Season Eight
https://wikiawoo.queer.me.uk/index.php?title=Season_Seven&action=edit Summary of Events. Also Todo List
2022-12-05
Jules and Lydia begin with a yelling match, Ariane is sent to visit Dr. Thomas Roberts (the local spooky doc) who doesn't apply silver to her (but she does get some very intense scars from the lightning), the wounded are sent to hospital so Ariane, Sunny, and Lydia, whereas Jules, Carlie, and Holly are all fine. (ooc: We gain +20XP, top up gnosis, WP, and rage)
There is about 3 weeks of downtime (making it now late November 2020) and Holly has been investigating The Director, Ariane hanging James sword on the wall of the living room as a trophy and has mysteriously broken a couple of phones and an alarm clock during her recovery, they just stop working... Jules meanwhile talks about arranging a howl but the Dagenham Deadbeats do one praising us in part (ooc: +1 Glory).
Sunday morning 11am, there's a door knock, Jules is out on Patrol, most people are working/studying around the house, Carlie answers it and finds an MiB who introduces himself as Agent John Smith and wants to come in and talk of a "recent incident". Carlie shuts him out, consults the other. He knocks again and gets Lydia who tries to talk to him about Jesus, he gives his full name this time and says he's from MagiPol, tells her he normally goes to a local evangelical church in Minnesota, but is on business here and hasn't found a church, she invites him to evensong at Southwark and largely invites him in.
He shows us a picture of Dale Williams suspected of being an illegal demon contractor (he is the one who accompanied James), Ariane attempts to clarify that he did illegal things - and is told he often missed the dismissal clauses and other sloppy behaviour. Ariane then calls in Inspector Watford and texts Jules. Lydia says that Dale is probably in hell and is promptly sent upstairs. Carlie suggests that if Smith had wanted an under the table deal about things he should have sign-posted it first. Derek Watford arrives and it turns out that Smith has not cleared his visit...
Jules arrives at the house to see Smith being given the come along nicely armlock by Watford out the front door and calling him a "furry freak" at the same time. Inside Lydia is getting gently lambasted for admitting culpability. There is however cinnamon buns from Sunny and Jules smells gently of aerosol paint. We catch her up and she updates the Pack House Map in the kitchen with the location of our boundary tagging on (it should be noted that Sunny also updates the map with scents).
Jules heads upstairs, gets called by Watford on route, who tells us this is a useless member of MPD, who has come unofficially, and that Minnesota branch think we're Mythics for some reason, Watford has not told them we're not. Also "Smith" snuck a gun through security so is being sent back on the next flight, but was very interested in the demon and the necklace used to summon it, so someone wants the demon/its binding necklace... also that the Immortal James was probably based in Minnesota definitely not a London local (although all the Immortals largely don't cooperate so they tend to decry knowledge of everything).
Also tells us the third guy (the mythic who can do mind control) is a London local and The Guild is running his trial.
He also tells Jules to tell Lydia that he is the only policeman she should talk too... Jules fills in the rest of the pack on the Magipol and gun stuff, Sunny apologises for not smelling the gun. We talk about if the demon was actually killed in the fight or just sent back to hell (probably) - also how do you kill a demon? Talk of Howls as a method of leaking information, talk of John Hadrian the other MagiPol agent we've met. Jules suggests a buddy system except when it comes to Carlie and Lydia's jobs, and we talk about being aware of whats coming from Minnesota.
Jules starts to research and prep some anti-scrying arcana, decides to create some tokens/items instead of locations, they have to be made from 32k gold so buys up some rings, files the faces, and inscribes the sigils. Each will take 2 weeks to charge, ponders heading out to the warehouse to run 2-3 arrays at once charging them, but decides she'd rather just charge 1 at the house and keep an eye on it in the basement.
Lydia sticks a note under the Angel Islington's door at the tube station re: intensive care gig and her sword, is called the next morning by Eddie who says he's her roady and invites her to the gig at Bubbles in Islington for after her set ends at 1am, she invites the rest of the pack and we agree to get Sunny clubwear.
2022-12-12
(The pack finds out about a play called "First Tongue" that may be linked to The Director, investigates The Bunker Theatre, finds a spirit there (the Spirit of the Bunker aka Miss Skippy) eventually discover a portal through to the Umbral realm of Stage, then go to a lockup to find the removed theatre lighting which have silver in them)
The pack is off to Bubbles tonight, however before then Holly comes across a series of flyers for a play called "First Tongue" occurring at at The Bunker Theatre in Southwark. It's billed as "exciting new play from a new author and director!" along with lines like "Come and see the avant-garde, discover mankinds first language!" and has the written glyphs for First Tongue written in first tongue (the language).
She pings it to the group chat, Ariane squees about the pack going to the theatre and Carlie informs her that they already have movies at home. The play runs 2 nights (Friday and Saturday) and we moot the idea its a garou or a kinfolk having a strange time of things. Research the theatre - it's built into a refurbed underground carpark and is a small 200 seat performing arts space. We split the pack into 3 teams: Going in the front to get information and distract people, going in the back to look around, and going in the Umbra to look for weird stuff.
