You walk down the hill and through the small valley, approaching Novus Valnastium. As you crest the next large hill, you arrive, opening the door and heading into...
Novus Valnastium -- Main Chamber

The main hall of Novus Valnastium is a wide, stone area, with arching buttresses and columns framing windows that stream with bright, comfortable light. Several circles of chairs and old-fashioned divans and davenports are scattered around the room, conversational areas if you will, and a center hearth flickers with a warm, comfortable flame. A set of stairs on the left leads up to a balcony that rings the area, several doors leading off it, and great double doors lead forward and to the left, right, and behind you. Two armored figures, silent as the grave, flank the doors ahead of you, as well as two others flanking the doors to the rear, which lead back out onto the open plains.

Obvious exits:
Out to Fields Laboratory Doors Library Doors Council Chambers
Penny shouts, "Daaaaisy, Daaaaaaisy" it's a sing songy, girly voice "give me your answer, do. I'm half craaazy..."

Two massive, dark-finished oaken doors, rimmed and lined in silver and steel. Through them lie the Council Chambers of Novus Valnastium.

Nearby, a female voice shouts, "Well, hell. If it ain't Penny Dreadful."

You open the double doors, heading into the Main Hall beyond.
Novus Valnastium -- Council Chamber

This room is mostly empty, even more vast in some ways than the hall outside. Only three things mar its granite perfection; an immense marble table at the head of the room with nine chairs, each marked with a single Sphere glyph, an intricately inscribed Certamen circle in the center of the room, and perhaps forty seats at the back of the room, for observers and audience. A single door to the left glows a soft gold.
The great marble table seems to be carved from a single piece of stone. Polished and pristine, the table stands as if it had stood here for an eternity, its circle unbroken and complete. Each seat surrounding it is spaced evenly, as if meticulous care has been given toward seeking this state of equality.
The room is lit by a multitude of dim fires which rest in recessed pits along the walls. Here and there, candelabras stand, adding additional light to the chamber through their infinitely burning candles.

<< +views and places here >>

Contents:
Daisy
Niko
Supplies
Obvious exits:
Left Door Out

Penny pushes open one of the massive oak doors with her shoulder, kind of backing into it. Her hands are occupied, you see. Duct tape, a dark duffel bag. She's dragging a huge roll of industrial packing plastic. From the look of the dirt and grass divets caked up around the base, it's taken her a while. She's even a little out of breath.

"I've been looking everywhere for you."

"What, so I can schlep stuff around for you?"

Daisy is standing midroom, one hand jammed wrist-deep in her hoodie pocket,the other one holding her cigarette up to her lips. Long tangles of black hair hang down over her face.

Niko glances over at Penny, "You are a very fortunate young lady....I'd dare say you don't know how much so...". He shakes his head softly and then looks at Daisy and reaches in his back pocket and pulls out his wallet, fanning out 3 hundreds, "This help you get what you need?"

Penny watches the business without interrupting. She's used to waiting. And when it seems appropriate, Penny deadpans at Niko "Yeah. I heard they had me, too. But it's cool. It's cool" picking dirt out of her hair, kicking rocks out of her shoes "I got friends over there, friends over there too."

She props her things in the way of the door to keep it open, leans on the roll of plastic.

Eyes glittering with the craven hunger of the chronically impovershed, Daisy just stares -- unblinking -- at the money. Then, long fingers flexing, she flicks forward to take it.

"Yeah," she says casually, bobbing her head. "That's definitely enough to get me started. An' I suppose I'm in charge of being started, being, as I am, Friday and all. An' being Friday, an' Friday being the Sabbath, I ain't got to schlep shit for you, Penny. Unless of course it's for a good cause. Talmud says I can schlep shit for charity."

For a moment, she scowls.

"Keene totally nailed me on that point last week."

Niko arches a brow and shakes his head a little as if he's trying to fathom something about you all, "And to think..3 years ago..I would have asked to join your litle group..". He smirks a bit and moves back to the circle, 'Don't take any of Alex's shit...he'll be more pissed off than he already is and I don't need him thinking about anything but pissing off the Union with me..'

Squinting, Daisy holds one of the hundred-dollar bills up to the light, then turns it over and examines the other side. She gets to examine real currency far, far too infrequently.

"We don't want to be sowin' no discord in Q Division," says Daisy. "Don't worry -- if there's anything at all Daisy Inscrutable's good at, it's keepin' the peace."

