In Nomine: the Pacific War (IC)

[tHEhERETIC]

"Hey Mitch," Ryuki says a little too slickly, "could you put on these headphones and tell me what's on the plane radio tonight?" He waits a second to see if Mitch will do it, but proceeds regardless.

Here's why: He's trying to be polite because he intends to lie like a rug. Nothing in what he said above is a lie, though it is a misdirection. Below...

Originally Posted by Dalillama

"I hate to waste resources like that, but if need be..."

"Yeah but really. What will I use them for? I might as well get paid a little for them rather than dealing with treasure hunters wanting to up and take them from me." If Glen is perceptive, he'll catch the wink.

Originally Posted by ladyarcana55

"Ryuki, everything we got from Kingman is yours. The only reason why Glen has it is because you weren't there at the time and things kept happening. And Glen, before you bring that up again, no I did not promise you anything. I only said at the time that I would be okay with you taking it but then I decided otherwise."

"I believe there were four jars total. One had the goddess, Julia, Shuck and one other I think? That one god wants Julia back and I am willing to let him have her as long as they don't return."

"Yeah, four. Shuck is Glen's dog, no two ways about that until the Wild Hunt comes to challenge him. Julia is dangerous--I personally wouldn't let her out at all. And the goddess...a Victorian creation if I'm not mistaken. We'd get more for her from our fellow sorcerers than from the ethereals, I think."

Originally Posted by ladyarcana55

"Who? He was the one who was stalking me, Kane and Artemis during the hunt for the god. Kane fought him but I don't know what all happened with that. Why do we want him?"

"Right, exactly. First, he's able to neutralize a seriously dedicated Malakite, albeit one acting basically alone. More than that, though...if half the gossip is correct, Tishbite is on Hell's Most Wanted list. He wants to go 'home' less than our buddy in a blender does." http://www.incyclopedia.org/ch599.html

[Puck]

Originally Posted by tHEhERETIC

"Hey Mitch," Ryuki says a little too slickly, "could you put on these headphones and tell me what's on the plane radio tonight?" He waits a second to see if Mitch will do it, but proceeds regardless.

Here's why: He's trying to be polite because he intends to lie like a rug. Nothing in what he said above is a lie, though it is a misdirection. Below...



"Yeah but really. What will I use them for? I might as well get paid a little for them rather than dealing with treasure hunters wanting to up and take them from me." If Glen is perceptive, he'll catch the wink.



"Yeah, four. Shuck is Glen's dog, no two ways about that until the Wild Hunt comes to challenge him. Julia is dangerous--I personally wouldn't let her out at all. And the goddess...a Victorian creation if I'm not mistaken. We'd get more for her from our fellow sorcerers than from the ethereals, I think."



"Right, exactly. First, he's able to neutralize a seriously dedicated Malakite, albeit one acting basically alone. More than that, though...if half the gossip is correct, Tishbite is on Hell's Most Wanted list. He wants to go 'home' less than our buddy in a blender does." http://www.incyclopedia.org/ch599.html

Mitch politely take the headphones and puts them on for a moment. After listening he take them off just in time to hear the last bit "Actually I think you've miscounted, there were 12 of the jars we took from Kingman. As for the radio it's some sort of pop music, I'm afraid I can't identify the singer."

[tHEhERETIC]

Corat leaves Cameron in the able if virtual hands of the Kyriotate and steps onto the plane through its tether. He sits himself down with the party.

"The tech lady is having a really rough time of it, so I left her with a Dominion. I figure talking to someone virtual for now will be a little less surreal than someone in the flesh telling her exactly how weird her life has gotten.

"So, let's see what we've got. We have 'Tishbite', a fugitive from Hell---"

"Aren't they all?" Ryuki cuts in.

"No. Some of them actually call the place home. So a fugitive and his three toadies in L.A. Someone pushing Michael and Baal and the two sides in general into an open war, someone who's linked to at least two ethereal pantheons. And we've set a trap for Ruby, demon queen of L.A. and a big fan of Freedom, and I don't quite remember why. And you," he nudges Ryuki, "have declared personal war on the ancestor of a girl who's caught your eye who happens to be our own Sunae. Have I missed anything?"

Ryuki's eyes tell Corat very firmly to shut up about the Sunae thing but he clearly didn't listen. "Quite a bit actually. A demon of Nightmares big N was working for a nightmare small n to heat up the war. Whoever is lighting this fire is dancing over borders to do it. They're smart, smarter even than Odin who managed to put a guy on the ground. We're looking for that guy, and my money says he's building a cult in L.A. and maybe a tether if he's very clever and very lucky. Fortunately a cult like that should be fairly easy for Glen and I to spot, with our connections.

"Odin's involved, Misrule is involved, and since Misrule tried to kidnap my two friends at a party in the Loa compound I'm willing to bet the Loa are involved. They would be in a unique position to bend Michael's ear, after all...

