Session 64

Knockwood: so, we're missing ... hope and numbers. Anyone taking a trig test is boned. :)
Sara: Heh.
Sara: That's what Caprice is for.
Sara: Suddenly, the fire alarm is pulled, and there is no test.
Knockwood: and I'm at the kid's elbow saying "Do it!"
Sara: Exactly!
BethE: While I'm in the teacher's lounge, creating coffee with extra caffeine.
Knockwood: you guys see my latest poster, BTW?
Sara: Nope. On the wiki?
BethE: Nope. Link, please?
Knockwood: post #21178, I think. The pic was provided by someone else
BethE: *looks*
Knockwood: alternate caption: ASPECT 5: Go ahead, piss him off.
Sara: (Link: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=21178)http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=21178
Sara: That's not it, I assume. :)
BethE: Almost have it loaded...
Knockwood: yeah, that's thread, not post. :)
BethE: (Link: http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=6929982&postcount=21178)http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=6929982&postcount=21178
Sara: Heh
Knockwood: no one acknowledged its existence, tho
BethE: Well, with a thread that big, it'
BethE: s hard to tell what people think of some of them.
Random_Nerd: So, we have no Laz for this session, but I do believe we have enough folks for a game.
BethE: Indeedy! We shall send Brian to guard the horses.

• • • You are now known as Theresa.
      
    • Sara is now known as Snow.
      
    • Knockwood is now known as DanteE.
      

Snow: No eating Brian's rocks, I suppose.
DanteE: this horse would need guarding, that's for sure,,,
Random_Nerd: So, anything before we start?
Theresa: Oh, wait, do we want Brian guarding the horse of the 'Kill Humans'? <G>
DanteE: (we know jack about the horse IC, right?)
Theresa: Just a clarification...we were looking for the blightstone, we have a mom and daughter who have survived barely, and a nearby town. And the spirit of the ground who's currently getting waste...oh, good one, RN.

• Snow claps.
  

DanteE: (good one?)
Theresa: The ground is a wasteland, thanks to the blight. The ground spirit is getting wasted.  :P)

• Snow GOLFclaps.
  

Random_Nerd: All puns are in the eye of the beholded.
Random_Nerd: Beholder.
Random_Nerd: Whatever.
Theresa: Okay, I'm ready, I think.
DanteE: beheld.
DanteE: (That's why I wanted to know what the booze meant. :)
Snow: (Theresa was talking out loud to the ground spirit, yes?)
DanteE: (Actually, that'd mean I had it backwards....)
DanteE: (I thought the booze was the _cause_ of the blight rather than the result...)
Theresa: (Yep, out loud to the spirit. And he had vague notions of where the stone is. And Dante and Snow (and Brian) had headed for it.
Random_Nerd: Cut to Dante and Snow heading for where the spirit thought the blightstone was?
DanteE: sure.
Random_Nerd: _______________________START_______________
Snow: (*nodnod*)

• DanteE guises up a cowboy outfit to fit in
  

Theresa: (What was I up to? Was I told to take care of the humans?)

• Snow rides her new horsey friend.
  

DanteE: (o/~ ya see, I been through the desert on a horse with no soul... o/~ )
Theresa: (*snort*)
Random_Nerd: (I'm not sure what you were up to, Beth. Shall we have you with the others?)
Theresa: (I would appreciate it. I will walk alongside the horse. With guised clothing over the shredded tatters that are probably what I look like right now.)
DanteE: (Did we manage to get any MPs from the dead Exs?)
Snow: (Niet.)

• Snow peers across the landscape from her perch, looking for something suspicious.
  

Random_Nerd: (Using what method of sight?)
Snow: (Regular, Mythic and I'm totally blanking on the third.)
DanteE: (The Sight)
DanteE: (I think Snow and I are both riding the horse, right?)
Snow: (I thought I was mixing up Armageddon and this, when I thought that. Heh.)
Random_Nerd: (That would make sense.)
Snow: (*nod*)
Random_Nerd: (In Nobilis, the Sight is the method of perception by which miraculous things are bright, and everything else is dim and vague.
Random_Nerd: )

• Theresa walks along. She's a Noble, Nobles do not limp and Nobles do not slouch...but there is a hot tub in a house in a land that doesn't quite exist with her name on it at home...
  

Snow: (I would be particularly interested in what she sees in the Sight, then.)
Random_Nerd: (Okay, now, you're in the rough center of town, in the middle of the street.)
DanteE: (Well, if the horse unloads, with you being plants... :)
Snow: (Horse: *poot*)
Theresa: (Eww...)
Random_Nerd: (Everything looks dark and vague, except for you guys, and a faint glimmer from a scrap of paper in the gutter.)
DanteE: (what's the town look like to normal sight?

• Snow hops off the horse and goes to fetch the scrap of paper.
  
• DanteE takes control of the horse... and checks it out with the Sight
  

Random_Nerd: To normal sight, it looks fairly ordinary, except for the lack of people out.

• Snow looks at the paper as she heads back to the others.
  