Penny looks Daisy over like maybe there's something wrong, incorrect perceptions; reception isn't coming in clear. She looks Daisy over, mouth twisted shut, eyes on the money. Purpose.

"You're taking applications? I thought our roster was full. Plus we gotta get this shit started, bein'as it's five in the goddam and it won't cook itself. Plus, y'know .. you're Friday," indicating the roll to Daisy. An introduction, an invitation.

Kicking her boots against the roll of plastic again, Penny scratches her nails across her jeans, flicking out sand. Or salt. Something that makes noise when it hits the stone floor.

"Us plus Voodoo Eddie plus Eva plus the Eighth Day means we're full up," agrees Daisy, turning her back on Niko and slouching over to the sheeting. Delicately, she pushes it with the tip of her toe, waiting it for to rebound. Her expression passes through a dozen permutations of uncomfortable. "I think we're good with what we got now, P. I mean, there's always the possibility that --"

Eyes, hooded, jerk from Penny to a point just over her shoulder.

"-- I mean, you know what there's a possibility of. That ain't a good possibility."

Niko settles back in the center of the Certamen Circle and puts his laptop back on his legs, 'I don't want to join, ladies....I'm just trying to remember when I was like you both are..'

"You used to be a stupid cunt that wanted me to carry a big bloody roll of plastic on the Sabbath?", Daisy asks sweetly.

They commiserate quietly, the girls.
It's this thing they do, talking with their eyes.

And Penny doesn't look happy, no, not pleased at all. "..but it's the rules,.." she hisses "We have to at least try. It's what, I mean it's not just the principle of the thing, it's the fucking letter."

A guarded glance at Niko "I'm serious, I didn't want any trouble. That shit, Alex? He doesn't know man.

Niko smirks a little at Penny and shrugs, "Neither did I..and you can see what it got me.."

Penny, uncomfortable in the doorway, broken-records "Yeah. Uh. So where's the body." She touches the edge of the plastic, tip-tip-flicking a corner between thumb and forefinger. Shrugging up her shoulder, the question merely perfunctory.

"Figure I can ask and you can tell me."

Niko shakes his head, "I have no idea...I didn't ask...but you're not going to get it..and I have a feeling if you don't return that head soon....all hell's gonna break loose.

Deer-in-headlights. Daisy literally locks up with indecision, unmoving for a second.

"I suppose it's charity," she says when she thaws.

Penny arches a brow, the left one, the one that can be seen. She says, in Enochian, "Daze, y'ever get the feeling you're just not being heard?" Reaching into one of the apron pockets on her hip, Penny digs out a scissor and puts her wrist through the roll of duct tape. She says, in Enochian, "Come on, this is pointless."

Niko glances to Penny, "I'll run that through the universal translator later..". He looks to Daisy, "If you're sure I can't help....then just let me know what you need...I'll see what I can do instead of having you poke around Alex's stuff.

Daisy's brows knit up and her lips start to move slowly. It's obvious that she only vaguely understands the language that Penny was speaking in. After a moment, she sort of nods, shrugs, and mumbles, "Thanks, Aaron. I mean it. But I gotta go."

Penny gives Daisy the scissor in between some complicated gesture, her thumb and pinky fingers spread out. Kicking the door off the roll of plastic, she holds it open.

"Don't run with those."

Daisy takes the scissors. Daisy holds the scissors. Daisy is obviously trying to puzzle out what you said just a moment ago in Enochian, and not doing so well. If you can read lips, you can see her going through the rather arbitrary declinations of the word 'nowhere'.

Half of them are wrong.


Novus Valnastium -- Main Chamber

The main hall of Novus Valnastium is a wide, stone area, with arching buttresses and columns framing windows that stream with bright, comfortable light. Several circles of chairs and old-fashioned divans and davenports are scattered around the room, conversational areas if you will, and a center hearth flickers with a warm, comfortable flame. A set of stairs on the left leads up to a balcony that rings the area, several doors leading off it, and great double doors lead forward and to the left, right, and behind you. Two armored figures, silent as the grave, flank the doors ahead of you, as well as two others flanking the doors to the rear, which lead back out onto the open plains.

Contents:
Rhiamon
Abel
Paksenarrion
Connelly
Obvious exits:
Out to Fields Laboratory Doors Library Doors Council Chambers

Abel heads through the double doors, entering the Main Hall beyond.
Abel has left.

Rhiamon is following after Abel..
Rhiamon heads through the double doors, entering the Main Hall beyond.
Rhiamon has left.

Daisy arrives from the forward doors.
Daisy has arrived.

