Chapter 2.9: A Dyer Reunion

Where there was grass there is now the gravel of a path, and where there was gravel, there is now the thicket of the Dyer Lot. The eerie walls and echoing acoustics are now replaced with the real Earth sky and sounds of water and fire. The hot glow of fire rages at the end of the path in front of the group. At the other end of the path, behind the group and at the intersection of the largest concentric circle and vertical, stands a woman made of an aspen tree, resplendent with birch bark skin and cascading boughs of leaves for hair. Her otherworldly dryadic appearance is juxtaposed by her modern REI-branded clothing.

"Hi! I take it you're Luck-Spinner's friend? I like your look."

The tree woman smiles wide. “Thank you! Yes, I am. You may call me Aspen.”

"I'm Vesper."

"Alric! Holy shit! It's been so long, you would not believe everything that's happened since I last saw you."

Vesper threads her way through the linear crowd on the narrow path to run from facing Aspen at the east end to facing Alric approaching from the west.

Alric, it looks like Inara got some new Slytherin-styled robes to go with her complete 180 of a personality shift.

Ah, fantastic.

Alric nudges Morgana with his elbow. "Cal-led it. The small one?" His voice his hushed, but amused.

And then Inara decides to rush in his direction.

He takes a step back, gripping his flamethrower tighter. ..And then relaxes as he remembers that he's, for the moment, fire proof.

What the fuck is she up to now.

"Inara! I'm glad to see the team is alright! Why don't you tell us when everyone is around to hear?"

Hey Alric, roll notice.

Does Alric notice?: [7, 3] Result: Success! 🎯

"What? Everyone else was with me; they already know. So we went into the shoggoth lair — you turned out to be completely right about that by the way, those things were nasty. I thought for sure we were going to die and then Luck-Spinner teleported us out — you haven't met him, but he's a friend of Saint. And then we were in Saint's Fae realm and apparently Luck-Spinner is like three different people?"

"Anyway he helped me out, did me a huge favor. Fixed my Gift, got me these awesome new robes, taught me a few new spells." I hold up the bracelet. "And this! You can use this to tell when I'm me. And then time got all weird and apparently it's been a few days for you? It was only a few hours for me, I hope you weren't too worried."

The small one looks familiar from the background of one of one of your photos. He was in the Eldritch Hollow bar a few weeks ago.

Morgana's steps falter as the team appears, and, even as a porcelain doll, her eyes are quite good at communicating her sudden attack of nerves. "Uhm. That's. Uhm. That's... Chance. I think he goes by Chance?" She's watching 'Inara's' approach nervously, which doesn't seem to align with her earlier positive disposition towards the wizard.

She may or may not be half-hiding behind Alric and Ellie by the time Vesper gets in speaking range.

Founder grins at Aspen, greeting her with familiarity before following Vesper at a lazy, languid pace. He cocks his head, looking between Vesper and Alric. "Vesper, do you want to introduce me to your friend?"

Vesper, you hear Weaver's voice whispering in your mind. My mortal pseudonym is Chance.

Oh. OH.

Alric's only half-listening to Vesper's story. He just figured something out.

And then that son of a bitch walks over and calls Inara 'Vesper'.

Oh. That makes sense.

Alric waits patiently for Vesper to introduce him, with a sly smile on his face.

"Yes! Chance, this is Alric, the friend I was telling you about earlier." I glance at Luck-Spinner, unsure which name I was meant to use. Bit late for keeping secrets though. "Alric, Chance."

Let the game begin.

"Chance. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Now with a normal, polite smile on his face, he extends his slightly ashen hand in greeting.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Alric," 'Chance' smiles back, grey eyes amused, shaking Alric's hand. His grip tightens, briefly. "Vesper told me you're her closest friend, these days, did you know that?"

?? I've known her for like fifteen minutes, and in five of those she's a) cursed me with Inara and b) lied to me about whether Inara plans to kill me.

I mean, the other ten minutes were nice?

"Oh, I didn't know. But I'm glad to hear that! I hope she'll be more around now. I'm assuming this isn't a temporary arrangement?"

"Oh! I forgot the most important thing! Luck — I mean Chance — fixed my Name! I'm Vesper Oriana Sellain now. And that's very permanent, so yes, you'll be seeing a lot more of me and a lot less of Inara. I'm sure you're happy to hear that."

I still can't pronounce my name like Luck-Spinner does, with that weight to it.

Alric, the atmosphere suddenly feels much heavier as the mortal face of 'Chance' vanishes in a blink as Vesper slips up on his name. He feels taller, now, despite the visual information you have saying he hasn't grown an inch.

Luck-Spinner gives a huff of air, tilting his head to look at Vesper, one eyebrow raised, the spidery impact cracks that Phoenix's fist left on his face showing a vibrant, glowing green underneath the black marble of his skin. "... you're going to need to get a little more practice in on speaking around things, Vesper. It's fine. You have time to learn."

His gaze slowly swings to Alric, and he smiles, showing his needlepoint teeth. ".... as do you. Isn't that lucky, Alric Jorgensen? I was going to wait, but I do not see why I should. You did something stupid, and I had to clean up after you. You owe me. Because of you, the problem in the Dyer Lot became an immediate one, rather than one that remained contained. Vesper likes you. Phoenix still claims you under her protection. Be glad of that. It means I'm not just going to take what I'm owed."

He smiles wider, eyes gleaming. "This is me being kind. You do not want me to decide I will no longer be kind. Consider this a warning."

Ah, so I was supposed to call him Chance, after all...

Phoenix watches from 20 feet behind Luck-Spinner, expression one of a mother observing to see if the children will play nice without her interference. If Alric makes eye contact with her, she’ll give a reassuring smile.

Frightening. Scary. Terrifying even. And utterly predictable.

Of course you'll try to scare me. It's a game, and it's a zero cost high EV move. Bet you'll try even harder later, like, maybe, twice in this conversation? Let's go with twice.