Team Umbra (Lydia and Holly): they peer through the mirrors inside the performance space, there's nothing obviously bad there, a simple stage that is basically at the bottom and and amphitheatre of 4 tiers of seating looking down towards it, full lighting rig. A few changing rooms, and basically no backstage. There's a few weaver spirits hanging around the electronics doing their thing ("sparkies"). After a while they spot a small Wyld spirit that's dancing or possibly reenacting a play, this is quite unusual in the city. Holly chats with the Weaver spirits and they're fearful of the garou, claim the Wyld spirit shows up about a year ago and refer to it as Miss Skippy. They go talk to her and she is about 2 foot tall, green, feminine shaped, has a papery look with what looks like words, a body made out of scripts and other theatrical paperwork. She freezes when she sees them, tells them she's the Spirit of the Bunker is very flustered and refers to Holly as "Your Majesty" amongst other things, it doesn't know a lot about the play but is exited by it, and makes a dramatic exit by just having the floor open up and dropping through it.
Team Front (Sunny and Ariane): Chat to the person in the information booth, try and volunteer but its full up, their last performance was in 2020 and was Little Miss Burden (a play that dramatises the intersections of race, gender and disability). Sunny asks nicely for more information on the theatre and finds it was open since 2016, was fringe theatre of the year before the pandemic and hosts small avante-garde pieces commonly from new directors and with fresh actors, generally pieces written since 2010. We hear that "First Tongue" was written by an indigenous American about the interconnections of native tongues and the English language. They're practising elsewhere and want it to be a complete surprise. Did make some strange requests about removing silver from some of the theatre lighting and paid for that. Ariane buys 6 tickets for Friday (doors at 7, play at 8, something like 90m runtime). The director is a mystery, just known as "The Director"
Team Back (Carlie and Jules): Carlie starts out by going invisible, picks the side/storage area/stage door then spots the burglar alarm, disarms it. Inside there's a motion detector (which upon careful examination turns out to be a fake), and some boxes and bar supplies. Looks around and finds two changing rooms (A and B) and a route to Stage Left (there is only a stage left here). Inside the changing rooms are some hats and stuff, and a half unrolled theatre flat of a London Underground station and a train. The stage is an empty space, and there are 2-3 doors into the performance space, its eerily empty, no backdrops, no props, no marks on the floor. She explores further in, finds 2 loos, a bar area with CCTV, and can hear Ariane talking to the front desk through another door.
The Pack meets up and swaps information on things, the place has creepy vibes you'd expect of an empty theatre but no ghosts or bad things, the Wyld spirit comes up, and we talk about how The Director is keeping things under cover if they're bad or something else is going on.
We take a trip to the spirit realm and the docks to check the warehouse we originally fought The Director in, the docks have tall ships and grumpy spiders, a faint scent of Wyrm but no doorway into the space, its just gone. The Pack talks through the history of Ben Valis/The Director and clears that up in their brains, then talks through the idea of staking out the Bunker Theatre, Carlie realises we should check for deeper portals to other places from the Penumbra.
We head back to the Bunker to check and Carlie finds one on the main stage area, leading... somewhere.
We enter and pass through heavy old curtains, finding ourselves on a stage, the lights are down, there's the small dancing figure of The Spirit of the Bunker, hints of an audience behind the lights and a round of applause as Carlie is announced, followed by everyone else who goes through. Music from a wurlitzer starts up and Ariane gives Puck's speech, followed by Jules also quoting Shakespere. Miss Skippy asks if we want to do a play (and keeps calling Holly "Your Highness") she tells us she hasn't seen the director, has no script yet, only some lights setup. Carlie muses this is all a shell game, layers within layers to keep us looking in the wrong places. Jules ask where the lights are and is told a lockup in Peckham. She also welcomes us to the Umbral realm of Stage where all the worlds stages connect.
We're lead from there to Peckham by the spirit, Holly gifts her with gnosis and is heralded as a Patron of the Arts.
The lockup has no mirrors inside, so Sunny uses her gift to drop herself inside without one, there are 2 large photography cases and lots of old props. She finds the spot lights and kicks the lock to open it from the inside. We check them and find they have silver filiment or something inside, one feels a little nicer than the other - Ariane feels it like when the spirit of her glaive is being more active. We talk of how its possibly a link to The Spirit of the Bunker, Holly peers into the spirit and can see some general London spirits, some weaver stuff, and a faint vibe in the light. There's also a Wyrm spirit over the road in a shop. The pack rolls across the road into a betting shop and stomps a small tempting Wyrm spirit.