DanteE: "Watch out for some guy with a cowboy hat and a grudge
Theresa: "You mean you, Dante?" *(small smile*
Random_Nerd: It's faded, and it seems like it's been kicked around a little, but it seems like a sheet of notebook paper rolled up into a ball.
DanteE: "Black hat, not white. :) :

• Snow sits down on the ground and flattens out the paper.
  

Theresa: "But we've already killed the guy who rose in on this horse. I hope Snow doesn't get sick from eating him." *looks worried*
Snow: *absently* "He tasted good."
Theresa: "What did you find, Snow?"
Random_Nerd: It's wrapped around a tiny black stone, shiny in an odd, almost glossy way.

• Snow leans down and sniffs the stone, still in human form.
  

Snow: "Pretty!"
Random_Nerd: Also, the paper has, in copperplate handwriting, the sentence "Normally we'd hide this better, but we don't really have a horse in this race anyway. -The Excrucians"
DanteE: "son of a bitch..."

• DanteE dismounts and hands the reins to Theresa.
  
• Theresa reads the note. "Well, isn't that...*sigh* Is the cornerstone of theuniverse snark?"
  

Snow: (*laugh*)
Snow: "Should I eat it?"
DanteE: "Ah, no...
Theresa: "It probably wouldn't be a good idea. How do we destroy it, i wonder..."
DanteE: "That's Excrucian-stuff.
Snow: "So? I'm me-stuff!"

• Snow grins.
  
• DanteE pulls out a dagger.
  

Snow: "By the time I'm done with it, it'll be me stuff too. Then it'll be ground-stuff. Then plant stuff..."
DanteE: "Put it on the sidewalk there."

• Snow looks disappointed, but does so.
  

Snow: "Hey horse! Wanna see something cool?"
Theresa: "It might be poison to you, Snow. See how it's poisoned the land and the people here?"
Random_Nerd: The horse looks at Snow in a disaffected equine way.

• DanteE sets the dagger point-down on the stone...
  

DanteE: "Theresa? Log-hammer time. :)

• Snow positively beams at the horse.
  

Theresa: (Is there a log or appropriate piece of wood nearby?)
Theresa: "You think it won't explode, raining blight bits everywhere?"
Snow: "If I ate it...!"
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. No random logs lying around loose, but various trees, wooden buildings, and so on.)
DanteE: (Is there a section on blightstones in Nobility 101?)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. "They're bad. Hit them with a rock.")
DanteE: (Theresa... you could BE a log.)
DanteE: (Turn your fist into one. :)
Theresa: (Aspect miracle. Do I need to spend anything with being this hurt?)
Theresa: "Snow, would you eat a rat that died by poison?"

• Snow looks sly.
  

Theresa: "A _lot_ of poison?"
Snow: "Weeeeeeeeeeeeell...maybe nooooow."
Snow: "With Kudzu and all."
Theresa: "We'll let you try later once you're healed from all of the hurt the bad men did to you, then."
DanteE: "

• Snow pouts.
  

Snow: "Okaaaay."

• Snow flops onto her back and looks up at the horse.
  

DanteE: "Yeah, I don't want to risk hurting you any further."
DanteE: "When we get back to Amyra I'll get you some coyote chow...
DanteE: "some fresh rabbit. :)"

• Snow snickers. "ANYthing's coyote chow."
  

Theresa: "Shield your eyes..." *transforms her right fist into a large caber above the dagger and slams it down hard*

• Snow jumps onto her feet, startled by the noise, but watches anyway.
  

Snow: (*claps for proper use of "caber"* Obscurity +1!)
Random_Nerd: Kersmack.
Random_Nerd: The daggerpoint passes through the stone, which breaks into a couple pieces.

• Theresa will look around Mythicwise to see if anyone/thing is feeling better?
  

Random_Nerd: (Mythically, things look generally but nonspecifically more vital.)
DanteE: (How about the stone?)
Random_Nerd: (Everything's moving around slightly faster, and the colors are less desaturated.)
Random_Nerd: (Mythically, it looks like a broken piece of rock.)
Snow: "So are we done?"
DanteE: "Maybe... Snow, what's the local capriciousness look like?"

• Snow has a look around.
  

Theresa: "I think so. Should we bring the bits back with us? I don't want to poison home too." *will look for the ground spirit from earlier to see how he's doing*
DanteE: "Personally, I want to study it."
DanteE: "Along with everything else I've been collecting..."
Random_Nerd: (The ground seems to be asleep.)
Snow: "Sooooooooo..." Snow draws it out. "Kudzu sent this stuff?"
Random_Nerd: (His coloring still seems a bit bad, but he seems to be healing.)
Theresa: "From what I understand...Kudzu wanted to test you...and probably us...so he made a deal with these Excrucians...to hurt your Estate?"
Theresa: "In a way, I guiess he won the deal...the people who sent the Excrucians lost two people...and a horse. We gained a horse."
Theresa: (Thematically, Snow's anchor should be a cow, though.  :) )
Snow: (Heh.0
Snow: )
DanteE: "2 dead Warmains on their side and 1 forced to flee... and we're all still alive."
Snow: (Does the local Capriciousness look okay?)
DanteE: "...barely...
Theresa: "Barely."
Snow: "Kinda fun though. Except for the hurting."
DanteE: (jinx)
DanteE: "Of course, there's the damage they did to deal with..."
Random_Nerd: (The whimsy seems to have corralled most of the whims in a barn, and is taking them one at a time out to put back in people.)
Snow: "My whimsy's doin' good."
Theresa: "Yeah. Although earthquake or mudslide or unstable land mass could explain the house collapsing. Err, marsh gas?"