And.. there's just been too many coincidences in the past two weeks. Me, purposefully, stumbling randomly into a bar, but was it really random? You were there, and Inara was there - wait, I might've actually talked to Vesper there first? And then Hope running into me in the library, which lead to the vampire encounter that again included Inara, and ended up getting me into the Dawn Commission. And somehow we randomly stumbled into Bright Books, through the Shoggoth lot, into Sawyer, who just so happened to already be connected to the Dawn Commission, and also connected to SHANNON FUCKING BAYES, like, seriously, did you expect me not to figure it out? A vampire standing next to me as I just so happened to overdose on life? I don't know what the connection between Shannon and the commission is, except maybe Phoenix's eye color? But that'd mean that both Phoenix and Ellie are dream mages as well, or vampires. But Ellie walked in the sun. But I don't recall seeing Phoenix ever doing that, and the office windows are tinted for no apparent reason. Ellie doesn't fit the vampire thing, but Phoenix is testable, assuming she takes her gear off sometime. Doesn't matter. All of this almost looks like someone wanted me here, ensnared in the social net. How far back does this go? Three years ago, maybe? Was the incident a setup as well?

Let's run with the hypothesis. What was the consequence of me going rogue today? Mhm.. One weird, easy chat with Aspen. One could almost hypothesize that Aspen didn't actually go easy on me, she just got what she wanted, immediately, by making me reconsider leaving the commission. Now why would Aspen have an interest in me staying there? Another coincidence?

. Prediction. At least two more scare escalations in the course of this encounter, given that it's not cut short. Prediction. You won't do shit to me, you fucking muppet. You'll huff and puff, but you need me, for something, or sometime. And somehow Vesper is connected to that. You really want me to be her friend, don't you? Prediction. Vesper's tragic backstory also happened around two years ago. Prediction. If I later declare that I'll take a random plane to fuck off to another continent, I'll be extremely unlucky and not able to leave.

I've left my fucks in the fire over there. You'll get your game, even if I die.

From the outside it looks like Alric was thinking hard in the past few seconds, because he was. He finally takes a breath and responds in a polite and friendly manner. "Lord Luck-Spinner, I presume? I appreciate the warning. I've only been in this world for a few weeks, and I'm definitely not accustomed to it. I'd never dodge debt that I rightfully occured, but.. I only have a rough idea on where my debt to you is supposed to come from. So far I'm only aware that I supposedly breached a seal around the lot? I don't think I'd be powerful enough to do so even on purpose. Please excuse my ignorance, I do not want to offend, but I can't accept any debt that I don't fully understand."

Luck-Spinner laughs. "Sure you can. It happens all the time. It is as it is. Your actions have consequences, whether you intend them to or not, and I'm not going to excuse your ignorance."

He clicks his tongue. "The warning isn't really for you, anyway, it's because I don't want you to waste my time. You're not really that interesting as you are right now, anyway-"

He pauses, then leans in, peering at Alric's eyes, the Circle in them reflecting off of the Sidhe's eyes clearly enough that Alric can see it. "Well. Maybe a little interesting, but I don't think that's more than a novelty right now."

He pats Alric on the shoulder and darts around him. "You on the other hand," he chirps. "Hello little puppeteer, Aspen told me you'd grown up since I saw you last, let me get a look at.... you..."

Morgana's double pops out of existence, leaving Ellie to catch the piece of porcelain, expression baffled. "... Mori???"

Luck-Spinner droops, then puts his hands on his hips and scowls at the porcelain chip, sighing and tapping one booted foot. "... timid little thing. All I do is say hello and she panics every time!"

Oh wow, you don't even want to play the game? Disappointing. I wonder what would happen if I put you on fire, right now. I bet those cracks in your face aren't a fashion choice.

Alric's slightly irritated, and it's audible. "I'm confused. Is that how deals are made? I thought they require consent of both parties, and I don't recall us ever having talked about this. I never asked you for anything."

"It isn't a deal. It's a debt. They aren't the same thing," he cocks his head. "Like I said. This isn't a discussion. I'm informing you of a fact. I do not require your consent or permission. Consent is a rather new concept, comparatively speaking. Like Rights."

Saint clears his throat. "You're not being a good role model."

"I'm a spinner, not a Saint," he scoffs. "Speaking of, are you going to deal with the shoggoths now or are you going to wait until the fire's out?"

"... that's Phoenix's call, not mine," Saint shrugs, hands in his pockets.

Nah. I'm not buying it.

Alric chuckles.

"Okay. Let me get this straight. I'm supposedly powerful enough to break magic, magic so powerful that the shoggoths couldn't deal with it themselves. And I did so somehow on accident, without even trying. And then you wait two days to inform me of that fact rather than contacting me straight away, so I can minimize the damage? Bullshit. Here's a fact: It's far more likely that the seal was already fucking broken, and you capitalized on it and decided to pin it on me. So why this fucking farce? Why make shit up if you can just declare me in debt?"

This is so not how I imagined this going.

“We’ll wait until the fire burns down. No sense in getting into a position where we need to handle more hazards at once than we need to.” Phoenix announces. She approaches Alric to try to cut off the argument before it begins. “Mr. Jorgensen, I’d like to debrief you on your efforts on this project today. Would you care to walk with me?”

Alric's eyes flicker between Phoenix and Luck-Spinner.

The most socially dangerous of their court. I'm not going to win in words.

Alric switches back to maximum politeness, standing straight.

"Please excuse my outburst, Lord Luck-Spinner. My day has been.. tense. I'm certain I'll understand the situation better once I've taken some time to think about it."

But you bleed. You bleed, you fucking muppet. And what bleeds, dies.

Even I can sense Alric's utter insincerity. And if Luck-Spinner can read Inara through her flawless control, Alric probably stands out like a lighthouse at midnight. How dare he accuse Luck-Spinner of framing him when the entire team saw him destroy the barrier? When Luck-Spinner has been nothing but kind and generous with me?

"If it wasn't built on reality, the debt wouldn't take. My kind can misdirect, but we cannot lie. You broke the barrier, Alric Jorgensen. This is the truth." Weaver says, one hand moving to wipe the cracks around his eye away like he's taking off smudged stage makeup as his expression drops into one of irritation and posture grows more formal.

