could have been a distraction for us so she could put her actual plans into motion.

[pr159]

That's possible. It did get everyone focusing on that for a while.

[ Ugh. There are entirely too many unknown variables in this equation. ]

...Honestly, I have to wonder what will happen here on our side if we don't figure it all out in time.

[ "Thinking positively" is all well and good, but he'd at least like the option of preparing for the worst. ]