All Roads/Session 28

ST: The long evening of questioning and scrutiny from the Sentinels means the cabal does not return home until an exceptionally late hour; almost 1AM.

Neb is already waiting for the other two when they return home.

Kenan: On the way to the Sanctum, after a long, awkward silence, Kenan finally speaks "I'm sorry Isis. I know I breached your trust. I did act in a way I thought best - best for you, and best for rest of the cabal"

Isis: Isis is very quiet on the way back, withdrawn into some private thought. She does not seem to notice the awkwardness, or at least doesn't react to it. As Kenan speaks she seems to return more to the present but does not look at him.

Kenan: Kenan looks like he wants to add something, but remains silent as they continue their way back

Isis: "You had no right," Isis says after a long minute. It's a statement, not an accusation. Her voice is a little shaky, trying hard for controlled but not entirely succeeding.

Another pause. "I haven't even told Diana, did you know," she then adds. "My mentor, the one I trust most in ... anywhere these days, I suppose."

Kenan: "they would have known eventually" Kenan says in a quiet voice

"you can imagine what they would have thought of keeping that a secret"

Isis: Isis laughs, unhappily and sounding somewhat unbalanced. "Kenan and Nebuchadnezzar. Never without one of those telling them."

"A slip of the tongue, an unguarded mind ... not impossible, certainly not. Just exceedingly unlikely."

Another unhappy laugh. "Even /Guardians/, spies and liars all, keep their cabal's secrets."

Kenan: "they asked for times and places to scry. I realised too late that I said too much. After that..." Kenan looks miserable and avoids eye contact

Isis: Isis is silent for a bit, still not looking at Kenan. "After that, what?" she finally asks when it becomes clear that Kenan is not going to continue. It's a genuine question, asked without aggression.

Kenan: "they would have seen enough to conclude you were possessed. Possibly without knowing that we already successfully dealt with that"

"It is all my fault. But I did not plan to tell them that"

Isis: Isis frowns, confused. "Why would you tell them to scry the past inside our sanctum?"

Kenan: "not the sanctum. the moment when you got possessed. I wasn't thinking"

Isis: "For the last time, it was /not/ a possession," Isis hisses with surprising vehemence, angry now where before she wasn't. "I've explained it. More than once. A shard, a drop of poison lingering after contact. Nothing more."

"Not an actual entity, no matter that it was pressed into the memory-shape of an actual manifestation."

The distinction is clearly of great importance to her.

Nebuchadnezzar: The door sounds as Nebuchadnezzar enter. His face is haggard and he is pale and tired looking.

Kenan: Kenan doesn't have a response to this, beside shrinking further.

Isis: Isis' eyes shift in the direction of the sound as the front door goes. She takes a deep breath, briefly closing her eyes to calm herself - but clearly unsuccessful. "I ..." she trails off, not trusting her voice or knowing what to say, finally deciding to get away before Neb joins the conversation as well.

She does not flee exactly, it's more of an ordered retreat up the stairs, meeting no eyes. And hiding in her room.

Nebuchadnezzar: walks in and past them, moving to a cuboard above the sink and pulls down a bottle. An old whiskey.

Kenan: As Isis goes upstairs, Kenan shuffles towards the door, intending to get solidly drunk in a nearby pub

Nebuchadnezzar: gives Isis' retreating form a brief look of questioning before his eyes settle on Kenan. "Drink?" He says as he places down two glasses.

Nebuchadnezzar: He slumps into a chair as he beigns pouring, not bothering to wait for an answer.

Kenan: Kenan looks at Neb with blank stare, nods. Then nods again. "make it triple".

Nebuchadnezzar: shrugs and pours a heafy unmeasured amount in each glass, setting the bottle on the table.

Kenan: Kenan takes a few sips, then gulps down a fair amount, before starting to sip what's left

"where did you go?"

Kenan's voice is weak and tired

Nebuchadnezzar: "Off on a research trip." Neb mutters through the glass.

Isis: Upstairs Isis paces in circles in her room, but it's no good. Reading, also no good. Trying to do homework, a disaster. Sleep, impossible without forceful magics. Mind-numbingly repetitive work requiring constant concentration ... that actually works.

Kenan: "sounds interesting. Enjoyable even"

Nebuchadnezzar: "Your not a Moros." Neb says drinking deeply of the whisky.

Kenan: "aha" Silence. "I did learn something today as well. Never thought myself a halfwit before"

Kenan doesn't appear to want to elaborate. He keeps drinking instead.

Nebuchadnezzar: finishes the glass, sighs and looks at the bottle before standing. "Feel free to finish the bottle. It looks like I'm not the only one having a rough night."