Phoenix steps in front of Alric now, holding out placating palms. "Founder. I think there has been a disconnect of communication. Let's build understanding first." She moves to the side to let her look at both Weaver and Alric. "Mr. Jorgensen, Ms. Hope said you cut across the boundary of the lot with an axe. Is that correct?"

"Jean," Founder hisses, voice scandalized, brown-skinned and grey-eyed and reorienting himself as his shifting facet is wrenched into an entirely different configuration than he intended.

Aspen appears behind Founder, looking human this time, and rests folded arms on his short shoulders. She mutters something in his ear.

Oh, fuck off.

"I.. That? Yes, I was checking- but even if that could break a barrier- Really, that?"

“Cutting through the boundary of a magic circle is a powerful action. One that is reinforced nearly every time a spell using a boundary is ended. It doesn’t take much intention to execute metaphysically.” Phoenix says.

Aspen speaks up, chin in hand and elbow on Founder’s shoulder. “Add to that that the wall was broken, which had caused half the wards to fail already. It was the last straw.” On her hand is a blue-black iridescent ring with a round red stone. “But yeah, two days. Two Days! Bestie. Don’t you try to fork off all that debt onto him.”

"Jean already took half of the debt that would fall on him," Founder hisses. "However, unless she declares him a vassal instead of an employee, he must carry some of his own debt. The boundary still held. Without his action I wouldn't have had to call you, Bestie."

Ooooh, but I definitely beat you here, buddy.

"Okay. I understand it now. 48 hours of debt. With Aspen around, I'd have solved the situation in.. 3 hours? Evident by, eh." He gestures in the general direction of the burning mansion. "That means.. 6% of the debt to me." He pulls out his phone and brings up the calculator. "6.25% to be precise. Half of that to Jean. So.. I owe you 3.125% of this whole situation."

He puts his phone away.

"What exactly is the form of the debt and how do I pay it?"

Aspen chortles. "Audacious! Unfortunately for you, lowest bidder doesn't play a role in this balance. It's more about strains on bonds than numbers."

Founder's eyes narrow at Alric. "That's not how this works. You do not get credit for Aspen's work. Your arrogance in claiming her efforts just lighten your debt is telling and adds to the weight on your side of the scale for adding insult to my court by assuming you can take credit for our workings. I can't decide, is it kindness or cruelty that I won't demand your tongue? It would certainly save you from digging yourself any deeper than you already have, but I'm sure you'd just gesture your way right back into it." He throws up a hand, expression incredulous, and gives a sharp laugh, looking between Aspen and Jean. "Have none of you been listening to him dig himself into a deeper fucking pit or am I the only one with working ears? Lying to my face that he does not mean me insult? Like he thinks I can't see right through him?"

Saint is very, very much staying out of the discussion, still in hearing range as he silently checks his armory, pulling a shotgun from a pocket it really shouldn't fit in and starting to look it over.

"I'm not claiming credit for her work, I said that her work would make it possible for me to solve the situation in three hours, and it'd only have taken three hours of her time instead of 48. I may have been the last straw, but you extended the situation by not calling me earlier. Or, at all."

Alright, no subtext anymore? Sure.

"As if you don't know what this is about. So sure, let's talk openly. You know, I thought it was fate or something, there were just too many fucking coincidences in the past few weeks, but then today you show up, with Vesper as your Pontiff of all the people. Someone who can influence chance, who can spin luck. No, it's not fate. It's you. I don't know why the fuck you want me here, but don't think I'll just play along."

"He didn't manipulate me, Alric. I agreed to be his Pontiff because it was a really good deal, not because he's some evil puppet master. Do you have any idea what he did for me? What fixing my magic means? What fixing my Name means? You're the one who thinks Inara is plotting to fucking murder you — she wasn't, but if that's really what you're afraid of you ought to be happy that I can actually hold my own against her now. Maybe you ought to be happy for me instead of trying to paint me as some hapless pawn."

"Oh, I didn't extend it, but that part of the balance is already accounted for, isn't it, Saint," Founder hisses, not looking back towards the bigger man.

Founder's brow furrows, nose scrunching as he squints at Alric. "...what the fuck are you going on about? Why would my deal with Vesper have anything to do with you except, at this point giving me a reason to make sure you don't drag her down with you? I've never even met you before."

"Oh, I'm happy for you, I really am, Vesper. But don't think this was coincidence."

Alric drops his flamethrower.

"I thought your kind can't lie? Fascinating. Truly, utterly, fascinating. A month ago Vesper and I met for the first time in the Eldritch Hollow. You were there. You're telling me you've never met me? Pff. Bet you haven't forgotten this."

He grabs the camera around his neck, holds it to his eye, then presses the trigger. A flash lights up both Founder and the area around him.

"You're in the photo I took when I entered the bar. How the fuck can you not have seen me, you looked into the camera. And in that bar, by chance, Vesper chatted me up. Well, Inara I think? I don't know. But then we went separate ways, and still we just so happened to run into each other while fighting a random vampire in the streets. And then we run into each other at the Dawn Commission. And then, again, by chance, run into Sawyer, who is coincidentally already connected to the Dawn Commission, and also to someone who is just too fucking unlikely for me to meet on my first week. I did the fucking math. And don't get me started on what happened there, man, there's only so far one can stretch their suspension of disbelief before it becomes comical."

His voice loses the hostility as he turns to Aspen. "And, Aspen, as much as I enjoyed our chat earlier, you didn't go easy on me, did you? You just immediately got what you wanted, which is me reconsidering whether I maybe do want to stay with the Commission."

And then back to Founder. "So, what's going to happen if either Vesper or I decide to leave the Commission? Will bad luck immediately turn us around? What if I decide to drop everything and take the next plane off of the continent? Will my car break down on the way to the airport? All flights cancelled?"

Phoenix cocks her head at Alric. "... I asked Ms. Hope for recommendations, and she mentioned you, Ms. Sellain, and Mr. Wilder. Meeting at the Dawn Commission was not a coincidence, but simply down stream of a previous meeting."