• DanteE grabs the stones.
  
• Snow scrambles up onto her horse.
  

Snow: "Who cares? I'm hungry! Let's go home."
DanteE: "Snow, there's one girl whose caprice is gone"
DanteE: "We should do something about that"
Snow: "Can't. All outta stuff!"
DanteE: "WE'll see..."

• Snow tilts her head?
  

DanteE: "Theresa, you ride, you're hurt worse."
DanteE: "Plus, the helicopter's back there."

• Theresa shakes her head. "No, that's okay, I can still walk. It feels good to have the ground under me." *returns her arm/hand to normal*
  
• Snow nudges the horse back to the farmstead.
  

Theresa: "We should probably either bring the mother and daughter back here to where the townsfolk can find them. Easier to transport that way."
DanteE: "You mean the widow and the orphan?"
DanteE: "Well... half-orphan.
DanteE: "I must be tired if I'm not making sense..."
Snow: "I can just make them not exist any more, if that's easier?"

• Theresa blinks. "Snow, how would you make them not exist and that's not to mean that you should."
  

DanteE: "It's easier but I doubt it's better."
Snow: "What's better?"
DanteE: "... let's check out how bad it is."

• Snow shrugs and continues back.
  

Theresa: "Can you tell me how you would make them not exist, Snow?"

• Snow shrugs.
  

Snow: "Get on horse. Make them go away. Poof."
Theresa: "So...the..._horse_ makes them go poof?"
Snow: "Well...I do. The horse just makes me able to do it."
Theresa: "O-kay...that explains why the Excrucian could make all of the other people disappear. Does it kill everything or just people?"
Snow: "Dunno. Want me to try?"
DanteE: "NO."

• Snow subsides a bit.
  

Snow: "...okay."
Theresa: "I..don't like killing things or people or like that, Snow. It makes my heart hurt."
Snow: "Really?" Snow looks genuinely surprised.

• Theresa slowly nods as she walks along. "Yes. Part of...well, _me_, is that I try to respect life. Not end it before its time, respect a life given freely, try not to take a life in vain...like that. When I act contrary to that, it hurts me."
  

DanteE: "You... grew up with death all over, didn't you?
Snow: (Snow or Theresa?)
DanteE: "Catching rabbits for lunch, seeing pack members shot by ranchers...
Snow: "Oh, sure. Not too many pack members got shot though. I made a deal with MY People."
DanteE: "It's different when you're human."
DanteE: "or Noble."
Snow: "Noooo. I'm still me. I'm just Kudzu too, now."
Snow: "YOU guys are human."
DanteE: "As your new family, I guess it's up to us to give you the socialization that got bypassed when you were enNobled."
DanteE: "Theresa, you were trained in that, sorta. :)"
Theresa: "Maybe she doesn't want to live by human rules, Dante. She doesn't really have to."
Theresa: "You want me to school Snow? At what? As a Noble, she can speak or read any language."
Snow: "Seems to me like you guys need someone who can see things better."
DanteE: (I presume we're walking back to the farmhouse while all this is going on, right?)
Snow: (I assumed that, yup.)
Random_Nerd: (Yeah.)
Theresa: "Right now, I would like to go home and yell at our Imperator. If he doesn't erase me from the Universe, I'd like to take a long soak in a hot bath."
DanteE: "Well, schooling isn't just about numbers and words, it's about dealing with other kids and learning how to be Amyran."
Random_Nerd: (Who needs socialization when you can have mind control?)
Snow: "I am Amyran. I am Amyra!" Snow puffs out her--admittedly human--chest a bit.
Snow: "I'm Kudzu!"
DanteE: "Ich ben ein Berliner?"
Theresa: "What kind of filling, Mr. Jelly Donut?"
Snow: (Snow would know what that means, but beyond the general sentiment, I'm not sure of the direct translation...?)
DanteE: ("I an a Berliner." Speech by JFK.)
Snow: (*nod*)
Theresa: "Hmm...Snow...because of your strong connection with Amyra, the people there will try their best to help you and so on. But outside of the Chancel, you might have trouble communicating what you want people to know or do."
Snow: "What's that gotta do with fixing these people?"
DanteE: "We're talking about a woman who's going through the rest of her life without her husb... er, mate and a child who's missing one of the essential components of childhood.
DanteE: "Both very bad things."

• Snow gives Dante a distinctly "you're crazy" look.
  

Snow: "I can...eat them, I guess...?"
Snow: "More useful that way."
Theresa: "It isn't the most horrible thing in the world to lose a husband. It can feel like it, but it isn't."
DanteE: "yeesh, this is tough enough in Amyran without translating it to coyote. Theresa?"
DanteE: "Anyway, we're here..."

• Snow waits--and fidgets impatiently--for the others to do Something Cool.
  
• Theresa is confused too as she isn't sure what Dante is thinking or wanting...
  