Daisy and Penny are just leaving as, apparently, the entire population of the Chantry starts to head through into the Council Chambers. The former has a pair of scissors in one hand and a cigarette in the other; the latter has a giant roll of plastic sheeting behind her. Neither offers an explanation.

Paksenarrion looks at the giant sheet of plastic, "Off to desicrate more bodies?"

Lugging along slowly, Penny and Daisy are going over a few things. "The fourth
doesn't apply in cases of the personal. Like affronts or insults. But if you just conjugate with a verb like I did? it works. Cig me," a polite request as they walk "I'm only taking this as far as the next door then it's all you."

Daisy dips into her center pocket to cig Penny. "What door?", she asks.

Abel arrives from the forward doors.
Abel has arrived.

Abel comes out of the main Chamber, heading toward the doors out of the keep.

Daisy and Penny are just leaving as, apparently, the entire population of the Chantry starts to head through into the Council Chambers. The former has a pair of scissors in one hand and a cigarette in the other; the latter has a giant roll of plastic sheeting behind her. Neither offers an explanation.

Abel looks at the two woman curiously. "Hey. What's up?"

"We're workin' on something," Daisy says cryptically, snapping her scissors in Abel's direction. "You'll see soon. Don' worry."

Abel holds his hands up defensively as the scissors snapp at him. "Sure."

"Eight days," Daisy says flatly.

Abel says, "Eight days till what?"

"That one," pointing Daisy at the library. She gets a sharpie out of her bag, bites off the cap and holds it there between her teeth. She starts writing on the duct tape, scribing circles, slashes, points on an axis. "Eight days," she repeats like it should be obvious enough. Matter of fact she's just like those annoying chain-store jingles that keep reminding you how many days there are til Christmas. "Eight days," tearing of that section. It gets slapped to the plastic sheet.

Daisy is not quite so cryptic.

"Eight days 'til you find out," she murmurs, eyes flicking to Abel for just a moment. Shivering and sober, she stands behind Penny's right shoulder, watching. Waiting. "Eight days 'til everyone finds out what we're up to. You'll love it."

Abel doesn't look too sure of that. "Eight days huh? Does this have something to do with Chase?" He stays a short distance away from the two women, obviously unsure how to interact with them. He glances at Daisy, noticing the state she's in. "Are you all right Daisy?"

"Don't worry, Abel. It's not a violation of the Council's order. I'm over that. We're just in planning."

As Abel speaks, Daisy wrinkles up her nose and bobs her head. You can see aftershocks -- muscle tremors -- across her shoulders and back. They're obviously uncomfortable.

"I'm just comin' down off of somethin'. It's ... not so good."

Abel nods to Penny and then to Daisy. "Believe it or not... I know," he says quietly.

"She's fine," an offhand comment, not really concerned. It's most likely that Penny's seen Daisy in far worse shape. "I'm fine. We're all fine except him. He's dead and you can't even help us honor him. Why are you letting Alex hide his body anyway? What's it to you?" This is rhetoric, these are complaints.

Tearing through the tape, Penny's fingers get stuck. "Cut that into about three headless Chase's," chinning to the plastic.

Snip. Snip. Snip.

"Don't worry about Penny," Daisy contradicts, giving Abel a look of genuine concern. Tic. Tic. Up goes the corner of her lip, but it's not a sneer; it's a twitch, and one she can't do anything about. "She's strung out. We're all a little strung out. Since Chase went out, we've been ... too much."

It's obvious what she's been too much of.

Abel blinks to Penny and nods to Daisy again. "I don't know where Alex has put the body. I wasn't around for it. And how are you honoring Chase? You guys never tell anybody what you're doing. You simply do your thing that nobody else understands. And then you expect us all to just... to just get it." He runs a hand through his hair in frustration. "And I think you like it that way."

"That's true," says Daisy contemplatively. Halfway done, she finishes cutting and looks up, red-rimmed eyes on Abel. "Would you like us to tell you more? We could tell you things, if we could find Hod. It's Hod's job to tell you things."

Penny is mapping out a lattice of tape. It looks like a net, the long lines of silver half stuck to the floor, criss-crossing. Fencing. On hands and knees Penny marks up the tape and starts pulling out tiny things from her pockets; copper wires, bay leaves, jet pebbles, bitter herbs. These things remain in a pile beside the near-complete sticky frame.

"No. Hod is not Keene."

"Okay, help me flip this over sticky and then put that" she points to the plastic "on this."