2022-12-19
(The pack except Carlie went to Bubbles to meet The Angel Islington, Ariane got quite high (others less so). Lydia, Holly, and Jules met Eddie the Vampire. Holly couldn't see into the Umbra. The Angel absorbed too much Gnosis (partially because Ariane flashed her), lost control of the "healing aura" thing, Lydia tried to knock on the fire alarms, rip up the cables to stop the sound and finally turned Crinos to get people out. A bouncer shot her and everyone ended up in a weird featureless realm. Meanwhile Derek Watford got hold of Carlie, they went to the club, she hopped through a portal with Watford's gun. Meanwhile in the backdoor of Heaven the rest of the pack met Archangel Michael, argued a bunch, and Carlie pulled them out through a portal before Michael and 2 other Angels murdered them. Derek Watford then gassed and arrested The Angel Islington and pins the blame on Lydia)
The team is at Bubbles, its a dive, a single story building wedged between some others with a black exterior and bright pink sign, music thumping out of it. Ariane buys some ectasy from someone in the queue and shares it around the pack. At the door we buy VIP tickets, they come with something on sugar paper which Ariane also takes.
Inside Eddie finds Lydia in the crowd, takes her backstage, Jules and Holly follow along, there is very mild Wyrmness to the vampire but nothing major. They shake hands and Holly heads back to keep an eye on front of house, and on the way there's a weird bright flash and she can't see into the Umbra.
The Angel Islington arrives, chats briefly to Lydia and Jules, Eddie gets drinks, Lydia catches Jules up on last time she met the Angel and the plan to run music at the ICU. They talk of God and drugs, Jules suggests she doesn't find god enough, Lydia reminds her that statistically positive interactions with Christians result in conversions, Jules jokes this is stockholm syndrome. Eddie returns with the drinks to tell them the Angel met Jesus once. There is lengthy theological debate.
Meanwhile Ariane is out front getting brain whammied by The Angels music, dances towards the DJ booth, flashes the Angel then blows her a kiss and offers her all the gnosis she has as she takes power from the room (ooc: she picks up 7 points from the pack). The Angel and even the humans notice ***something*** has gone weird as she starts to glow, the music falters, everyone back stage picks up on it, Eddit puts his drink down and just vanishes from the room at supersonic speeds out front to the Angel. Lydia looks out front and sees a literal Seraphim manifesting (wheels, wings, etc), punches a nearby firealarm to try and get everyone out. Jules goes out to argue with Ariane to get her clothing on and stop making a scene (she eventually complies). The Angel tells Eddie to run and he vanishes, Lydia looks for windows to break to help get people out, then dives under the DJ booth to rip at wires to try and stop the music. Sunny dances closer to see whats going on.
Suddenly the lights go out, and the only light in the room is The Angel's glow, Lydia yells at people to evacuate and goes crinos to encourage people to leave, then starts trashing the equipment to stop it making noise, Ariane tries to go to hug the Angel but the movement of the crowd keep her back.
One of the bouncers pulls a gun and aims it for Lydia's crinos form, when he shoots her she turns and lunges for him, Jules shifts to intercept but bounces off, Holly decides to let Lydia learn, Sunny knocks the bouncer out the way.
The world then goes white and the floor feels like it feel out of the world, we revert to our breed forms (everyone in homid except Sunny) and all drug effects are flushed, everything feels like the natural state of being with ambiant bright white light from no source and there is a very very loud silence.
Jules moves to thump Lydia who just takes it, and Jules and Holly shout at her before we start to try and work out where we are. The floor is smooth and hard, cold to the touch, absolutely no scent. Lydia starts to pray (gets nothing), Sunny finds she can't shift sideways, Jules howls and gets no response, Lydia can't shape shift, also our skins are impenetrable. We talk about after lives (Heaven and The Hunting Ground), speculate if the Angel did this? Holly says she doesn't like that the Angel takes gnosis, there is talk of offerings, and people tease Ariane for taking her top off. Lydia tears her skirt and it repairs when she looks back. We also check and find all our scars are gone (like Arianes burns) except Jules silver scars (did that mark her soul?).
Meanwhile... back out in the physical: Derek Watford calls Carlie, as the last member of the Pack he could reach, gives her a CCTV clip of Lydia going under a stage, The Angel starts to glow, then a crinos werewolf emerges from under the stage and the video fades to white. Suggests she come along to the crime scene. When she arrives its a taped off club and she tells the police cordon she's "With Watford" and they let her in. They can see a white glow coming from under the door (she senses a powerful portal to a deep Umbral realm, it feels weird and she knows she'd need to be near the centre for it to work). Watford opens the door a crack, they peer in and see bodies? Forms at least on the floor and feel the pull of a vaccuum towards the centre of the light. Watford gives her a gun and two clips, one loaded with silver for Garou, one loaded with some sort of "Angel/Devil Specials". She goes in...
Back on the Featureless Plain: There is a pop and a man (revealed to be Archangel Michael) in robes with wings of light appears, looking puzzled and consternated. He tells people this is the Gates To Heaven itself and says its not for us, its how the Seraphim and other Angels go in and out, the back door essentially. He wants to put us back once he knows how we got here and Lydia tells him about the Sword she has . Ariane pleads innocence ("it was all the drugs!") Lydia summarises the situation of how we got there, he tells her that the Angel who lives in Islington is the Angel Monocea (pronounced Mono-sea-a). Ariane suggests letting her back into Heaven and Michael says she is welcome back if she renounces her union with Eddie. He vanishes to "consult with the others".