Theresa: (Plus, Theresa's a little peeved as she's a widow herself.  :) )
DanteE: (Trying to communicate that killing or eating the family would be a Bad Thing)
Snow: (Well, says YOU...)
Theresa: (Which family? Us? Or the mother and daughter?)
DanteE: (the mom & daughter who got caught up in the battle.)
DanteE: (and anyone else in the area)
Theresa: (Ahh. I didn't think that she had be wanting to eat them until Dante asked what she should do with them.)

• Snow siiiighs.
  

Snow: (Snow is more thinking what she can do to make the problem go away.)

• Theresa smiles up at Snow. "Come on, we'll finish this up, we'll ride the helicopter a...wait, Snow, how are we going to take your horse home?"
  

DanteE: (How much damage did the Winds of Hate do?)
Snow: (And if they're suffering all that much, she can just make them not exist...)
Random_Nerd: (Basically, assume that each casting of it was equivilent to everything being hit by a wrecking ball.)
DanteE: (and how many buildings were in the area?)
Random_Nerd: (One. Fairly spread out, here.)
DanteE: (How many people got disappeared?)
Snow: "We could just take them home with us. Amyra's pretty neat. It's got a real god and everything."
Theresa: "And we might be able to help their DA. The people here would think that they disappeared with the others. And they might be ostracized for surviving...all of this."
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. Probably about four to six.)
Random_Nerd: (Let's see... *counts* Four.)

• Snow drums her fingers on the horse's shoulders.
  

Snow: "Hey, you want to ride in a helicopter?" *to the horse*
Random_Nerd: The horse looks dubiously at Snow.
Snow: "It's loud, but you get to fly like crazy."
Theresa: "I can possibly rig a harness to carry him. You would have to keep him calm, though, Snow."
Snow: "Oh, sure. We'll hang out."
Theresa: "So, Dante, how about we take the mother and daughter with us? Maybe Carrie can help them as well?"
Random_Nerd: Snow, you feel the tingle that indicates that someone is praying to you.

• Snow pays attention.
  

Random_Nerd: Horse to snow, via prayer: <horse-thought equivilent of "Going off the ground? Bugger that.">
Snow: "You want wings instead? I heard a story about a horse with wings, once."
Snow: "I think he fell into the ocean, though..."
DanteE: "Well... depends on how attached they are to Mexico."
DanteE: "You're mixing up Pegasus and Icarus"
Snow: "Oh! Good. I've only got one horse."
Theresa: (I like Snow's horse.  :) )
Snow: (Ditto!)
DanteE: "And we could just split up... you can easily get to Amyra via an alley in Mexico City"

• Theresa talks to the horse. "If you'e worried about the flying part, we will make sure that you are okay. You are our Sister's Anchor now and thus part of us."
  

Theresa: (Dibs on not taking Snow into a city of how many millions of people. <g>)
Random_Nerd: (I figure the horse can understand Snow, because she anchored it, but only vaguely comprehends the rest of you.)
DanteE: how's the animate caprice doing?
Random_Nerd: You can't see it from there.
DanteE: "Snow, how's that animate Caprice doing?"
Theresa: (Well, Theresa wouldn't know that...)

• Snow tries to sense it's actions.
  

Random_Nerd: The horse looks at Theresa.
Snow: (its, sorry)
Random_Nerd: It's pretty much the look of a polite but monolingual tourist who just listened to a conversation on a specialized topic in a language he has no clue about.

• Theresa raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not an Excrucian in disguise?"
  

Random_Nerd: The same look, amplified about 5%.

• Theresa sighs. "Well, we will have to be deciding soon. The locals will be feeling better with that blight stone gone and they'll see us."
  

Random_Nerd: The whimsy continues its one-by-one distribution of whims from the barn.

• Snow straightens a bit.
  

DanteE: "Well, let's see what we're dealing with..." What/How are the mom & daughter doing?
Snow: "Okay. The two people, they come with us. I am hungry and I want to go home."
DanteE: "Don't forget to restore the girl's caprice if you can't recover it."
Snow: (Brainfart. The caprice was supposed to return to the girl after its job was done.)
Random_Nerd: They're currently out in one of the corn fields, together.

• DanteE goes over to them.
  

Snow: (Still no dad, though.)
DanteE: "Theresa, you're the diplomatic one..."
Theresa: "In a way, perhaps."
Random_Nerd: (Well, the father was outdoors when you had your fight.)
Theresa: (The dad has gone to that great big NPC-halla in the sky.)
DanteE: "Are you all right?"
Theresa: (Is that to the humans?)

• Snow shouts at the pair from behind Dante. "HEY! WANNA COME WITH US?"
  

DanteE: (yes...)
Snow: (*grin*)

• Theresa sighs. "You two (the humans) can open your eyes now."
  

DanteE: to Theresa: "See what I mean about socialization?"
Theresa: "She's being Capriciousness, Dante. It would be like asking you to not play with anything sharp and pointy."
DanteE: "good point."
Theresa: *to the humans* "We know you've been through a traumatic time. We can take you to our facilities and try to help you there or you could stay here with your town."
DanteE: "Er... no pun intended."

• Snow confers with the horse, seeing that the others are now dealing with the humans.
  