"Keene is the best Hod. Keene is deeply Hod," Daisy explains, carefully taking up one end of the net, carefully turning it over, and carefully lowering it onto the aforementioned plastic sheeting. She looks up at Penny expectantly, lip caught between her teeth, before continuing. "There's seven of us. There're seven days. There're seven Sephirot reflected upon the face of the supernal crown, Kether. Each of us, each of the members, is a day, a Sephirot, a name. Today I'm Friday, the Sabbath. Now, the Sabbath doesn't do any work, 'cause the Sabbath is head of the cabal, just as Eheveh rules the world and the father is the head of the house. Today Penny is Monday. Monday is more cryptic than the rest of us, because Monday is above the language of intelligences."

Her smile is wan, but still a smile.

"Be glad you ain't talkin' to Da'ath. Da'ath is silent, and a bitch to boot."

Abel smiles a little and moves to help keep the plastic and tape from getting caught where it isn't supposed to go. "Here, let me help. I really need to read up more on my Kabbalah."

Penny stops with a sharp intake of breath waiting there. And it issues forth in little put-put noises when she drops a corner for Abel to pick up since he wants to help.

Her gestures are slowing down, becoming more fluid. It's possible her facilities and acuity are leaving her.

"Now. Turn it over and litter the shroud with safe passage, enlightenment and sacrafice."

The pile, her eyes fix on the pile. The bay leaves, the bitter herbs, the jet. Who knows what the copper wire is for. Better leave it out.

Of course, it's plastic. It's duct tape. It's a rock. It's a leaf. It's silly, and it's not going to work.

Daisy is a mage because she has learned to ignore these things. Closing her eyes, she takes up the bay, scattering the sharp-spined herbs across the duct tape and plastic. Then the green-brown curls of herb, scattered carefully across the same area. Then, finally, the jet stones, which clack and clatter across the shroud beneath her hand. She's whispering a gutteral, inarticulate prayer underneath her breath, choking back sobs.

You always swear in the language of your birth. You always grieve in the religion of your parents.

Abel stands back and watches. He understands something is being done... something for Chase... and he bows his head in prayer as well.

//.etro: Penny rolls "arete" at diff 5
For a total of 2 success(es).

Abel prays under his breath "Eternal rest grant unto him oh Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him.

Penny rests back on her heels. "And when they give us his body, we'll wrap him up and take him in among us," vacant-eyed she stares at a vanishing point. Head tilted to the side, her eyes go wide and slack. Swaying and rocking like some ecstatic, she might faint.

OOC> Penny says "awareness rolls if you're feelin'it."

Daisy's shoulders are tense, and her expression is hard, and she's staring at the shroud on the verge of crying.

"We will," she murmurs, "and our will is become flesh."

That's not something she would normally say, and it's lacking her characteristic insecure, gutterish diction.

Rhiamon arrives from the forward doors.
Rhiamon has arrived.

Abel puts a hand on Daisy's shoulder comfortingly but doesn't say anything.
Rhiamon enters from the Council chamber, yawning.

It's all on Penny, the energy, the resonance. This is clearly a meditation and you know she'll be here for hours. Another facet of the fasting, perhaps. She's made this little spot, the shroud and all part of a temporary domain. By touching it, the plastic, you can sense her presence and know if you stay there that your will could be subverted to her own.

Daisy, Abel, and Penny are clustered around three pieces of plastic sheeting, each roughly man-sized and man-shaped. A matrix of duct tape has been overlaid on each. The thick, pungent smell of asafoetida, fennel leaves, and horseradish rises from her. Baby leaves of romaine lettuce are scattered with jet stones and bay leaves.

Penny, kneeling, is sheened in an oracular sweat, eyes rolling up under closed eyelids, taut muscles vibrating with effort. There's no clear indication of what she's doing.

Rhiamon blinks, but doesn't interupt what is going on.

Abel turns and moves away from the powereful magicks and resonance of Penny's working, not wanting to get caught up in it. He remains quiet, contemplative.

Rhiamon mouths a greeting to Abel, and waves with a smile

Daisy stands without a word, and walks, straight-backed, out of the keep.

Daisy opens the two double doors leading out to the plains, leaving to enter the plains beyond.
Daisy has left.

Abel smiles to back to Rhiamon with a bit of a shrug, and heads out of the keep as well, gesturing to Rhiamon to follow and remain quiet.
Rhiamon nods, and picks her way over.

Abel opens the two double doors leading out to the plains, leaving to enter the plains beyond.
Abel has left.
Rhiamon opens the two double doors leading out to the plains, leaving to enter the plains beyond.
Rhiamon has left.