At which point Jules is stalking back and forth, and Carlie appears, Sunny discovers that Carlie smells of things (as she's travelled here instead of being brought?). Carlie catches up on things then says she can open a portal so opens one and ushers us through. Lydia volunteers to stay behind and explain things and everyone tells her to get in the hole, with Carlie pitching "go or I go to hell". 3 Angels arrive with swords drawn and everyone promises to commit violence to both Lydia and the Angels if she doesn't get into the portal which makes her go.
Back in Bubbles: Watford is in the doorway with a bulky guy next to him, there is a sense of confusion and we can feel the pull of the portal behind us. Everyones back in the forms they were in before leaving (mentally travelling?) so we flip back human. Jules shouts at Watford to take Lydia away, Ariane notices the portal centres on the DJ booth. Watford gets the big guy to throw a "mistletoe special" inside the portal and gas the place out, he shouts at us to stay still, Carlie strolls over and gives his gun back. 30 seconds of gas later they drag the unconscious form of The Angel Islington out of the club and Watford (rather gleefully) tells her shes under arress and tells Lydia it was her fault.
Next session: The ranting.
2023-01-09
(The pack returns from Bubbles except Lydia who is arrested. Watford and Lydia have a long conversation about the Heavenmouth at Bubbles, The Angel claiming she had things under control, and possible death/exile charges. Sunday at the Pack House Watford comes over, there is talk of the charges and possible risks of keeping Lydia in the Pack. Sunny goes out to process, Sir Robert arranges a meeting at the BM with Jules tomorrow at 13:00, Ariane gets chewed out by her Mother and told to mount a defence, we debate plans back and forth about how to save Lydia's life, Jules and Carlie both go out. Later everyone has take out and debates plans ending in agreeing to get in touch with Lydia, Sunny meanwhile hangs out at the Bonegnawers curry house) - worth reading for details this is a long one.
At Bubbles Nightclub Ariane is once more high which is very weird because she was stone cold sober in the alternative reality. There are also a lot of cops around, people are looking to Inspector Watford for what to do. There's a non-descript white van, two big guys hanging out the back and a third in the passenger seat who seem to be working with him (The Gargoyles?)
Watford is murderously angry with Jules, who largely agrees that Lydia is beyond her control and shes not sure what Watford wants her to do about this that she's not already tried. Watford tries to pin this on Jules as an issue because she's a member of the Pack and Jules suggests she thinks a higher power is driving her every action and she does waht she wants. Watford gets a police sargent to read Lydia her rights and has her arrested and taken to an ambulance for treatment for the gunshot wound.
Jules gets Ariane some water, a copper tries to get everyones names and numbers until Carlie invokes Watford's name to get us all past the barrier. Sunny is whimpering and hugging herself and Ariane claiming she has the drug tolerence to put everyone else under the table until she gets thrown in the car by Carlie who takes everyone home.
Meanwhile: Lydia is being booked under the terrorism act, held in a hospital while healing and quietly going along with it, makes a call to Derek Watford persuades him to come by reminding him she has no pack, church, or family, and maybe is doubting god, and he's the last thing she has left so he comes to "ask her some questions".
She discovers there's probably only 1-2 dead and maybe 30-40 serious injuries but that someone has to be held to account to the Grandese of London. She fills him in on what happened from her perspective (going to meet The Angel Islington about the plan to cure covid from the ICU, chatting to Eddie, him being told to run, seeing the Angel in its true form, her trying fire alarms, cables, shouting, smashing equipment and crinos as a last attempt to scare people from the club - figuring it was a jumping on a grenade situation. Watford says she should have talked to the Angel who's version of events was that she was "handling things well" until the crinos change and Watford says he'll talk to Jules about things. Watford says he visited her parents but they denied she existed.
They agree that everything depends on the Angel and if she sticks to her story then Lydia may get done for attempted murder of a Grandese. Says someone else from the magical community will come and talk to her and advises she say nothing until Watford has helped her craft her defence. If she's found not guilty then shes free to go, but may need a new pack. If guilty its probably execution or banishment. Lydia requests Watford fetch the photos from her room of her family as its the last physical thing she has to remember them by.
Meanwhile: Back at the Pack House: Sunny instantly flips into Lupus and collapses on her beanbag, Ariane goes to sit on the sofa looking worried. The next morning starts with Watford arriving early, Carlie answers, he puts his warrant card on the side table to indicate a truce and tells her "Good job last night" which they both find weird. Have a discussion about not liking Angels, Watford remarks they can be dangerous and unreasonable and how Lydia almost went to the ones in heaven. Jules and Sunny join the conversation, and Watford wants to know if Lydia is officially out of the pack, there's silence and Jules says she doesn't know what to do. Watford says that if Jules doesn't throw her out the pack then Jules will carry some of the blame for her. Watford says his current plan is to get her exiled and deported so she can go do her religious nursing somewhere far away and less densely populated, and if she does a guilty plea she probably won't be allowed to stay in the UK. Carlie doesn't like that she may get to do the martyring she so wanted. She asks Watford how she got dumped with her family and he confesses to some responsibility in that he found out and didn't object or challenge it as he wasn't in a position to bring up a kid then. Jules reminds him that no one knew how she'd turn out.