Snow: "You gotta come with me, back to Amyra. You're my pack now."
Random_Nerd: (Stepping into the horse's brain, or just talking to it?)
Snow: (Just talkin'.)
Random_Nerd: The horse sniffs Snow and nods.

• Snow snuggles the horse's nose, rubbing her face into the rough fur.
  

Snow: (Hair, rather.)

• Theresa waits to see what the mother at least will say....
  

Snow: "I'll make sure you get a really nice place, when we get back. Like, super nice."
Random_Nerd: She looks at Theresa with a blank and rather frightened expression, and holds her daughter close.
Random_Nerd: She shakes her head, and continues to hold onto her kid.

• DanteE hits her with a Ghost-LC-Courage aimed at helping her hold it together.
  
• Theresa crouches down besides her, soothing. "Please...we want to _help_ you..."
  

Random_Nerd: She relaxes a bit when the miracle hits.
Random_Nerd: "We live here. This is our /home/."
Theresa: "Will your town take you in? Your other family?"
Snow: Satisfied, Snow makes her way over to the others.
Random_Nerd: "We... they..." She straightens up. "Yes, I think they will."
Random_Nerd: "And I'd rather be... I'd rather /we/ be with them than with strangers, even helpful ones."
DanteE: (OK, just to make sure: the people who got zapped are unrecoverable, right?)
Snow: "Ground's nice and loose now. Good for growing," Snow offers.

• Theresa nods. "Very well, then. We cannot promise that something like this will not happen again. But we are sorry for your loss."
  

Theresa: (Man, is that ground loose...but his hangover is going to be bad...)
Snow: (*snerk*)
DanteE: (yeah, but it's being fertilized with dead Excrucian)
Random_Nerd: (Well... I'm sure that if you came up with something clever, you could probably save them. But you'd need something bigger than a lesser destruction [since that was what removed them] as well as to find what happened to their souls.)
DanteE: (speaking of which... I'm risking a R0V, but how much damage would their remains do?)
Random_Nerd: (You have no reason to believe that they're particularly damaging.)
Random_Nerd: (Let's say that I can't think of an easy way to get the humans back, although if you come up with something that makes sense and fits the limitations we have, I'll allow it.)
Random_Nerd: (Excrucian corpses tend not to be intrinsically dangerous, unless they have something like Sancrosanct or the My Corpse Done Blown Up Good Strategist one.)
DanteE: (There is, but it would require Snow having a knowledge of quantum physics. :)
Random_Nerd: (And for those, the problems are less a matter of polluting the water table and more like the guy having had a bomb on a dead-man's switch.)
Snow: (*snort* No. :) )
DanteE: (Come to think of it, she could be a living Infinite Improbability Drive. :)
Theresa: (I can't think of a good way either. We had enough trouble with Dante rewiring himself to bring back people with corpses from the dead. We at least needed the bodies before.)
Snow: (Brian could do it. Go back in time--number of days--duplicate the husband--bring him forward in time. Smack him down in front of the wife.)
Random_Nerd: (If Dante added more points in his Gift, it might be able to handle something like this.)
Random_Nerd: (But the current version can't.)
DanteE: (...)
Theresa: (Did we break Dante?  :) )
DanteE: (debating whether to add points now or just write them off as casualties of war)

• Snow looks frustrated.
  

Snow: "KUDZU!"

• Theresa looks at Snow, startled.
  

Random_Nerd: The rubble of the destroyed house sits up.
Random_Nerd: "What?"

• Snow goes over to it.
  

Snow: "Dante doesn't get what bein' you is!"
DanteE: "ah... (to the woman) don't look. Just... don't."
Random_Nerd: Vaguely Humanoid Rubble: "Oh, don't listen to him."

• Theresa will hobble over toward the house after making sure the woman and daughter close their eyes.
  

Snow: (who's he saying that to?)
Random_Nerd: (That could have been to Snow or to the woman. Ambiguous.)
Theresa: "We have taken care of Snow's Estate, Boss. Right, Snow?"
Snow: "You wanna send stuff, that's neat--it's fun--but boy, you gotta show him how to be a Noble."
Snow: "Oh, yeah. It's good now."
Random_Nerd: "Yeah, seems fixed. Good work."
Random_Nerd: "Think you learned anything in the process?"
Snow: "I ate a guy."
Snow: "He tasted good."
DanteE: (We learned you're a bastard... oh, wait, we knew that. :)
Random_Nerd: Kudzu nods to Snow.
Random_Nerd: "A valuable lesson."
Theresa: "We learned a few things. Most that can wait to be talked about once we get home. We survived."
Random_Nerd: "Both humans and excrucians generally taste good."

• Snow offers house-Kudzu a rock for eating.
  

Snow: "Rocks, too. They just taste like rocks though."

• Theresa has a look on her face that says that she's currently a bit sour at the moment.
  

Random_Nerd: "How else should a rock taste?"
Random_Nerd: Kudzu looks at the rock, and then waves it off in a "Nah, I'm good" way.
DanteE: (and bitter, I'm guessing... right Theresa? :)

• Snow licks it, then puts it down.
  