"But speaking of unique positions, so are we. We can take L.A. by taking its queen. Take it openly and the war goes nuclear. Take it quietly, give Hell plausible deniability, and we create an oasis where demons can think about changing sides without getting squished too quickly. Take it, use Tishbite and buddies as leverage, and promise to keep the secret as long as Hell puts their guns away.

"When faced with multiple enemies, it's best to point them at each other. And he declared war on me, by calling me harmless and abusing her in front of me and Kane and a number of other people." He's feeling snarky. "Did I cover everything else?"

((That's an IC summary. I'll do something more OOC in the next couple of days. The weather says I'll be mostly indoors for the week.))

[ladyarcana55]

Originally Posted by tHEhERETIC

"And you," he nudges Ryuki, "have declared personal war on the ancestor of a girl who's caught your eye who happens to be our own Sunae. Have I missed anything?"

Ryuki's eyes tell Corat very firmly to shut up about the Sunae thing but he clearly didn't listen.

...

"And he declared war on me, by calling me harmless and abusing her in front of me and Kane and a number of other people." He's feeling snarky. "Did I cover everything else?"

Sunae settled back into her seat after a trip to the restroom. She looks around at everyone and realizes she missed something.

"What did I miss? Were you guys talking about the Huntsman? Grandfather suggested using Shuck to find him since they are of the same spirit. But I think that if we can get some help, that will make things easier."

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by tHEhERETIC

"Yeah but really. What will I use them for? I might as well get paid a little for them rather than dealing with treasure hunters wanting to up and take them from me." If Glen is perceptive, he'll catch the wink.

"Fair enough."


"Yeah, four. Shuck is Glen's dog, no two ways about that until the Wild Hunt comes to challenge him. Julia is dangerous--I personally wouldn't let her out at all. And the goddess...a Victorian creation if I'm not mistaken. We'd get more for her from our fellow sorcerers than from the ethereals, I think."

[/QUOTE]

"I cannot think of any sorcerer that I would trust with her, to be honest; I had rather keep tabs on her as well as Julia."

Originally Posted by tHEhERETIC

Ryuki's eyes tell Corat very firmly to shut up about the Sunae thing but he clearly didn't listen. "Quite a bit actually. A demon of Nightmares big N was working for a nightmare small n to heat up the war. Whoever is lighting this fire is dancing over borders to do it. They're smart, smarter even than Odin who managed to put a guy on the ground. We're looking for that guy, and my money says he's building a cult in L.A. and maybe a tether if he's very clever and very lucky. Fortunately a cult like that should be fairly easy for Glen and I to spot, with our connections.

"Odin's involved, Misrule is involved, and since Misrule tried to kidnap my two friends at a party in the Loa compound I'm willing to bet the Loa are involved. They would be in a unique position to bend Michael's ear, after all...

"But speaking of unique positions, so are we. We can take L.A. by taking its queen. Take it openly and the war goes nuclear. Take it quietly, give Hell plausible deniability, and we create an oasis where demons can think about changing sides without getting squished too quickly. Take it, use Tishbite and buddies as leverage, and promise to keep the secret as long as Hell puts their guns away.

"I don't know if it will be that easy to find. He might well be moving in on one or more existing groups instead of starting a new one. I could name a dozen pagan groups that would be receptive, and we wouldn't necessarily know the difference until it hit the fan. That said, have we considered the possibility that we should be working with them? I mean, I know you lot are all about the holy war etc., but I'm pretty sure that the Aesir and the Loa are on a different side than the one that tried to burn the castle. Enemy of my enemy and all that, right?"

Originally Posted by ladyarcana55

Sunae settled back into her seat after a trip to the restroom. She looks around at everyone and realizes she missed something.

"What did I miss? Were you guys talking about the Huntsman? Grandfather suggested using Shuck to find him since they are of the same spirit. But I think that if we can get some help, that will make things easier."

"Like I said..."

[tHEhERETIC]

Originally Posted by ladyarcana55

Sunae settled back into her seat ...
"What did I miss? Were you guys talking about the Huntsman? Grandfather suggested using Shuck to find him since they are of the same spirit. But I think that if we can get some help, that will make things easier."

Corat's out of his depth, and even Ryuki takes some time to answer. "Shuck could find the Huntsman," he pauses, makes a strange little gesture with his fingers but it's no good. He has no secret code he can use with Glen right now that the others wouldn't catch. Even if Mitch didn't know Latin, odds were that Derek the flight attendant did. "You could lose that hound to your huntsman, but he could also destroy half your neighborhood being a bored oversized dog, so it doesn't matter a whole lot."

The captain comes on the intercom to ask you to buckle in and prepare for landing, noting that the weather in Los Angeles is perfect as usual.

Originally Posted by Dalillama

"I don't know if it will be that easy to find. He might well be moving in on one or more existing groups instead of starting a new one. I could name a dozen pagan groups that would be receptive, and we wouldn't necessarily know the difference until it hit the fan. That said, have we considered the possibility that we should be working with them? I mean, I know you lot are all about the holy war etc., but I'm pretty sure that the Aesir and the Loa are on a different side than the one that tried to burn the castle. Enemy of my enemy and all that, right?"