Jules finishes with "I spent most of the night working out if I want to murder her or save her", and Watford says that soon an official from the Grandese will ask and we'd better have an answer but at the minute they're having stern words with The Angel. Carlie asks what happens if shes not guilty and comes back to the pack and keeps on following her upbringing? Watford says the worst case is eventually they send someone to hunt and kill us, but many different options. Jules reminds him she always seems contrite and feels bad but then does it again. Watford admits that we know her better than he does (which hurts him to admit). Carlie moots the plan of an isolated cottage in Cumbria and therapy as better than a prison. Watford goes to collect the photos, Jules goes to smoke, Sunny and Carlie do breakfast for everyone.
Sunny feels bad about the whole situation, like bad and angry but unsure who she's angry at. Carlie tells her to mark this as a day in her diary because this is a very human experience and Sunny says she doesn't like it, she normally has feelings without needing to question them. Carlie suggests going to fight the targets she has setup in the warehouse for blowing off steam, she talks about working off her anger so it doesn't explode or maybe go for a run but Sunny says she runs when shes happy. Doesn't even feel like eating breakfast so goes out.
Jules gets a text from Sir Robert Laffrey and they arrange a conversation for 13:00 Monday in the British Museum (today is Sunday). Ariane gets called by her Mother as Robert called her up to complain and gets chewed out for admitting to powering up The Angel, threatened with being dragged back and told to help generate a defence for Lydia. Then has a discussion with the pack about how getting executed is not even being properly martyred (which requires a glorious death against the wyrm, not being killed by beaurocracy) and is broadly told to shut up. Holly waits for Watford to leave before she comes down, the media story is that the Heavenmouth at Bubbles was the result of CO and a gas leak causing hallucinations.
Carlie tells people that if she's out the pack and is exiled its a death sentence that is just being done elsewhere out of view, but if she's in the pack we may all go down. Talk of plans: Ariane moots the idea of slowly getting her out of the Pack over time after the charges resolved and we can find somewhere to rehome her. We talk of The Angel claiming she had control. Ariane moots the idea of a nunnery or somewhere remote and wonders if The Guild have any alchemy that could stop her transforming while she works on her anger. Carlie notes that she decides if she lives or dies and that she broadly wants to die, suggests sending her somewhere to encounter the real world, learn to moderate and express her temper without bottling it up. Jules ducks out of the conversation to go for a walk, Carlie goes to the warehouse to see if Sunny is there.
Meanwhile: Sunny goes for a walk, curls up to watch the world go by in a warm spot and recover. Jules goes to talk to Bell, asks about old packs and hears the last ones used an anti-materiel rifle with depleted uranium rounds to take someone out so its not unheard of. Jules talks about Lydia being in trouble and that Jules is very pissed off but doesn't want her to suffer. Bell says suffering is sometimes how we learn and grow, they talk about how if she can't learn and grow she may not survive, Bell suggests sending her somewhere in the Deep Umbra to help the process. She also checks in on our general progress, told we're doing quite well, no demons, no corruption, even an Angel popped by. Tells Jules that if we're needed her bells will toll in an unexpected time and that we've barely killed anyone, only those that deserve it.
The Pack gets take out dinner. Jules says her primary goal is keeping her alive, Ariane suggests a religious mission. Carlie worries for Sunny who's hated every argument and that Lydia dying will break her heart. Jules says we can't risk keeping her in the pack as it risks all of us. Carlie suggests telling Sir Robert we're working on a solution/answer and play for time. Ariane suggests a plan of getting Sunny and Carlie into New Scotland Yard to talk to Lydia and pitch her these plans. Sunny meanwhile is lurking outside the Bonegnawers curry house.
2023-01-16
At Abdul's Restaurant in Clapham Sunny is chatting to Sanjeev, who offers her a bowl of delicious curry which she eats off the floor. They chat and Sunny says she can't deal with pack conflicts as they should be a united front and family, agrees that she's welcome to come help out in the kitchen any time as a distraction and essentially learn more cooking in exchange for her time, and she talks about getting a B&B or something to avoid the house, he arranges for his cousin to pop by and lend her some clothes. They talk about the role of her wisdom being useful for the pack and she says her Auspice is supposed to be more about judgement and Sanjeev suggests maybe judging the pack harshly but she says all the decisions seem the wrong ones as the situation has gone too far. They chat about the Grandese, Sunny doesn't get how an angel can lose control, Sanjeev says all the blame is being pinned on Lydia which is a convenient distraction and enables everyone else to pin things on the garou as "uncontrollable and violent creatures" pushing their own agendas and weakening our position.