"Alric, this is madness. You can point at any random event in life and find a chain of improbable events leading up to it — that's just how life works. It doesn't mean there's some big conspiracy to... do what, exactly? Get you to be a field agent? Seriously? Think about what you're saying."

Founder's eyes reflect like a cat's in the camera's flash - his expression matches, too, indignant and put off, much like it was in the background of the photo as he looked towards the camera. Then he blinks, slowly, and starts to giggle, then laugh, expression growing incredulous.

"What the fuck, you were that fucking weirdo with the camera?" He starts laughing wilder, leaning back against Aspen. "It's a bar. I was on a date with a six foot two inch tall history nerd with the hottest dark academia vibe who knows how to talk dirty in at least three different languages, you weirdo. Why would I care about some rando with a camera when I look mortal and am busy with one of my boyfriends?"

He's still laughing, white teeth showing as he presses a hand to his eye, wiping away a tear. "The degrees of separation in the progressive supernatural community are fucking tiny to start with, this isn't Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon, it's, like, two or three if you run into a heavy hitter, and you are working for one."

He shows his teeth. "... I'll still take my cut from you, one way or another, but I don't need some delusional paranoid risking the life of my ally because she keeps trying to protect him from himself!" He hisses. "The details of my agreement with Vesper aren't your business."

He responds to Vesper. "Oh, zip it. And maybe now our resident psychopath doesn't have a reason to kill me, with you out in the open, but Inara definitely did before that."

Alric will, slowly, put back on his flamethrower as he responds to Founder. "Sure, let's go with your story, well played. I owe you something. What do you want from me?"

Founder lets out a long, put-upon sigh. "You're a delusional, paranoid, overconfident mess and not even in a fun way. Phoenix taking half your debt is just pushing back the inevitable time that someone's going to kill you, or worse. She can't fix your issues by shielding you from the consequences of your words or your actions, that's just going to feed into your belief that you can keep getting away with it," Weaver smiles, slowly, wide and toothy as he splays fingers wrapped in red and green threads, black eyes glittering. "But I could fix that little overgrowth problem. It would even give me useful materials. I could even show you the problem, that could be an educational opportunity for more than just you. That could clear our little debt up..."

Alric chuckles. "Overconfident? Overconfident? I'm the one who came up with a plan to solve the shoggoth situation, a situation four people, one of which is a demigod if I read the situation right, haven't managed to resolve. Granted, Aspen has contained the shoggoths, and the girls were fantastic help today as well, but overconfident? My second rule is literally to point out things I missed. No, I think I'm perfectly calibrated. And it's not paranoia if they're actually trying to kill you, or trying to nab a piece of your soul."

He shakes his head.

"But sure, go ahead. Show me. But I'll know if you illusion magic anything in."

Weaver whispers to Aspen, then rocks onto his feet from where he was leaning against her, plucking at the thread of debt linked to Alric, curling his fingers around it as he removes the remaining distance between himself and Alric. "No illusions, unless you count Aspen adding a little colour to make things visible."

"Glamour, to highlight the connections and translate the metaphor visually. It's like synesthesia." Aspen says, following close behind.

He plunges his hand into Alric's weave and pulls, hauling out a tangle of knotted and overgrown threads, then works his other hand into them so he can work the two twisted strands apart and show them more clearly. "Vesper. This is what it looks like when an aspect has overgrown itself, it winds and twists back on itself, like this."

Apen plucks at the tangle of threads. Powder clouds up from it like a chalk reel. Turning the abstract and imparsable into representational and parsable. Intuitions and imaginations into something actually seeable. Reds the shade of ambitious fallen military generals, Yellows the shade of unheeded canaries, Blues the shade of sky ungrounded. Paranoia. Confidence. Delusion.

"Huh. Interesting... it looks rather unhealthy." I glance at Alric. "Are you sure you don't want him to at least trim it back a little?"

It's a really weird sensation to literally have your soul laid bare. On the one hand it's really scary and exposing, but on the other.. reinsuring? You know who you are, or, at least you know parts of who you are. Where's the spite aspect? There's gotta be a spite aspect.

"Why? Why would I? All of this points to someone who actually fucking tries. If you were, right now, in the hive, getting digested, would you rather have someone who actually puts an effort into solving the problem at hand, or someone like Saije, or fuck, whoever is left in the office? I came here because I cared, and because I believed I could make a difference. Because I had the confidence to try." He turns to Phoenix. "Phoenix. You. If you were in that hive, right now, would you rather have me out here or 'me', cut down to being too scared to try anything? Be honest."

Phoenix purses her lips. "I fear any survivors in the hive would now be dead if the fire works as you intend. Which is why we didn't burn the first time."

Weaver's fingers pry the later tangles of Alric's thread of paranoia apart to reveal a sickly green thread of delusion, pressing a thumb to it as he speaks. "Very little matters, if anything," he says, slow and measured, like he's translating the thread into words.

"Okay, that's enough. Get your fingers off of me." He grips his flamethrower tighter, pointing it in the general (but not direct) direction of Weaver. "What cuts would get us even?" His voice signals that he's starting to get stressed.

"If you want me to show you, I need to keep my hold," Weaver says flatly. "But okay."

He flicks his fingers, a snap of motion to clear the threads from his hands.

"A cut to your Confidence, overgrown and inflated with arrogance and pride, blinding you from seeing that you don't always know better than everyone around you. To Paranoia, overgrown and choking past the point of healthy caution, the kind that feeds the belief that the world is out to get you and everyone is conspiring against you, specifically, rather than understanding sometimes things are just serendipity and blind chance. Plus the big knot of delusion in the middle of the paranoia. Not as useful to me as the other two - the excess I cut from you can be cut down to patches I can use to nurture healthy self-confidence and reasonable caution in someone else."

He curls his lip. "...and if I'm bothering to fix all that, which is something people usually pay me for, something just for me: a bite out of your luck, and my finger pressed on the scale to keep the pre-existing run of bad luck you're already due from catching everyone around you - slowing it to a drip feed to minimize the damage radius of your bad luck."