Nebuchadnezzar: And with that he walks off up to his rooms.

Kenan: Kenan raises his glass in Neb's general direction before getting up and filling it up again.

ST: The next day begins for the cabal with the gentle sound of distant frying and the sanctum-permeating scent of breakfast as Syntagma toils away in the kitchen, seemingly having risen rather early.

Nebuchadnezzar: awakens with a start, a yell choked back by long practice. His sheets tangled and his arms covered in scratches. He rests a hand on the wooden bedframe and looks towards the light streaming through his window.

Nebuchadnezzar: He showers and dresses quickly, before descending the steps to the kitchen to see Syn.

Isis: Having been up until the early hours of the morning Isis is still in bed. Having skipped school the day before under the pretext of being sick she figures it won't raise questions if she's away another day.

Kenan: Kenan slowly opens his eyes, still on the chair, the drained glass on the floor next to him. He slowly gets up and lurches towards the kitchen

ST: "Morning." Syn tries to put on a grin, but it looks drained; much like the rest of him. "You looked pretty comfortable so I didn't want to move you."

He nods to Neb then as he enters.

Nebuchadnezzar: glances at Kenan, rolls his eyes and goes to fetch the paper.

Nebuchadnezzar: He also returns Syn's nod

ST: "You guys up for some breakfast?" He is already serving up a plate. "Eggs, sausage, bacon, toast. Thought you could use it after last night."

Kenan: "'morning" Kenan smiles weakly before digging in the offered food

Nebuchadnezzar: "Thank you Syn, but no. Not this morning." Paper under one arm and goes to make coffee.

ST: "The guys will be coming over later today." He adds, a little more solemnly. "For scrying."

Kenan: Kenan tries not to look too guilty

Nebuchadnezzar: "What?" Neb glances at him, "Why?"

Kenan: then again, he might just be hungover

ST: He opens his mouth for a moment, glances at Kenan, then closes it again and shakes his head. "Investigating. They need to corroborate your story."

Nebuchadnezzar: "Well they will not be allowed in, I did not agree to this and this is not their sanctum." Neb looks at Syn, "You can scry if you like, Sentinel, you live here."

"But the others can go piss in the wind." He opens his paper and concludes the conversation.

ST: He frowns more than a little, placing his spatula down on the counter. "You know I don't have the skills to do that." He sighs a bit, "You've got to let this happen. They'll have the backing of the concilium, and you- *we* are already under a lot of suspicion."

"A lot of them don't understand why you went vigilante." He pauses, "Neither do I, to be honest."

"All they want is answers, and if you get in their way we'll be outcasts. No-one will trust us."

Nebuchadnezzar: "If they have the backing of the Heiophant, as formed in a written writ, allowing them entry to the Mysterium Aethenuem which this premises is, then I will allow the listed individuals access. Failing that, no dice."

"I would be remise in my duties as acting Censor otherwise."

ST: Setting his jaw Syn stares Nebuchadnezzar down for a moment then shrugs and tosses his head a little, conceeding. "They'll get it."

"You're just pissing them off." He says as he turns back to the oven.

Nebuchadnezzar: "And if the Heirophant does I will take it up with Order. She is doing this as Heirarch not Heiropant, allowing access to Libertines and Guardians to a Aethenium to further a political agenda that has to do with city. Feel free to inform her of that when she signs the order."

"Like I said about the Guardians earlier Syn. Fuck them!"

ST: "This is the kind of political bullshit that makes my job so fucking hard!" He pushes away from the counter and turns again, pointing at Neb. "You've pulled some pretty fucked up shit here and all we have is your word."

Kenan: "I did explain rather thoroughly that this was the only way in which we could avoid both further deaths and exposing ourselves to great risks." Kenan mentions "I did not press the point that Sentinels would have been ineffective, one way or another"

"as for having only our word, I'm willing to repeat what I said before under Mind scrutiny, if that would suffice to stop people from poking their noses around here"

ST: "Now you want to hide behind the Mysterium, hoping they'll cover this all up? It won't happen. Not if Jean-Louise wants to be taken seriously as Hierarch."

Nebuchadnezzar: "If she wants to be taken seriously as Heiropant she will deny this. The bane of having two positions." Neb says calmly. "Scrying in our home makes no fucking difference anyway and invading our privacy in such a manner just pisses me off."

"She is left in an unenviable position with this, support you and keep everyone else on side while pissing off the base of her support. Or support us and keeping her base." Neb says folding the paper. "She will of course, I think she believes she can afford to piss off the Mysterium a little but I consider my privacy worth that."