Penny was here before you. She's been here for days. It's been days.

It's a pretty day. The sun is shining. Penny sits indian-style at the peak of a hill, her back to the fields, her back to the tall swaying grasses and the peace that might come in quiet contemplation. She watches the forest, hands in her pockets. It's possible she hasn't showered since she got here. It's been days.

Days since that day.

It's a pretty day. The sky is blue and the sun is shining.

Cresting the hill, Pig-boy comes shuffling down the embarkment; footing unsure; stumbling, really. No master of stealth, he makes a great deal of noise in his approach - grass rustling, dirt and rocks cascading ahead of him.

"Hey, uh -- Penny," he calls, or perhaps mumbles.

//.etro: Penny rolls "arete" at diff 4
For a total of 2 success(es).

In the area are familiar looking things. It's the partial contents of Penny's bag - sharpie markers, slips of paper, tampons, keys, a gun. You walked into this area, this little circle and the slide guy interrupts your vision, your sense of self. It feels like Penny in there and Penny wants to kill.
Everything.

Easy to recognize, it's adrenaline and mescaline. It's pressure risen. It's blood in the veins and a tightness in the fists.

"I don't understand," she says with a distant tongue.

"...nothing to understand," answers Hiro, crossing the invisible line between rolling elysian fields and Penny's personal hemisphere. The sun doesn't shine so brightly, here. The birds, untroubled and singing, a little more difficult to hear. He keeps his hands balled up in his pockets, stubbornly; a key element to his perpetual slouch. "He's dead. Motherfuckers killed'm. Thassit, right. And the people we're supposed to answer to, who're supposed to protect us and help us don't give a shit, as usual. They care about number one. As usual. Nothing new."

"Right," slow and contemplative "right." Decisive. "Grab those keys, hey?" And the markers, she probably means, too.

Good mescaline comes on slow. At present time Penny has no problem getting up, picking up things, dissolving that felt-presence. But things linger - the crisp sound of paper crumpling in her hand, the feel of cold metal in her hand, your hand.

Penny holds the gun. Safety on. Finger threaded through the trigger and around the handle. Little click.

"We're taking it out of here."

It. "You mean the body," Hiro observes, bending down to retrieve Penny's keys from the grass; a fistful of sharpies next. These things are held uselessly; offered up, as if an alternative to the gun. "We can't lug a corpse out of here, Penny."

Penny starts tramping down the hill, wading through the hip-deep grasses toward the big building over there. The only building, as it happens. Consider it a march; on the move with Penny. "They brought it in here. We're taking it out of here." An unspoken 'why not?' punctuating her reasoning. "It's got a sheet on it," like a sheet's enough. "It was enough for Caesar, it's enough for him. I have a plan."

Her stance, her posture is a challenge to the building itself. "We can't leave him here. Not with these cowards. They do him wrong."

Arriving at the doors of the Novus Valnastium Penny declares quietly "We're taking him out of here. Today is the sixteenth and the first day. On the ninth day we will celebrate him. The ninth day is the Bacchanalia."

Hiro falls into place behind Penny, his record bag jostling as he makes his way, stumbling, through the field. Whatever's in there, it's heavy. He lights a cigarette as he walks; hands cupped around the tip, butane continually going out in the artifical climate. He lights it only at considerable length.

This place wasn't designed for smokers; it was designed for throwbacks. Pig-Boy's expression attests this opinion; scowling around the filter.

"We can't just cart a corpse out of here, Penny," he insists.

"It's the end of the feast, Piggy."

She raises the gun, grips it with both hands and aims it at the doors. There's a good chance she doesn't know what she's doing, what she's aiming at.

"Our fasting begins right fucking now." Thumbing the safety off, she pulls the trigger. The bullet ricohets off the stones of the building, the distinctive smell of scorched air orbits and she walks into the building.

There is a certain instinctive response to gunfire, one you don't see in movies. The hard-asses never cringe at the report, at the explosion of cordite, the sharp sound of a bullet ricocheting off of stone, or the zip as it passes through the air.

Pig-Boy is no hard-ass; he ducks instinctively, as if this would save him from a stray round. "Fuck, Penny," is all he says. He still follows -- just gives himself a little more distance.

Connelly 's sitting on the floor in a corner of the room, reading some sort of
book...

A few seconds earlier a gunshot pierced the quiet.