I watch the exchange, fascinated. He can turn even something negative like paranoia into a useful aspect? I was expecting to have to cut out useful traits — things people would want to keep.

Is he.. stupid? All of these will come back if I just sit down for an hour and think about stuff?

Well, except the luck. Whatever. Never needed it.

...but I have no reason yet to believe that I'm wrong about my theory about him. It's just too many coincidences. But.. If I'm right, and I obviously am, I'll figure it out again. And it'll be in my advantage to have him think I discarded the theory. Am I really good enough to reconstruct it?

...obviously. It's not that difficult, really.

...

..and here I thought I could escape character development today. Hah. You win this round, universe.

Alric's still going to agree to cuts to his soul, which isn't easy. But there's also no other way out right now, and later might be worse. No, definitely will be worse.

He puts his flamethrower down again and speaks, his voice now hoarse. "If that makes us even, do it."

"Happily." Weaver pauses, looking to Vesper. "...the important part, Vesper, is knowing where to make the cut. You need to find a safe place that you can cut which will leave a healthy amount that shouldn't overgrow too quickly, even with bad habits, but if you leave in the feedback loop, the Aspect you're cutting back will be likely to grow back into the same overgrown pattern again. There are natural checks and bindings the psyche has for regulating itself, but mortals are squishy things and all sorts of things can cause one to spiral into weird configurations."

Weaver's gaze swivels back to Alric. "Don't flinch." He reaches forward again and pulls on Alric's threads, fingers quickly unwinding the knotted fibers, pulling and adjusting their positioning and tension as he draws his shears and snaps them shut in a smooth movement.

He steps back, taking the tangle with him as he sheathes his shears, fingers already working to worry the thread of Delusion out from the rest of the cuttings.

The shears snap shut. A sharp pain cuts through him, and then it's over.

The world suddenly seems a lot more dangerous. But the people in it.. the people in it seem less so, now.

It's over, already? This was it? This feels like it could've been worse, far worse.

Alric's not too sure how to feel right now.

see threads: [3, 6 💥 1 = 7]+1 Result: Success with 1 raise! 🎯🎯

The visual associations of the glamour-colored threads inspires Vesper to try to look closer to see what Weaver sees in the threads, as there is a different qualia to the visualization Aspen worked than when Weaver was working on her threads in his demesne.

Through the sight afforded by Vespers bond with Weaver—and Guided by Aspen’s glamour, she can see how the threads are wound tighter by the lace of other threads pulling and twisting. A dimension of the fiber of the Confidence thread—the same dimension Mapped to color—extends directly out of the world to a wellspring of infinite Confidence.

Alric flinches as Weaver cuts the three threads and I can't help but wince in sympathy. "Is that enough?" I ask Weaver as he steps back and starts sorting through the severed threads. "The bit of Confidence you left him looks like it's still connected to its source. Won't it just regrow?"

"Hm?" Weaver's demeanor is visibly shifting back towards the more friendly one that Vesper has grown familiar with as he busies himself with the threads in his hands. "Yes. It was agreed that this and the adjustment to his luck would balance our debt, so it has."

"The process isn't meant to keep it from growing, it's to cut away the current overgrowth. It can - and should - grow more in time, but without the feedback loops and overgrowth it should be in better alignment with the knowledge and experience he actually has."

He considers Vesper's question and the way it's worded, eyes glinting briefly. "You could follow the thread that far, hm? Confidence is a Concept. An Aspect. One of many that make up an individual's Name. If I'd cut Alric's link to the source Concept of Confidence off entirely... well. It wouldn't be good."

He gestures, one-handed. "You can completely excise a link to some concepts without a mental or physical collapse, but... mmmh. Some things, like Confidence, are a lot more fundamental to being a person. If you lose them, you lose a lot more than just, say, a connection to being able to do magic." His eyes glitter. "People can function in society, even a supernatural one, without the ability to do magic, after all."

"A life without magic would hardly be worth living," I say. "But I understand your meaning." To Alric, "How do you feel now? Better?"

"I.. don't know yet. If it's okay with everyone, can we please.. just move on to the shoggoth killing part of the day?"

He starts double-checking and triple-checking his flamethrower. Anything to not have to look at the other people.

Ah. The shoggoth killing part of the day... "Right. Yes. Of course. So, uh, what's the plan? Do we just wait for the fire to die down and then go back inside?"

Please tell me you have a better plan than that.

He talks loudly as he's working, eyes fixed on his flamethrower.

"Not quite. Plan A was to go in while the fire was still going. Set the hive on fire from the inside, but the entrance is probably in the mansion and it's crumbling and could collapse on us at any moment. It's been like 20 minutes since we set it on fire, it'll burn for another half hour probably, at least, but if you guys want to go that route and have a way to deal with that, maybe?"

Yeah, the flamethrower is perfectly fine. Flawless, pretty much.

Better tighten those hex nuts though, just in case.

"So instead of that our plan B was to make chlorine gas, put it on the entrance - the gas is heavier than air - then wait until the shoggoths are dead and we can go in and destroy the hive without resistance."

"Won't it still be full of chlorine?"

"Yeah, probably.. Breathing isn't an issue, there's magic for that. I thought about blowing up the gas from the outside, but I haven't had time yet to look up how as the idea is only ten minutes old. I'd like to avoid being inside and it happening on accident."

Alric gives her a glance, then goes back to work.

"You're.. you when you're wearing the bracelet? I'm not sure I completely understood that part.."

"Yeah!" I hold up the bracelet, braided green threads with a few crimson strands mixed in. "Weaver said that you can tell I'm me if I'm wearing this. Like, if Inara's fronting, this will be red. Or maybe it won't be there at all. It's bound to my Name, but I haven't had a chance to try it out since Inara's still asleep."

"Ah, that's good... I'm glad you have your life back, truly." Alric gets his phone out and pulls up the recording of the mansion. "Phoenix, I made a video, maybe you have an idea on whether we can get through this without it crashing down on us or whether we should wait." He passes it to Phoenix, then goes back to the thrower.