ST: Syn shakes his head. "We'll see."

Pushing the pan off the flame he flicks the oven off, leaving the rest of breakfast half-cooked. "I've got to run, anyway."

Nebuchadnezzar: "You know I would have done this anyway Syn. I don't like people scrying on me, you've known me long enough to know that." He says as Syn begins to leave.

ST: "You don't *do* anything here, Neb. We don't have anything to hide."

"Why not let them look? It would be in a narrow time-frame, and it would get us all off the hook."

"This whole thing with the Scelesti, it was a big deal. Huge. We couldn't touch him. He seemed invisible."

"Then you three walk in and kill him like that. People are going to want answers."

Kenan: "he killed himself without our help. We tried to take him alive with quite a lot of effort"

Nebuchadnezzar: "And who will be doing the Scrying? Where will they be doing the scrying? Where here will they be searching? Which of our books will they be 'confiscating'?"

ST: "On top of that you've got both the Mysterium and the Arrows wanting the credit for dealing with him - they don't know he's even dead yet - this is turning into a huge shitstorm."

Kenan: "I could push all of our stuff ahead in time a few days"

ST: "I don't understand why you're so antsy about this. If it's all kosher then goddamn, you're pretty much heroes." He pauses for breath, looking a little red. "There'll be some pissed off Sents and Guardians, sure, but everyone else will remember you as the guys who took down a murderer."

Nebuchadnezzar: "Frankly Syn I don't give a flying fuck about the Scelestus one way or the other. I never did." He says honestly, "II don't give a flying fuck about being heroes either. I am concerned about the safety of the knowledge in my possession and my own secrets. Same as always."

ST: "Fine." He thrusts his arm into his jacket, pulling it on. "Do it the hard way."

"I'm going to work."

With that he leaves, slamming the door a little harder than he might have intended.

Nebuchadnezzar: "Fine Syn run back to work, I sometimes wonder if your still in this fucking Cabal." He yells after him.

He turns to look at Kenan.

Kenan: Kenan looks back, uncertain what he's about to hear

Nebuchadnezzar: Neb thinks better of it and heads down into the Aethenum

Kenan: Kenan returns to the breakfast and slowly finishes the meal before heading out for a long walk in the park

Isis: Around 10 Isis comes down to the kitchen to quickly fix herself something to eat.

Nebuchadnezzar: Neb returns from the Aethenuem looking annoyed.

Isis will hear him long before he comes up the stairs, his voice echoing upwards. "Bloody Guardians, Bloody Sentinels, Bloody Syn."

Isis: Having had neither lunch nor dinner the previous day anything edible is fine ... so toast and marmelade it is, first things she can get her hands on.

"Good morning," she says without much energy when Neb comes into sight.

Nebuchadnezzar: "I've had better." Neb says frankly.=, before thinking back to the night before "How are you?"

Isis: "I'm not looking at that right now," Isis says vaguely, spreading more marmelade around.

Her technique seems to involve a teaspoon and a number of very precise strokes in seemingly random directions across the toast.

"I'm not going to school today," she explains before Nebuchadnezzar can ask the obvious question. "I had to be busy last night."

Nebuchadnezzar: "Not looking at what?" Neb says with a blink not really following her train of thought. "And why did you have a busy night?"

He doesn't mention school, though obviously is not particularly happy she is skipping

Isis: "I wanted to be doing something," Isis explains, her eyes down. "The wards were not strong enough. They probably aren't now either, but as best I can make them."

Nebuchadnezzar: "The Sentinels are trying to scry inside, so I suspect the wards will sadly be for naught. However I intend to fight it, unfortunately Syn has chosen to be unreasonable." Neb says filling her in. "As current acting Censor of this Aethenum they have no right to scry here, even should Syn invite them in."

He leans back on the counter, his body relaxed. "Did they question you or Kenan long?"

Isis: "Scry inside ..." Isis finally looks up. A brief pressure on the unseen senses. "They haven't attacked yet, but why would they?"

"Unless ..." Her expression shifts, becomes hard, older than it should be. "Unless they broke their word."

Nebuchadnezzar: "Not attacked. They will get a writ and scry physically inside. Poking their noses into various rooms, search the place no doubt." Neb says with disgust before turning to look at Isis "What word?"

Isis: She stands, her breakfast forgotten, eyes fixed on something distant. "Someone told them things that were not theirs to say." Isis' hands are balled into fists, probably without her noticing that she has done so.

Nebuchadnezzar: "Really?" Neb seems genuinely surprised. He doesn't ask who however.