Snow: "So, one of the bad guys got rid of these guys' (*motions to the women*) man. No big deal, right?"
Theresa: (Just a little. But like she said, she'll wait till she gets home. Don't chew out the Imperator in front of the humans.)
Random_Nerd: "Well, you saved the Estate of Capriciousness. A few humans died in the process. It /happens/."
DanteE: (you missed the gag... sour & bitter means she wouldn't get eaten)
Theresa: (Oh, no, I eat sour stuff. <g>)
Random_Nerd: "It's regrettable, but still, there are higher priorities. Even the Light agrees with me on that, and they've got a whole weird thing with humans."
Random_Nerd: Kudzu, to Dante: "What is up with that, anyway?"
Snow: (Heh.)
DanteE: "The Light believes in humanity's potential...
Random_Nerd: "I mean, I like humans. They're interesting. But there are more important things out there."
Snow: "Shiny things!"

• Snow looks thoughtful.
  

Snow: "Also, food."
Random_Nerd: He looks again at the group of you.
Random_Nerd: "So, I take it it came to a fight."

• Theresa covers the hole in her chest, or at least tries to. "A little bit. Snow made a friend."
  

DanteE: "Yes. Two Warmains dead, the third driven off.
DanteE: "But we're hurt, and 4 humans were ... un-made."
Random_Nerd: "Interesting. The horse... were you the one that killed its former owner?"
Theresa: "Snow bit his head off."
DanteE: "We worked together.
Random_Nerd: "Not completely, Blades. Human souls are awfully durable."

• Snow shrugs.
  

Random_Nerd: "I mean, it's /possible/ to destroy one, but it takes some real doing."
Theresa: "So, they're just dead, not destroyed like an Estate?"
Random_Nerd: "Yes. When an Estate is destroyed, it is as if it never were, save as we remember it."
Random_Nerd: "When a human dies, his essences separate and his soul passes up or down."
Theresa: "So, they've just gone on like a normal death. Hmm...well, that's a bit comforting."
Random_Nerd: "Well, well. You seem to have an interesting knack for Excrucian martial culture, Caprice. The master of these shards will appreciate that you didn't leave the horse unclaimed."

• Snow shrugs again.
  

Snow: "I wanted him."
Theresa: "So..you made a deal with the Excrucians. I didn't know you could do that."
Random_Nerd: "No, no. The Excrucians made a deal with /me/."
Theresa: "Oh?"
Random_Nerd: "Do you know what Tempering is?"
Random_Nerd: (And all of you probably do if you want to.)
Theresa: (I do, if you tell me what it is OOC.)
DanteE: "... does that mean the survivor is a better Warmain now?"
Random_Nerd: (It's when a Warmain kills someone and remakes himself in their image.)
Random_Nerd: "Well, since none of you seem to be dead, I take it he hasn't tempered himself."
Theresa: "I think I know what it is. So, you knew someone who was Tempered?"
Random_Nerd: "It's... it's a funny thing. When someone you know dies, and then his killer... becomes him, in a way."
Random_Nerd: "It's a very Warmain thing to do. That's probably why they're almost the only ones to do it."
Random_Nerd: "But it's not just looks. They think like the old person with new priorities."

• Theresa blinks. "Then...how do you know it happened? That the person didn't just change on their own?"
  

Random_Nerd: "Believe me, when an Imperator dies, there are things that happen."
Random_Nerd: "But what you have to understand is that the tempering is a gesture of profound /respect/. It's their way of showing us that, even as they kill us, they value us."

• Snow , growing distracted with all this talk, turns into a rat and scampers around inside Kudzu's building-body.
  

Random_Nerd: "So... I don't expect you to understand. But when a friend, an old friend you've known for more than an age of the world dies, and there's someone who looks like him and thinks like him... sometimes it's hard to just cast that person aside."
DanteE: "Does that mean ... you were prepared ... to sacrifice one of _us_?!?"
Random_Nerd: "You are, ultimately, expendible. I expected that you would deal with this without dying."
Random_Nerd: "But if you died, perhaps your replacement would be better suited to the job."
Random_Nerd: "I would suffer in the process..."
Theresa: "If we died, wouldn't you have lost us? Had us lost from the rest of the world too?"
Random_Nerd: "But there's a war, you see. Sometimes we have to do things we don't like, to make sure we don't lose."
Theresa: "So...we're being tempered too, huh?"
Random_Nerd: "In a way. I'm turning you into tools to fight a war with. The Excrucians may not be bad people, but ultimately, they must be stopped."
DanteE: "Who was your friend?"
Random_Nerd: "We can't let them even take any ground, because there's no way we can take it back. We must be more ruthless than they."
Theresa: "Too bad we can't get the Estates tehy took when we kill them."
Random_Nerd: "He was... he was one, like me, who came in from outside. He failed. And everything that he was was removed from the world, so that I couldn't even explain the concepts to you. All that remains is the one who killed him and became him."
Snow: "Who's that?"
Random_Nerd: "We talked earlier about what happens when a human dies. I don't know what happens when one of my kind dies."
Random_Nerd: "I don't know if, somewhere in the outer darkness, something of him remains."
Theresa: (That's something. That we wouldn't even recognize such an Excrucian because we couldn't recognize the Estates that they took out of the Universe.)
Theresa: "Your memory of him lasts as long as you last."
DanteE: (On a slight tangent... what would happen if we tried the Rite of Rescue on these dead Shards?)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. Rite of Rescue wouldn't do anything, they don't have estates. Also, they're dead.)
Snow: "Everybody's gotta die, Theresa. Otherwise, we couldn't be alive."
Random_Nerd: (Do you mean the Redtooth Rite?)