The tall, red-headed college student behind Alric finally circles around and past him, her borrowed Emerald gambeson a stark contrast to the flowing sundress sticking out beneath it, the little paper bird on her shoulder (matching the one hiding on Alric's) and the drifting anenome of black tendrils that passes through it... a few of which are still holding her flame-toasted shoggoth. She waves briefly at Hope and Vesper. "Hi! I'm Ellie!"

Her attention turns to Alric. "Mori asked Sawyer how big the rooms usually are, and it sounds like we'd need a lot of chlorine gas, since the ones he and Zeke went into were.." she leans her ear to listen to the little paper bird on her shoulder. "8 million cubic feet at a low estimate for the size of a room?"

Phoenix watches the video. "The entrance appeared to be in the basement. Or at least, the shoggoths were swarming in the basement. The walls were stone, but the first and second floors were made of wood, which was already rotted and fragile before the fire. The basement will likely be full of hot rubble for a while after the fire burns down." She hands the phone back. "We should wait."

He takes the phone back, then answers Ellie. "That's good to know, thanks for the info.. The gas won't work, then. Can you ask them real quick where we stand on the apocalypse scale? I'd have expected it to have occurred by now, with two additional demigods present."

Aspen shrugs. "Confluences occur on a slightly longer scale. We are still within this event, and it is the trend of events that begins the cascade. We should leave when we are done and not return for some time."

I look between Alric and Aspen, then back to Alric. "Apocalypse scale? What? Are the shoggoths more dangerous than they seem, or is there something else going on?"

"Which is so rude," Weaver grins, showing his teeth. "But it's better to let the fabric around here heal up as much as it ever does rather than stick around and make more holes in it."

Morgana's bird coughs nervously. "Dad already included them in the calculations."

The bird flutters, looking towards Vesper. "The data my dad was using to calculate the impact of the shoggoths earlier was leading to a much smaller impact estimate than was accurate, because of a lot of factors, I guess? And the wards were keeping their influence on the local fabric of reality low. So. Uhm. Arkham is really soft, compared to most places, even without a Confluence active. There are already lots of holes, so reality is weird, here. Uhm. Physics doesn't always work right, bigger magic gets easier, and lots of things tend to sneak in to cause problems. Arkham's Confluences tend to culminate in like, cults attempting to, like, summon very big very hungry things."

"But if we kill the shoggoths quickly, it'll be fine, right?"

"The quicker they're dealt with the quicker the rest of us all clear out, but the more big magic that's used to do it the more we're pulling the local weave out of shape," Weaver shrugs one shoulder, running his fingers over invisible threads as he speaks. "So. Probably. Important note? Minimize the number of people you talk to about this and Arkham for awhile - a few weeks at minimum, probably better if you make it a few months. It takes time for the world to go back into line once it's been yanked out of shape to the level it has, and this place is the fun kind of pulled out of shape which means it's very very very easy to catch and pull the threads..."

He trails off, looking hungrily at the air for a moment before shaking himself and smiling cheerfully at Vesper. ".. but it's bad form to cut more holes in reality when it's already weak, even if they look very very very appealing."

Perfect. A reason to never talk to anyone about what happened today.

I really wanted the lot, though.

Alric turns to Phoenix. "So.. I guess I'll prepare more explosives and molotov cocktails or something now, if that's okay with you? You don't need me around right now, do you?"

"What if I want you around?" I ask. "Maybe I could come with you and help out?"

"If.. you want to? You might want to get some magical fire protection first though, this stuff might blow up in our faces. Ellie and I are already fire proof."

Alric turns to Phoenix once more.

"Alright, just call me or something once you have orders for me. In the mean time I'll be around the car outside the lot, you can't miss it."

And then he starts making his way back to the car.

I follow Alric! Fire protection? Eh, it'll be fine, it's not like we're fighting, and if I actually get hurt there's always magical healing.

Morgana is still outside, although she's looking at her phone and texting as Alric and Vesper emerge.

They'll walk over, and Alric will introduce them to each other. "Vesper, this is Morgana. Morgana, this is not Inara, this is Vesper, Inara's better half."

"Morgana!" I wave to her. "Hi! I remember you from the bookstore!"

Better half. Pfft.

Alric will leave it at that and starts cutting apart another gas canister. He'll hammer one of the big plastic panels into a branch to make a makeshift signpost, and then grab a permanent marker to write on it in big letters.

I HAVE CLAIMED THIS LOT I'LL BE BACK IN HALF A YEAR DON'T MAKE ME BURN IT DOWN AGAIN

Once satisfied, he'll start cramming in his boxes. In between, he speaks up. "Morgana, you said you could pass the strings or something of that sort? Would that also work with the bird, for example?"

“I need to catch up on two days worth of calls.” Phoenix says. “Preparing more weapons seems worthwhile.” She bustles off to pick up her dropped responsibilities.

Morgana's gaze snaps up and her eyes go a little wider as her eyes flicker over Vesper, focusing in on her wrist and seeming to see something else that makes her nervous. "Oh. Uhm. Hi? It's... nice to meet you?"

Morgana watches Alric write, chewing her lip before clearing her throat. "Mr. Alric, someone actually owns this lot already? Legally? It's not an unclaimed property. I. Uhm. I checked. It's not for sale right now, either?"

This burning detail finally shared at an appropriate time, she considers Alric's question, looking a bit uneasy. "... I should be able to Share them, right. Anything that uses my. Uhm. My strings. I think I should be able to do that."

. Back in the lot, Ellie takes this moment to vanish back to the bookstore with her snack in tow. It's a good time to put it in the freezer!

Weaver grins slowly, checking his own phone. "Well. I'm being offered bribery to leave the lot and get free food, so...." He spins on his heel and starts weaving off through the grass.

“Use the path, you incorrigible gargoyle!” Aspen calls after Weaver.

Founder steps neatly back onto the path as he continues his exit.

Legally? bUt RiGhTs ArE a NeW cOnCePt. And they owe me fOr ClEaNiNg Up ThEiR mEsS. It doesn't matter that they didn't ask for my help, or that we never made a deal. I deal with the shoggoths, they owe me. thaT'S juST how tHIS woRkS.