Isis: "It was supposed to be over," she complains, a hint of despair in her voice. "Olemba said so, said they would keep it confidential."

She laughs, shakily and unhappy. "But I guess keeping secrets isn't what people are taught in this world."

Isis takes a deep breath. "They didn't say why they wanted to 'scry' within our sanctum?"

Nebuchadnezzar: "Not at all true. The trick, as in any world is knowing whom to trust with your secrets." Neb says frankly. "That is why so few people know mine."

"They did not. And that is among the many reasons they won't be allowed to."

Isis: Isis looks away. "But I had to tell you," she says very quietly. "I needed your help. I had no choice."

"I won't let them," Isis agrees. "They have no reasonable cause. And I won't let them."

Nebuchadnezzar: Neb considers a moment. "True, you did have to tell us." He thinks a moment, "Perhaps I should reveal one of mine in return. It seems only fair." He pauses, as for the Sentinels, "I have no intention of letting them. This is tricky for them politically, and for once I intend to do everything in my power to turn this into a political mess."

"I haven't played politics since my Awakening, hell since months prior to it. Let us see if I am still any good." he locks his fingers together and stretches them.

Isis: "They should be /happy/ we solved their problem for them, not make trouble for us."

Nebuchadnezzar: sighs, You act older but I always forget you are very very young aren;t you isis. He thinks.

Nebuchadnezzar: "There was a reason I wanted us to stay out of this Isis. Do you understand my caution now?" He waves his hand indicating he does not require a response.

Isis: Isis hesitates, then nods. "Still, we had to do something," she says quietly. "Maybe if we hadn't told them about it ..."

Nebuchadnezzar: "They would have found out eventually. Someone always finds out when a person is that hunted."

"Most likely the Guardians."

Isis: "Yes, but /they/ wouldn't have done anything to draw attention to the matter," Isis argues. "They would want their involvement unknown - that's why I broke the Sleepwalker's memories that would tell them how much we know about that."

Nebuchadnezzar: "They would be less pleasant about it and their attention would likely be more brutal however. I would rather not have Guardian's breaking in here.

"This way because it is so public they cannot act. It is possible none of them will be able to, all the better if that ends up the case."

Isis: tilts her head. "You think they would have tried to kill us? I thought threatened maybe, or paid off."

Isis: "They might even be ... well, enemies of the enemy ... if they want to keep things quiet."

Nebuchadnezzar: "You presume there are not other secrets here that the rest of us do not want them poking their noses in. Other more dangerous plays not being played. I somehow doubt Alasdair was working with sanction from his order or I think that night at the Brewer's hall would not have happened."

"Desperate men do foolish things."

Isis: grimaces, then makes a small gesture initiating a telepathic contact. Behind wards, under a shield of chronos, by telepathy ... as secure as she can make it.

Isis: .//There are things I found in the Sleepwalker's mind that I couldn't tell you about before. The Scelestus' activities, someone was coordinating them. There were things and instructions left for him in places, the 'plan' he talked about may have been more than a delusion.//

.//And ... at Brewer's Hall there was someone on the inside who helped him. Someone, probably a Guardian, helped him corrupt the soul stone and cause that manifestation.//

Nebuchadnezzar: Neb grimaces, // Sometimes it is easier just for us to go somewhere we do not mention and talk about these things... it leaves less of a trace. //

.// How unfortunate if you indicate as much to the Sentinels.//

Isis: .//I didn't speak about any of that, just Isabelle and yesterday's events.//

.//I was hoping with the man's memory distorted and the ghost's not easily read they would not learn how much we know.//

Nebuchadnezzar: .// I see why you strengthened the wards.//

Isis: .//That ... yes, that and I needed something to focus on besides remembering.// Unlike her physical voice Isis' thoughts come across clear and controlled with little emotions attached.

Nebuchadnezzar: Nebs are the reverse of his physical calm, his mental voice is cold, obviously supressing a whole glut of emotions, little bits of which leak out. Anger, Introspection and Guilt

.// What do you plan to do now then? I have projects that this idiocy keeps me from. But now I must garner us political support possibly against the Heirarch. //

And Grief, grief keeps slipping out, regardless of his attempts to hold it back.

Isis: .//First I will raise a Ban about the Sanctum. No sentient being will be able to cross it uninvited. Then ... I don't know. I won't let them, but I don't know politics. And I can't duel the Hierarch and win.//

Nebuchadnezzar: .// I have no intention of duelling. Politics has never been about direct confrontation, it is about misdirection, support and rumour.//

Isis: .//I don't think I am able to do things like that.//

Nebuchadnezzar: .//My father was always the expert. I know enough to get by.//