• Snow looks rattily thoughtful, however briefly.
  

DanteE: (That might be it)
Random_Nerd: (What does the rite you want to do do?)

• Theresa sighs. "I know, Snow. It's just that I lost someone close to me once. And the stuff I said about memory...that's how I was able to keep on without him. One of the few ways."
  

DanteE: (Actually I know what would happen, the Power of Munchkins would plotz. :)

• Snow sniffs.
  

Snow: "Guess so."

• DanteE looks over at the woman.
  

Random_Nerd: She's watching, in a "I've decided that I'm dreaming" sort of way, and the kid is tucked under her arm.

• Theresa looks over at the woman and looks back at Kudzu. "We're almost done here, boss. We'll be home soon."
  
• Snow peers through one of Kudzu's eyeholes.
  

DanteE: "It's the collateral damage we're dealing with now."
Snow: "Let 'em go. They're good. Earth's good, growing's good. They'll find their man again."

• Theresa puts a hand on Dante's shoulder. "We should probably just let them get back to their town. She wanted them to stay here rather than go with us."
  

DanteE: "Still means a kid grows up without a dad."
DanteE: "Maybe several kids."
Snow: "Most things grow up without a dad," Snow offers.
Random_Nerd: The woman's eyes are watering a bit, but she's managing to keep from crying. (Partly through the Courage.)
Theresa: "Look at her and tell me if she isn't strong enough. Tell me that she doesn't have the courage to do this, then."
DanteE: "We'll live, I guess."

• Snow seems to think hard for a moment.
  

Snow: (Any single, age appropriate men in the area who've ever entertained the notion of being a good, kind husband to this lady?)
Theresa: "Because if losing a husband means that you're not strong enough to raise a child or do other things, well...maybe I shouldn't be Plants."
Snow: "You're a good Plants, Theresa. They like you, lots."
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. There are.)
DanteE: "Yeah, but _you_ weren't responsible for his death, unless you went hog wild with the trans fats."
Random_Nerd: (The men slightly outpopulate the women here, largely because more girls have met guys from out of town and moved away with them than vice versa here.)
Snow: (LDiv for anyone who the wife's been interested in, besides her husband? And then match up the two respective lists and see if there are any common men?)
Theresa: "No, it was something nasty and debilitating and painful. And I have had years of telling myself that it's not my fault. But this isn't her fault either. She's just having to do what probably millions of other women do all over the world. Lose the man they love...and still have to carry on."
Random_Nerd: (Hmm...)
Snow: (*grin*)
Random_Nerd: (One person tops both lists. Someone who'd been a close friend of her husband's, long before she got married. As things worked out, it was almost chance which of the two she ended up with. She isn't really interested in him romantically now, but he is unmarried, and the death of her husband is sure to bring her and him back into contact, and he'd at least try to help her through it and help out on the farm.)
Theresa: (You matchmaker...)
Snow: (Snow will do a...ah...drat. The thing where she changes her other MPs into--in this case--DMPs?)
Snow: (Last Trump?)
Random_Nerd: (Rite of the Last Trump?)
Random_Nerd: (What's her Spirit?)
DanteE: "I'm not trying to insult you, Theresa. I just can't help but think there are things we could have done that would let them and him see tomorrow. But there probably isn't."
Snow: (That's the ticket. 0, but she has 5/5 left.)
Random_Nerd: (Okay, so MPs convert at 4 to 1.)
Snow: (In SMP, that is. She also has 5/5 left in RMP.)
Snow: (If she converts 4/5 SMPs to 1DMP, and 4/5 RMPs to 1DMP...then she can cast a Lesser Creation of Caprice.)
Random_Nerd: (That'd be enough to encourage the woman to look at her former friend in a romantic way again.)
Snow: (That's what I'm going for. *nod* Consider it done, please.)
Random_Nerd: (Done.)

• Snow squints, obviously thinking really hard.
  
• Snow suddenly relaxes.
  

Snow: "There. Now things'll be okay."
Random_Nerd: The woman has a slightly distant look, as if an odd thought just crossed her mind.
Snow: RH: "There's a nice man in the village who likes her. And she likes him. She's gonna try to mate with him, if he wants to."
DanteE: (How are the caprices coming?)
Theresa: "Good idea, Snow."

• Snow looks rather pleased with herself.
  

DanteE: "See, _that's_ what I mean about socialization. We at least pretend it's about more than mating."

• Snow gives Dante a funny look.
  

Snow: ... *shrug*

• Theresa tries to control her face the best she can. *to Kudzu* "I don't understand it all about your method for this, boss, but I understand a little more. We're coming home."
  