He doesn't respond. He'll just continue tinkering and let the girls talk.

I wander over to Alric. "So! Are you going to teach me how to make explosives or what?"

"Alright, fine. I'm not getting anywhere with this anyways."

He drops the stuff he's collected back into the bin he's bent over, then grabs and chucks an empty canister to Vesper.

"Take something explosive, put it in a container, then ignite it. Napalm is a favorite. [Napalm instructions.] Get rid of any static electricity you have on yourself, mix it in there, leave some air, then close the container. I'll make a simple remote controlled spark plug that we can later exchange with the current cap, and you'll get to blow it up."

repair (craft explosive): [3, 1]-2 Result: Failure ❌

Awesome. I do my best to follow Alric's directions, shredding the styrofoam as I talk to him. "So is this what you've been up to for the past few days? Making bombs?"

It takes a moment or two for Alric to respond. He shakes his head.

"No, that's all been improvised in the past few hours. I spent the weekend doing arts and crafts. I'm working on making my own fucking Etsy store, really my th-"

Vesper, in the process of trying to carry the gas can a few steps away, shakes it back and forth strongly enough for the wave to collapse and shoot some gas out of the opening. It lands mostly on her torse, some drops on her face.

"Fucking fantastic. Put it down and take a few steps back. You want to switch out of those clothes, someone just touching you could set you on fire. Morgana, can you magically clean her up or get her fresh clothes?"

There's a quiet eep from her direction as Morgana nervously hurries over. "I. Uhm. I guess we have clothes at home? I could have Ellie bring some or we could go to the bookstore? I... can layer the protection spell on top if you don't want to borrow clothes or change, but, uhm, if the fire manages to get over the hurdle of the protection spell the gas ... might start burning at that point."

"These robes are enchanted — Weaver made them for me — so I'd rather keep them. The protection spell sounds good though; if fire gets through I can just put it out with magic. Or... hmm... I wonder if I can clean these with magic, too... do you think water is enough to wash out gasoline?"

"You might want to ask him then, I'd be surprised if they weren't self cleaning or summonable or something."

Alric googles it real quick.

"Otherwise, soaking it in water plus vinegar for a while could get most of it out. I'd bet money though on Sawyer having magic for thi- oh right, he still thinks you're evil. Morgana, you might want to explain that this is not Inara when you two walk into the shop."

I look down at the beautiful green and silver robes, now stained and reeking of gas. "It doesn't seem to be self cleaning. I can't conjure vinegar, so I guess I'll drop by Bright Books." And here I was hoping to stay and talk to Alric. "Morgana, can you teleport me there?"

"... there are spells for cleaning, but I don't know any that would help right now?" Morgana fidgets. "Oh. Yeah. Dad could probably. Uhm..."

She looks very, very concerned. "Evil? Uhm. Dad... didn't say anything like that to me? I mean. He let Ms. Inara go into the backrooms, he... wouldn't do that if she wasn't okay."

Her face slowly goes pink as she grows more flustered. "I... don't know how to do that. But. Uhm. It's a short walk?"

"Oh, well, that's fine. Do you want to come with me?"

Alric continues tinkering as he responds to Morgana. "Ignore my comment, it's still a cached thought from my paranoia. It'll take a while for me to not see evil everywhere."

"Ah.. yes. Sure! I'll go with you," she pauses, looking at Alric with concern. "Oh. It's..m Mr. Alric, do you want to come with us? You're still welcome in our home-"

Founder picks this as the moment to emerge from the lot, straightening his jacket and falling swiftly into step with the group heading to the bookstore. "What a good idea. Before we go, however..." he raises a brow, making sure Alric is still in earshot. "It's bad manners to say what we are, especially where we can hear it. Even if everyone knows, don't say it out loud. It's a rule, and Saint is one of the few who can twist himself into enough knots to allow us to give you a pass. Once. Don't do it again where any of our kind can hear you. There are rules we must uphold, whether we agree with them or not."

He pulls a package of clove cigarettes from his pocket, pauses, looking at Vesper for a long moment, then puts them back away with a sigh, looking at Alric. "... you should take a break and get something to eat and drink. It's probably better for your head than being alone right now, and our bond is squared. You've paid, I have no reason to hold a grudge unless you give me one," he says bluntly, head tilting. "Morgan's offered me bribes of fresh-baked goods and I'm willing to share, no strings attached."

Founder turns and heads towards the bookshop without waiting for an answer, unconcerned with whether any of the mortals are going to catch up with him or not.

He'll look them all over, then go back to tinkering.

Yeah, no.

"Morgana, I appreciate the offer and I'd love to visit you guys later if the offer still stands then. But not right now. And not with him around."

Was he always this ungrateful? Maybe Weaver messed something up... no, he wouldn't have. Surely not.

"Suit yourself," I say. "You can come visit me anytime, too. But right now I really do need to get these robes cleaned so... see you in an hour or two!"

I flash Alric a grin and hurry to catch up with Founder. "You're Founder, right? Does the offer of food extend to me too?"

Morgana breathes out a nervous huff of air as Vesper hurries ahead. She doesn't seem excited to follow too close to Founder."...it does. Uhm..." She twists her hands, eyes flicking towards the lot, then back, before finally offering a slight, anxious smile. ".... if you change your mind or want to talk, I'll be listening."

She turns and heads for the bookstore, not hurrying to catch up with the other two.

Founder grins. "Mh-hm. Correct on both counts. Call me Chance inside, unless someone else uses one of my titles. Also..." he holds out a card with a scrawled phone number on it. "My number. You can call me the other way and I'll hear you, but if it's not something urgent, a text or a call works just fine."

Where is Hope in all of this? Hanging back in the lot or is she going to Bright Books for food?

I take the card. "The other way? Do I say your name three times or something?"

Meanwhile, Hope, after some thought, texts Phoenix. "How sure are you that Weaver's soul surgery was in Alric's best interest? Does he even have the same concept of human values?"