Moments later comes the former statue-on-the-hill that was Penny. In her hands is a large gun and in her wake is Hiro armed only, somewhat impotently, with sharpie markers. She is making great strides across the hall toward the council chambers, offering the troops no quarter moving onward.

Abel arrives from the forward doors.
Abel has arrived.

Abel comes out of the council Chambers, heading to ward the exit.

As if just now realizing his hands are full of sharpies, Hiro stuffs them away into a pocket of his labcoat; following suit with a set of keys. The cigarette, then, is plucked from between his lips; ashed on the ground.

In passing, he flashes an ironic 'peace' sign -- index and middle fingers extended -- in Connelly's direction.

Connelly stands up as she sees the two people coming in...and blinks.."What the..." She says her words hanging in the air as she sees the women with the rifle come into the main hall....

Abel goes still when he see's Penny. "What in the One's name?"

Penny doesn't stop amid the protests but keeps moving for the doors over there. It's not a rifle. It's a gun.
A Colt .45 in Penny's hand.

She isn't aiming it at anyone in particular but has it in her right hand. Her grip loosens and blows past Connelly, past Abel She says, in Enochian, "It's nothing to you. Stay out of my way."

-- and Hiro remains just a few feet behind her, keeping pace. His record bag creaks and jangles with his movement, the heavy load thumping against his back.

Connelly does what anyone who has seen armed people moving like that would do...she drops the book she was hold(a Medical Examiners procedural book) and presses her back against the wall.....

Abel calls out, trying to warn the people in the other room....
Abel shouts, "Incoming!"

You open the double doors, heading into the Main Hall beyond.
Novus Valnastium -- Council Chamber

This room is mostly empty, even more vast in some ways than the hall outside. Only three things mar its granite perfection; an immense marble table at the head of the room with nine chairs, each marked with a single Sphere glyph, an intricately inscribed Certamen circle in the center of the room, and perhaps forty seats at the back of the room, for observers and audience. A single door to the left glows a soft gold.
The great marble table seems to be carved from a single piece of stone. Polished and pristine, the table stands as if it had stood here for an eternity, its circle unbroken and complete. Each seat surrounding it is spaced evenly, as if meticulous care has been given toward seeking this state of equality.
The room is lit by a multitude of dim fires which rest in recessed pits along the walls. Here and there, candelabras stand, adding additional light to the chamber through their infinitely burning candles.

<< +views and places here >>

Contents:
Alex
Niko
Supplies
Obvious exits:
Left Door Out

Hiro enters the Council Chambers from the Main Hall outside.
Hiro has arrived.
Niko read your description.

Alex is seated in the Seat of Correspondence, slightly slouched, and with his fingers folded together in his lap.


Niko walks across the line and enters The Certamen Circle.

Penny-with-the-gun comes through the doors to the chamber, glassy-eyed and radiating that kind of level-headed calm people with guns tend to have. It is not raised or aimed at anyone in particular, it rests there in her right hand.
An extension.

She looks left, looks right and then begins to move at a reduced clip into the room "Where is it." Her voice is a thin, hard line.

Abel enters the Council Chambers from the Main Hall outside.
Abel has arrived.

Behind Penny, Hiro pauses at the chamber's threshold; standing in the shadow of the enormous oaken door. He says nothing: expression carefully neutral, only his eyes -- fixed nervously on Penny, lacking their usual narcotic placidity -- giving his state away. The cigarette rises to his lips, cherry flaring bright orange-red.

Abel comes running into the room a moment after Hiro and Penny.

"Where is what?..."Alex queries calmly with a raised eyebrow.

"The body. THE BODY," when she repeats the words, they carry upward. They echo. They reverberate and shuttle quickly back into the void. Still not pointing the gun, Penny watches Niko moves deliberately into the circle. Perhaps it's an involuntary reflex that moves her to say "I don't want to fight you, I just came for the body."

Alex hrms softly and gives a single nod,"...And what do you intend to do with the body?...

Niko settles into the circle, cross-legged and looks to Penny, "This is just where I think...chill out.."

Abel stays back for now... not wanting to get shot.

"They're fucking you about," Hiro murmurs, matter-of-factly. He still shadows the doorway; eyes flicking sideways to Abel as he materializes beside him, then back to Penny, to Alex. "Cough it up, man. He doesn't belong here."

"Oh... And I am sure that you know better than anyone else where the body belongs,"Alex comments casually,"...So why do not you enlighten us with your brillance?..."

Penny fingers the trigger of the gun. Tilting her head to the side, like maybe
she doesn't understand english, Penny squints at Alex. She holds this pose for
one, maybe two minutes before turning and walking back out of the chamber.