Sunny heads to the staff room once Sanjeev's Cousin arrives, theres a story about spilling oil in the kitchens ruining her clothes, however the presumption occurs they're sleeping together ("He takes as much care as a lover as he does with his cooking"), Sunny is offered clothing including a sari to borrow and heads out to pick up an outfit.
Meanwhile: Ariane makes a plan of attempting to prove The Angel Islington did in fact lose control of her powers by doing an experiment to push a pile of gnosis into her in a more controlled environment as even refusal to test the theory in court would look suspicious, this would then hopefully push Lydia's case into being one of Garou internal laws and hence exile more likely than execution.
An envelope is delivered (probably by Watford) with Lydia's handwriting on:
Dear Southwark Belles,
I am sorry. I was trying to keep everyone safe. I have been trying not to talk to the police about anyone else but it is difficult. It would help a lot of you could find me a lawyer please.
I need somewhere to go. I am not going to be exiled unless there is somewhere I can go to, because I am going to keep getting into trouble until I learn how to be a werewolf and a Christian, and I have been getting both of them very wrong. I saw Sara’s true form, she really is what she says she is, which means that I have been wrong about most things. If I have nowhere to go to I will probably be executed. I have changed lots in the last six months but I was starting from the wrong place.
I am not sure if you are allowed to talk to Sara before the trial, but afterwards then please tell her that I absolutely was not trying to kill her, I wanted her help, I don’t know if it is even possible to kill an angel, and I forgive her.
Please help. I am so sorry.
Lydia
The pack reads it and tries to make some plans, Carlie goes to talk to the Forty Elephants about contact information for Celeste to see if they have somewhere religious we could stick Lydia, this causes Diamond Annie to call Jules back, Annie also has a letter from Lydia about being thrown out and asks if this means Lydia wants a jailbreak, Jules asks her not too but Annie thinks this would be amusing and "take the Grandese latest chew toy away". Jules admits she still feels responsible, Annie asks why if Lydia is being thrown out, implies that us feeling responsible to Lydia suggests shes not really out. Jules says Lydia has done too much to gamble everyones lives but Annie reminds her that the pack has no standing with the Grandese if she's not in the pack. She does at least give us Celeste's number and requests if we jail break we should get Annie in.
Jules goes for a smoke, Ariane gets Carlie to call Celeste (because Carlie still has The Werewolf Bible, she gets invited to a reading session in a couple of weeks and during the call Celeste also gets a note from Lydia. Carlie pitches that she may have assaulted a Grandese and pitches the idea for somewhere out of hte city for her to learn to be a good werewolf, and later a good christian. Celeste says the Children of Gaia have a retreat in the Umbra near the Hunting Grounds that its almost impossible to get to and from without a guide. She also claims that the Grandese will make the right choice because they are individually fallible but collectively informed by god in their decision making (which is in part why they have an Angel) and when Carlie reminds her that she maybe assaulted the Angel she just states that god moves in mysterious ways. Carlie offers "As a Ragabash its not just faith that moves the world its a pack". Celeste says if we get her to the shop then she can get her into the Umbra right away.
Jules comes back from having a smoke and tells us the plan is that she is going to bed and "no one is to do anything" heavily implying we should go jail break Lydia, Carlie then goes to talk to her to get clarity about the jailbreak, they chat about Diamond Annie's plan, but says nothing will move until we do. Jules says shes "a passable liar not a mastermind, I need to know nothing" and that "If I tell you to do nothing I can't be held responsible, I don't wan her to die" and Carlie gets clarification on if this will be Annie doing things or Carlie, but Jules doesn't know if Annie will do anything without us.
Holly says she could be very useful being our alibi and will attempt to manufacture evidence we were elsewhere.
Ariane finally recalls that Giannis Valatos is in fact a lawyer and ponders calling him or Lord Brennan of Matrix Chambers, calls Brennan and manages to get through his secretary, calling him away from dinner. Learns that "The Celestials" will be running a Star Chamber trial and only a few are qualified to stand, he is one, and he agrees to do it in exchange for a personal boon from Ariane, and tells her that a packless garou has little chance in front of the Grandese, we will need to engage in a "full throated defence" of Lydia (Ariane then texts Jules this information)
Carlie meanwhile calls up Diamond Annie, who's bored and has an itchy on her sticky paws to acquire something or annoy people. She says it depends where she's being held, because if its in Met Office HQ it should be fine to get her, but if its in Paddington Green (an allegedly abandoned place to house terrorism suspects) its basically impossible, this turns out to be the home of 21st Tactical Reconnaissance Regiment who are Watford's shit kickers and if she's in there they'll only be able to grab her as she's moved. Carlie agrees to go stand watch outside and see if she can work out if she's in there.