"Invoke my name with the intent of calling or summoning me, or...." he taps his temple. "If you direct something my way, I'll hear you, but I won't hear you if you don't mean it. It's how I told you my mortal pseudonym the first time. Handy."

Phoenix responds to Hope

I am sure Alric’s best interest was a secondary or less consideration. Weaver has some idea of human values but does not value them as much as his own. Human values are hardly universal among humans, after all

Alric sees them leave and, for a short moment, smiles to himself.

Good kid. Both her, and Ellie.

And then he puts his headphones back on, and turns back to his work. This time the music is more upbeat. He's humming to himself.

Lonely shadows following me Lonely ghosts come calling

I still can't shake the feeling that this guy ought to be burned. Where does it come from? If it was just paranoia, it should fade by now? Like.. the theory that he spun those events is far fetched, I can see that now, so my hate for him should go as we- no, something's off.

Lonely voices talking to me Now I'm gone, now I'm gone, now I'm gone

The theory is far fetched. True. I can see that now. True. So my hate should go- Nope. Why not? I had the theory and then- Nope. I got ticked off before I formulated the theory.

And my mother told me son let it be Sold my soul to the calling

I recognised him the moment I saw him and started, yes, started to put the pieces together. Theory caused hate. Nope. Hate used theory. Yes, that one. What was it? He came over, and we shook hands, and.. ah I see. One moment to the next he threatened me, no, 'warned' he called it.

Sold my soul to a sweet melody Now I'm gone, now I'm gone, now I'm gone

And that ticked me off. Why? Why didn't I just play along? I could've just let him win there- nope, why not? He's a demigod, I can't expect to reliably win against him. And I didn't think that back there. Both true. Then why-

Oh give me that fire Oh give me that fire

Ah, of course.

Oh give me that fire Burn, burn, burn

...

.

Oh, a thousand faces staring at me Thousand times I've fallen

Was I actually overconfident? Paranoid? What are the symptoms of paranoia?

Thousand voices dead at my feet Now I'm gone, now I'm gone, now I'm gone

I should've been suspicious of everyone around me. Who was I suspicious of? Inara, who actively threatened me. Chance, who actively threatened me. And I still am suspicious of them. No, I never was paranoid. I'm chilling with vampires and eldritch horrors and other fae.

And my mother told me son let it be Sold my soul to the calling

Overconfident? Overconfident people don't think things through down to potentially needed Modify Memory spells. They just run in. They don't take the help of college kids.

Sold my soul to a sweet melody Now I'm gone, now I'm gone, now I'm gone

I took help when it was useful. I never expected to actually win against him, I gave it a low chance, but that wasn't what this was about.

Oh give me that fire Oh give me that fire

It was about hurting him, making him regret that he started the encounter with a fucking threat. Even if I died in the process.

Oh give me that fire Burn, burn, burn

And it's not a delusion. It may be a system one thing that he cut away, but A implies B implies C, and A is still around, and sooner or later my system one will remember.

Ghosts and devils come calling Calling my name out, lost in the fire

Whatever confidence I lost, I will regain eventually. And I never was paranoid.

Sweet virgin your blood is calling Calling my name out, lost in the fire

He laughs out loud. He got exactly what he wanted. He can just let it go.

.

Oh give me that fire Oh give me that fire Oh give me that fire Burn, burn, burn Oh give me that fire Oh give me that fire Oh give me that fire Burn, burn, burn

And, while humming, he'll finish Vesper's bomb.

So, what, it was a lucky coincidence that his human topiary hobby made Alric better instead of worse?

No. It is pressure from all of his allies watching him that caused him to only make cuts he could justify. I also used a title of his that put him in a more generous, idealistic mood. Willing to play the long game.

Make an insight (Notice) check with +1

Rolled: [4, 6 💥 4 = 10]+2 Result: Success with 2 raises! 🎯🎯🎯

In the context of what has been said,

Chapter 2.5: The Lost Cause

“Mr. Jorgensen is not out of the Dawn Commission until he tells me personally, Lord Luck-Spinner.” Phoenix says. “He is still under my protection.”

Chapter 2.5: The Lost Cause

"Spoilsport," Luck-Spinner sing-songs. "That doesn't mean you can take on all of his debt, Jean. He's your employee, not your vassal. Just like Hope, Inara, and Vesper, he must remain somewhat accountable for his actions."

He arches a brow. "It's better that he learns that lesson from one of your allies than from someone who hates you."

Chapter 2.9: A Dyer Reunion

“I'll still take my cut from you, one way or another, but I don't need some delusional paranoid risking the life of my ally because she keeps trying to protect him from himself!”

Chapter 2.9: A Dyer Reunion

“Phoenix taking half your debt is just pushing back the inevitable time that someone's going to kill you, or worse. She can't fix your issues by shielding you from the consequences of your words or your actions, that's just going to feed into your belief that you can keep getting away with it,”

… Alric’s interests didn’t factor in to Weaver’s considerations at all. All that Weaver said indicates that he thinks Alric is a threat to Phoenix because she’s vouching for him, and that Weaver thinks that his soul surgery would make Alric less likely to endanger Phoenix’s safety and reputation.

What is Hope trying to figure out here? A peek into her internal monologue will let me give better insight results.

Hope is trying to figure out why Phoenix allowed this to happen - and whether Hope made a mistake by following Phoenix's lead and going along with it herself.

Well, there’s obviously something either political or non-human going on. Weaver was trying to protect Phoenix from Alric, Phoenix was trying to protect Alric from Weaver.

Weaver obviously sees no moral problem with cutting out some of Alric’s traits, and probably also made substantial edits to Vesper, what with her comment about Weaver fixing her Name.

Phoenix did intercede, but she didn’t stop it entirely. Phoenix also speaks in High Business, where she phrases things least offensive way possible. Her actions are likewise reserved and socially risk-adverse. What happened to Alric seems to be mostly a result of a compromise between Weaver and Phoenix.

Hope will follow Alric and watch to see how he behaves now. And also begin considering how one might kill Weaver should that become needed.