"Keene was right."

"...you think they ate him?" Hiro asks, quietly, as Penny draws near. Did he just insinuate... A sideways look at Alex -- a silent stare held for several seconds -- and he turns to follow Penny out.

Novus Valnastium -- Main Chamber

The main hall of Novus Valnastium is a wide, stone area, with arching buttresses and columns framing windows that stream with bright, comfortable light. Several circles of chairs and old-fashioned divans and davenports are scattered around the room, conversational areas if you will, and a center hearth flickers with a warm, comfortable flame. A set of stairs on the left leads up to a balcony that rings the area, several doors leading off it, and great double doors lead forward and to the left, right, and behind you. Two armored figures, silent as the grave, flank the doors ahead of you, as well as two others flanking the doors to the rear, which lead back out onto the open plains.

Contents:
Connelly
Obvious exits:
Out to Fields O Laboratory Doors RD Library Doors LD Council Chambers FD

Penny returns almost as quickly as she left this area "Where is it, where's the body. You /tell/ me where the body is right now." The gun is still in her hand and she seems less stable, less patient than when she left.

Hiro arrives from the forward doors.
Hiro has arrived.

"Yes, the body."
Connelly ums.."Who's body?"

Alex arrives from the forward doors.
Alex has arrived.

Abel arrives from the forward doors.
Abel has arrived.
Abel follows Alex out of the room.

Alex casually wanders into the main chamber, stopping just through the door. His head doesn't turn, but one would assume that his eyes are moving about behind the shades.

Hiro doesn't travel far into the corridor. While Penny is interrogating Connelly, Pig-boy is fitting the foam ear-beads of a minidisc player into his ears; thumb held down on the fast-forward button.

Connelly 's stqanding, like she is waiting on something...she is definately watching the gun in Penny's hand..

Hiro says "Need awareness, diff 8, from you guys"
//.etro: Connelly rolls "perception + awareness" at diff 8
For a total of 1 success(es).
Huh? (Type "help" for help.)
//.etro: Alex rolls "awareness + per" at diff 8
For a total of 1 success(es).
You paged Cassius with 'True ..and the last time I did it was with a cabal
member that had matter 2. Rats.'.
//.etro: Penny rolls "awareness+perception" at diff 8
For a total of 2 success(es).
//.etro: Abel rolls "6" at diff 8
For a total of 2 success(es).

Hiro pages Abel, Penny, Alex, and Connelly: The air is atingle. -_-

Dropping the minidisc player into his labcoat's breast pocket, Hiro takes a hesitant step across the corridor. Then another, and another. "Penny," he says, quietly; as if ignoring the presence of the other mages. "Come on then." A few more steps down the corridor, and he's pushing open the door to the laboratory.

Abel turns to Alex questioningly.

Penny falls back a step from Connelly. If looks could kill. If they could even maim. If she really wanted it to. But Penny just doesn't have time for stupidity. Clearly there are other doors, other venues to pursue here. She looks toward Hiro and gestures with the gun She says, in Enochian, "They have nothing in them but fear. If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth by which no man was ever injured," spitting to the ground She says, in Enochian, "But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance."

Alex sighs and shakes his head following after Hiro.

Hiro opens and moves through the door marked 'Laboratory.'
Hiro has left.
You head to the doors marked 'Laboratory' and head through into the room
beyond.
Novus Valnastium -- Workspace

This room is bare, save the inclusion of several seats, benches, tables, and other miscellaneous lab equipment. Even with this equipment, the room itself is fairly empty, left to made into whatever is needed at the time. As a lab, it seems poorly equipped; however, should one consider the makeup of the room, it would become clear that the lab was built as such to better align it with any who might use it, as opposed to fitting it to any specific paradigm.

Contents:
Hiro
Obvious exits:
Out
Alex enters the Laboratory from the Main Hall.
Alex has arrived.

Abel enters the Laboratory from the Main Hall.
Abel has arrived.

In the corner of the room, where Alex's computer system has been setup, is his gang. They appear to be working on something on one of the computers, but when people enter the lab they look up. The sight of Penny's gun has them all on their feet in an instance. However, they take no action, but probably only because Alex holds a hand up to stop them as he enters the lab.

Hiro pushes his way into the library, the tinny rattle from his earbeads growing cacophanous, almost deafening. The Misfits? He fixes his attention on the body lain out on it's gurney; tapping his breast pocket to kill the music. Somehow, he never even looks at the gang of bikers. "Your show, Pence," is all he has to say, unshouldering his record bag, and dropping it down onto a workbench.