Jules skips sleep and comes downstairs for wine, Ariane explains the meaning of her text, there is talk of if Jules has been a good alpha and the alpha games. Ariane says she has been largely and that she's not sure she could have done better, she is also grouchy and sad/angry because of being out of gnosis so goes to meditate with Bell, but before she goes she shares a meaningful look with Jules over a glass of wine. (ooc: the GM and the fanfic community are very sure that Ariane is gay)
Meanwhile: In Lydia's cell: a gruff copper delivers a message from Lord Brennan about having defence before "The Beaks", tells her Ariane arranged this and she nods to agree, he says he's going to arrange for them to have a visit...
2023-01-23
(Carlie stakes out Paddington Green confirms it's definitely in use, Lydia chats to the mind-illusion mage we met before, Sunny has breakfast with Amita's family, Ariane and Holly go looking for Sunny and find her and have a tense conversation, Lydia has a long chat with Lord Brennan about her trial and how the rest of the Grandese view garou, plans are made for a patrol and also the meeting at the BM)
We start with Carlie outside Paddington Green which is definitely in use, there are vans going in and out of the basement carpark, and a few people going in and out of side doors with pizza. She texts Diamond Annie who just replies "Damn". Sometime after breakfast she starts to feel exhausted, thinks she can work out how to get inside but has no idea what to expect in there, so heads back to the Pack House.
Lydia meanwhile is in a cell and can hear someone being put in next to hers, she sings some hymns and gets a "Hello?" back, a voice she recognises (it transpires its the mental illusion mage from Season_Seven#2022-11-21) who tells her he's in for attempted robbery and burglary. She tries to catch a scent from him, its just industrial cleaners, mentions she's in a pack and he reveals a Pack of Werewolves did in his friend and an American recently which got him caught. He says the plan was no deaths, merely confuse everyone, go in, grab "an Angel's feather" and leave, he's not sure who for but apparently they can bring the recently dead back to life. He also bangs on the door and complains he's next to a murderer. He mentions her mental persuasion of "Repent" and says he was held by mental health services because he was compelled to repent everything he ever did in his life until he was done, at which point Watford and "The SAS" kidnapped him. Talk about how the Pack seems to keep killing Americans. Lydia reassures him that no professional will ever bother actually reading the notes of his confessions because they don't have time and says if she gets out and can get access to the file she'll burn it. He says he talked to his mage friends to try and get a lawyer from The Guild but they refused him, but if they let him live he's going to get on a cargo ship and leave the country never to return and spend the rest of his life mentally convincing people their problems aren't so bad and help them.
Breakfast is delivered to the cells, Lydia tries to use her persuasion on the Guard and with a smell of burning a magic ward he's wearing burns off bouncing the effect, he tells her next time Jim (who's outside) will shoot her with silver bullets.
Sunny wakes up with a relaxed mood from a good night, still in Homid form thankfully, Amita (Sanjeev's Cousin) is sleeping on a sofa across the room. She carefully gathers her stuff and leaves a thank you note before trying to creep out. Downstairs she finds a woman cooking a delicious rice and fish dish, their's a polite exchange across languages and she gets a bowl of breakfast which she spends a lot of time eating with her eyes shut and sniffing to try and work out the exact seasoning. She offers to wash up to help out but is sort of scowled at by Amita's Father, the parents suggest she leave as the family need to talk, and she leaves some Turkish Delight as a thank you. Amita catches up to her before she goes and says she thinks her Dad believes they slept together, Sunny suggests saying that she was going to sleep with Sanjeev until being talked out of it, and she heads off.
Back at the Pack House: Ariane has already texted Sunny about borrowing gnosis from the Stargazers for the trial but has no answer, she gives her a call and she and Holly hear it coming from her bedroom. They agree to split up, spend an hour searching and then meet up at Southwark Cathedral. Holly takes the Umbra, Ariane the physical.
Holly's search lead's her to encounter Maneki-neko and she pretends not to notice the spirit then dives into the chase, is tuanted and teased and eventually Maneki-Neko springs through a puddle and when she follows she finds herself coming out of a wall mirror.
Sunny is at a starbucks and hears someone scrabbling in the loo and when an employee goes to check she hears Holly who claims she was started by a phone alarm. Holly joins her, explains how the pack is worried and Sunny says she doesn't want to be around when The Pack is like this. Holly asks if she wants to look for another Pack and Sunny responds that if she didn't care about the people involved she wouldn't be in this situation. Holly puts her phone back together and texts Ariane and tells her about Sunny's mood and that she hopes she can say something.
Back at Paddington Green there is a banging on Lydia's door and she is told her lawyer is here, she's moved to the interrogation room by two police armed with guns and tells them their security isn't enough and they should have gas for garou. Inside the room she gets to meet Lord Brennan, who arranges cups of tea and suggests she not antagonise the police. They do a run through of the whole situation.