"Like I said..."

"Finding him should be the easy part. We should keep tabs on that tech chick, and getting her to monitor the hate groups would give her something to do while we watch her back. Shuck can find where he is, but I'm betting she can find where he will be, which is better. As for the Aesir and Loa being against Baby in a Blender and friends...I'm not convinced. He mentioned a woman with a golden trailing dress talking to Chernobog, and that's a short list, one with Frigga on it." He puts on his seat belt at the stern look from the flight attendant. "Call me bitter, but after taking my friend hostage and sucking his Essence dry I'm not inclined to trust anyone in the Loa swamp."

A rough landing makes talking a bit difficult, so the conversation can continue as they exit the plane. At that point, though, they lack the seneschal's assurance that they're not being overheard. Corat leads them to a rental car place and counts heads, trying to figure out how big a car they're going to want. Their van is parked at the church in San Dimas where they left it.

[ladyarcana55]

"So then what? What do we do in the meantime? I am more than willing to take on Chernobog and complete what Uriel tried to do with the Aesir, but we would need help. Doing it by ourselves would be...difficult."

[tHEhERETIC]

Originally Posted by ladyarcana55

"So then what? What do we do in the meantime? I am more than willing to take on Chernobog and complete what Uriel tried to do with the Aesir, but we would need help. Doing it by ourselves would be...difficult."

Ryuki shoves Corat away from the rental counter. "You paid last time, remember?" The van they left by the church before they were teleported is in fact a rental under John Wyatt's name, which could raise red flags. Car rental places don't believe in teleportation, or they'd be out of business. Unless a kind soul steps forward and rents the van instead, Ryuki rents a van, most reluctantly agreeing to be its sole driver.. Glen will know he dislikes driving and is in fact not very good at it, mostly because he find Disturbances distracting. Once that little transaction is over and they're in the parking lot, safely out of hearing range...

"Difficult? The word comes to my mind is 'humiliating'. Chernobog is a technicality away from being a demon himself, and not a small alley rat of a demon like most we meet. Let's go pick up Cameron and see if she can do her thing from the relative safety of Corey's place. She'll check the social calendar of Insecure White Boys Limited and between that and Shuck's nose we'll know which direction to go. Might be helpful to know a little more about who we're chasing. We'll get Moe in the Blender to tell us some, and maybe we can track down the Singing Cowboy Kane to tell us more. I know stuff but it's basically rumors--can't build tactics on that."

"And we will need tactics." Corat is talking like a soldier, small s. "He iced Kane in the middle of a street, healed a beater of a car and was quite possibly the guy animating the house around Frank/Angul the infernal hybrid. http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...postcount=1568. So he got called by the thing we set loose, not here by coincidence, and he's got a nice little songlist. We need to know more and pack for bear."

"Alright. Tishbite, here's what I know, what I've heard. He's a Vappie, midlevel, and he's on the run. The reason he's on the run is important though--apparently he trapped a couple of much bigger demons into machines. Computers is a safe bet, considering that he went to Cameron for vintage computer parts. He tried to pass these off as Singing machines but it didn't work out and, well, Hell is hell on failures. From that and his thing with Frank, he builds strong alliances with desperate partners, pretty smart for a demon screwup. That's going to make them hard to divide and conquer, since his captives need him to stay clear of their bosses. Don't know choir--er, band," a Freudian slip coming from Ryuki, "slight possibility that he's one of Media's boys and not Vapula's, but only slight.

"Hmmmm, I wonder how often they're plugged in? Whether they've got wifi? Whether a virus could hit them?" He likes this thought, but then his face darkens. "I wonder how long it will take Hell to figure out where he is?"

[tHEhERETIC]

Originally Posted by tHEhERETIC

"Alright. Tishbite, here's what I know, what I've heard. He's a Vappie, midlevel, and he's on the run. The reason he's on the run is important though--apparently he trapped a couple of much bigger demons into machines. Computers is a safe bet, considering that he went to Cameron for vintage computer parts. He tried to pass these off as Singing machines but it didn't work out and, well, Hell is hell on failures. From that and his thing with Frank, he builds strong alliances with desperate partners, pretty smart for a demon screwup. That's going to make them hard to divide and conquer, since his captives need him to stay clear of their bosses. Don't know choir--er, band," a Freudian slip coming from Ryuki, "slight possibility that he's one of Media's boys and not Vapula's, but only slight.

"Hmmmm, I wonder how often they're plugged in? Whether they've got wifi? Whether a virus could hit them?" He likes this thought, but then his face darkens. "I wonder how long it will take Hell to figure out where he is?"

Corat snorts. "And that guy is our leverage?"

[ladyarcana55]

Originally Posted by tHEhERETIC

Corat snorts. "And that guy is our leverage?"

"I can see how he could be used to fulfill our goals, but can he really be trusted? Do we even know what Band he is?"