Random_Nerd: (Caprices continue to do their thing, and Snow will probably be able to feel if they don't, given that that's currently directly tied to the attack on her estate.)
Snow: "Can we go home now?"
Theresa: "Dante, Snow is just more direct about mating in her speech than we are."
DanteE: "Can't argue with that."
Theresa: (Do coyotes mate for life?)
Random_Nerd: (Hell if I know.)
Snow: (I think so. It's late. I don't recall exactly.)
DanteE: "Only loose end is, where are they going to live?"
Theresa: "Their town will figure that out. If need be, we can donate some money to their town for the...surviors of the horrible house collapsing and so forth."
Snow: "She can live with the nice man, anyway."
DanteE: (Actually, one more loose end... how to explain the dead whatsits and the artifacts we're leaving behind, like the multitude of magic spears)
Theresa: (Snow can eat them.)
Random_Nerd: (Eh, you already know that you have cryptozoologists descending on the town.)
Random_Nerd: (If you do nothing, they'll assume that it was the Chupacabra, and everyone else will laugh it off.)
Theresa: (Let's give the Fordeans a headache!)
DanteE: (Yeah, but they don't have tangible evidence)
Snow: (So, shall we assume that we head back via helicopter?)
Random_Nerd: (Works for me.)
Random_Nerd: (Any objections?)
DanteE: (Well... we could split up, have 2 people ride home while the rest of us fly)
DanteE: (unless Snow is no longer afraid of the noisy flying thing. :)
Theresa: (I can fly the helicopter and take Brian if need be.)
Snow: (Snow is not happy about it, but she'll live.)
Theresa: (Then we'll strap the horse in ingeniously and go home.)
Random_Nerd: (Shall we call it quits here?)
Snow: (And it is 12:37am here...I've gotta bail. :) )
DanteE: (Sure)
DanteE: (Actually, is this the end of the story arc?)
Theresa: (Sounds good to me. Will have to get up early tomorrow anyhow to dig out car.)
DanteE: (Where are you guys IRL?
Random_Nerd: (Illinois.)
Random_Nerd: (And yes, this is the end of the story arc.)
Snow: RN, let me sleep on things, and I will give you feedback about the episode. Right now, bed calls me. :)
DanteE: (We just got a little rain here. Good for roads, but the ski resorts are suffering. So if you can pop some of that weather in a box and ship it here we'd appreciate it... :)
Snow: Thanks for the game, guys!
DanteE: g'night Snow

• • • Snow is now known as Sara.
      

Sara: G'night! :)

• • • Sara has left #nobilis.
      

Theresa: (We got about 14 inches of snow.)
DanteE: (just handwave getting everybody home? ...and healed?)
Random_Nerd: _________STOP_____

• • • DanteE is now known as Knockwood.
      

Theresa: (Hmm....need to remember to start up Holy Fire. And I think handwaving would work. A shot of the two groups riding off into the sunset.)
Random_Nerd: (Well, not healed. That'll remain an issue.)
Theresa: (I'm liking Snow. She's a bit of mental whiplash, but she's fun.)

• • • You are now known as BethE.
      

Knockwood: Dante's like... "hey, new sister... Ack!"  :)
Knockwood: Especially with all the talk about mating. :)
Knockwood: BTW, what's the word on Etheric & lazarus?
BethE: Well, Dante is one of her Bonds. <G>
Random_Nerd: He's out, for the next six weeks.
Random_Nerd: He didn't tell me why.
Knockwood: Carrie back next week?
Random_Nerd: Soon, at least.
Random_Nerd: Possibly but not for sure next week.
Knockwood: let's see... 5 points to play with...
Random_Nerd: Anyway, I'm out. See you next week.
Knockwood: .... and the possibility I screwed up my relationship with Theresa :/ ...
Random_Nerd: There is that.
Knockwood: oyasumi-nasai

• • • Random_Nerd has left #nobilis.
      

BethE: Well, she is a bit ticked. She's lost her husband and so she's sensitive to people supposing that without her husband, she couldn't go on.
Knockwood: Maybe the next story can take place in a bar. :)
BethE: Because for a long time she felt like she _couldn't_ go on...she didn't want to go on...and it was only very gradually that she got back to where she is now. She misses him still very much.
Knockwood: o/~ where everybody knows your estate... o/~
BethE: *snort*
Knockwood: did you understand what I meant about socializing Snow?
BethE: I guess Theresa never figured that we'd be able to bring them back. She was more numb and hurt and wanting to care for the survivors.
BethE: Not quite. Can you try to explain it to me some more?
Knockwood: it's cuz she was a teacher.
BethE: Of kindergardeners.
BethE: To make her have more human-like reactions?
Knockwood: Schools are partially about education, but also about socialization (learning to deal with other people) and indoctrination (learning how to be an American)
Knockwood: partially. Also so she can deal with people without them going 'Ack!'
BethE: *grin* I don't think we'll ever get that out of her. That's Carpiciousness right there.
Knockwood: true. :)
Knockwood: besides, Snow's, what, 2? :)
BethE: Hmm...dunno. Apparently of age for her kind if she's into mating with Dante already.
Knockwood: well, the new thing for dog->human age is: 21 the first year, 3 each year after
Knockwood: so the half-wolf we had that lived to 13 was the equivalent of ... 57.