Brennan suggest she has a number of defences, because she was trying to save lives and saw a "terrible Archangel" and her fear of it made her transform. Lydia confirms she knows the bible and just what Angels are capable of doing and how dangerous they can be. Brennan encourages her to lead her statement with the fear, because using Crinos (the "war form") won't be something the court will see as something a werewolf would do to save people, they'll see it as only for killing. Lydia suggests she was essentially throwing herself on a grenade and being bigger means she'd soak more, Brennan confirms she was hoping to soak up more of whatever magical explosion the Angel caused with her furry form literally shielding them. Lydia confirms she went no where near the Angel herself, merely smashed the equipment to try and break her link to the crowd, but Brennan keeps pushing the fear of the Angel angle, suggesting she "reflect" about it more and that it wasn't a choice it was a reflex action based on fear, because of the terrifying image of an Archangel losing control of its magic, and while her rage drove her to destroy the equipment she did it primarily out of fear and was in control enough to not attack The Angel or the crowd.
Lydia tries to ask why its better if its an accident and Brennan lays out the view that Crinos is seen as purely for killing things, and that she felt unsafe and "lost control" and that the change was "instinctual" as Gaia and nature put the werewolves on the earth to kill things, and in fact "her self control should be applauded". Lydia confirms that compared to a Crinos werewolf an Angel is 1000s of times worse. Brennan confirms the court will see a Crinos werewolf as a danger, as they just kill, and she may get them to damn all garou. Lydia says her act was based on The Angel telling Eddie to run. Brennan confirms on reflection thus it was an instinctual change based on fear. Lydia asks about the rest of the Packs actions and Brennan suggests she be honest with the court about everything else.
He says the trial will be her being taken from here to the Tower of London, the Jury will be made up of the Grandese best placed, since the Prosecution is normally Watford it's been swapped to Harold (The Vampires Grandese). The Angel is witness so not on the panel. Crone Fleet (The True Londoner/True Fae/Fairies Grandese) is the Judge. The outcomes are: A fine in time (essentially community service) at the most minor end, and at the most extreme is execution. If she is exiled and discovered returning to the country then she will be executed, confirms she couldn't join the army because enough of the training occurs on British soil. Brennan has heard Watford is trying to arrange an exile to Kenya for missionary work, Lydia says she is increasingly unsure on Christianity and is needed at the hospital for all the high risk covid stuff, which her immunity makes her able to do. Lydia suggests Bishop of Southwark as a character witness although he is denied visitation rights here.
Back at the Starbucks: Ariane orders a silly complex drink then says she was worried Sunny had been ambushed or killed, Sunny in turn presses her about how surely this would be a glorious death like she always talks about. Sunny says they never really worked well as a pack, the constant arguing and fighting. Arine tries to justify everything (partly by admitting that Garou are often too human to be good wolves and too wolf to be good humans, hence all the rage and bickering) and talks about Jules (who kills people with magical experiments) and Carlie turning her life around, but Sunny shoots her down for attempting to lawyer her and asks Holly if she can justify why The Pack is good. Holly talks about how it feels more like family than friend ties, and despite everything that's happened we're still doing good things and having good effects towards our goals, she says we can't make people say but that if Sunny has an issue with how the pack is being run then she should challenge for alpha.
Sunny asks how come the alpha can just throw people out without agreement from the Pack wonders what sort of arrangements we have. Wants to talk to Lydia and plans to walk The Umbra until she can find her in her cell. She says nothing she's tried to bond the pack together has worked well enough, and when Ariane suggests challenging she says there's not point as she can't hold the Pack to agreements everyone does what they want. Finishes saying she doesn't get why she has to be human, doesn't know why she changed.
Holly talks about how first changes are allegorical, we're picked because we're picked, the meaning is what we make of it. Ariane talks about how she makes her picking to be garou about her duty and says the deal with the Grandese rankles because it doesn't combat the Wyrm it just has nice meetings with it, a cold war that will eventually get hot even thought its been going for 70-80 years it can't last.
Holly says she's going to go on patrol as something's bugging her, and recruits people. Ariane says she's in but eventually its agreed she's going to go to the BM meeting to back up Jules. Sunny takes her shopping stuff (except a spare outfit which she leaves in Holly's Magpie Swag) to a nearby post office to post it back to herself and then goes to join Holly.
Meanwhile: Lydia asks about passing messages, says she's "been wrong about nearly everything and if I get out and see them I won't be sure where to start making things up to them." she also asks Brennan to tell her family that she loves them, and tell Derek Warford he has inadequate security here to hold Garou, also to let Bell and Celeste know where she is. She mostly wants Brennan to tell The Pack she's really sorry, misses us, and wants to turn things around as "they're not much but they're all I've got" and that she "forgives them no matter if they stand up for her or not".
She talks about how the Lady of Kowloon can sense truth telling, and Brennan says he's aware but its probably inadmissible in court. She also tries to arrange cover for the guy in the next cell but Brennan again reminds her he is only her lawyer, not everyones. On the way back to the Cell she chats with The Guards about the Wards and they admit they get through a lot of them but they've got a lot of them.
Next session: Holly and Sunny on patrol. Jules and Ariane meet Sir Robert Laffrey at The British Museum.