You paged Cassius with 'Can I roll at you and can you tell me what the result of a matter scan of the body reveals?'.
Cassius pages: Are you looking for something in particular?
From afar, Cassius warns he will be logging momentarily.
Long distance to Cassius: Penny wants to know if it's booby-trapped or if it's just flesh and bone we're dealing with here. Cally wasn't exactly forthcoming with info. In order to perform this ritual in nine days we're going to have to prepare the body and I don't want any surprises.
Cassius pages: Aside from a small implant that looks inactive, the corpse is an ordinary embalmed corpse.

One hand occupied with the gun. The other hand begins pulling things from her bag, that bottomless bag. She begins to deposit these things one after another onto the sheet that covers the body. A sewing kit from The Holiday Inn, her
cellphone, a swiss army knife, a Stickies notepad. "Sharp, Piggy." She holds out her free hand to him but not her full attention. That, the audience will notice, is fixed quite specifically on the head.

Contents of the record bag. white-jacketed records, unlabelled. Black plastic garbage bags. Zip ties. Cylinder of minidiscs. Wire cutters. Bag of cocaine-- that's what he was looking for. He's already got a largish quantity tapped out, narowed down to a three inch long, pencil lead-thin line. It goes up his nose with the hollow cylinder of a mechanical pencil.

"That's some spicy guacamole," he declares, straightening bolt-upright. Sharp sniff. He turns; tosses a sharpie to Penny, underhand.

Alex frowns as he makes his way to a stool next to one of the workbenches. The gang watches with idle curiousity.

Penny says "Awareness rolls diff 8, please."
//.etro: Hiro rolls "perception+awareness" at diff 8
For a total of 0 success(es).
//.etro: Abel rolls "7" at diff 8
For a total of 1 success(es).
Long distance to Hiro: Penny just got ammo.
Alex frowns as he makes his way to a stool next to one of the workbenches. The
gang watches with idle curiousity.
//.etro: Alex rolls "awareness + per" at diff 8
For a total of 2 success(es).

You paged (blind) Alex and Abel with 'Huge energy centered around Penny as she makes a move toward the head.'.

Alex sits on the stool, leaning an elbow on the workbench. His head tilts slightly as Penny moves toward the head, but he doesn't do anything to stop her.

Abel says, "Penny, what are you doing?"

Hiro cuts out a second line with the edge of a public library card. He seals the bag, dropping it into a labcoat pocket, and leans forward. "And one for my dead homie," he murmurs, before huffing the entirety up his left nostril.

Penny has the ability to do two or more things at once. She catches the marker and moves the sheet at the same time, uncovering the lump that was Chase's head. "Son of a bitch," she remarks, her hands turning the appendage, eyes wide ..maybe more dilated than they should be "son of a /bitch/. You fucking assholes," a remark for the group. "Knife, Piggy."

Penny says it again, insistant "Piggy, KNIFE."

How is it that people consuming cocaine, irregardless of other tendencies and paraphenalia choices, always seem to carry a bladed weapon? Who would have guessed that Hiro kept a gleaming, polished kitchen knife -- wicked looking bugger, fine swedish craftmanship -- in his record bag? He brandishes it briefly, turns it in his hand to grip it by the back of the blade, and offers it to Penny handle-first.

"Don't gotta be a howling cunt about it," he replies. Sniff.

Abel seems very unsure about what's going on, like he wants to interfere, but he doesn't, though he makes a few moves to.

Alex tilts his head little in Abel's direction without looking away from what Penny is doing. "Maybe she is trying to get inside Chase's head?..."

Penny responds with a quick "You don't know what I'm looking at," to justify the howling. Looking back over her shoulder at the gang of geeks Penny advises "You might want to step back," bending over the head she rests the knife on the gurney's edge "You, too" kind of waggling the gun toward the door at Alex and Abel implying that 'step back' means 'leave.'

Appearantly Alex isn't about to leave. He remains seated on the stool, elbow leaning on the workbench. He seems totally unfazed by what Penny is doing or is planning on doing.

"Motherfucker looks like he could use one," Hiro comments, sniffing again. He does not step back; he leans forward to stare glassy-eyed at the gap between head and neck. "Fuck. They really did him, didn't they?"

Abel looks at Alex and back at Penny. He hesitates but doesn't leave either. He stays back and out of the way though.

"Yeah they did," she asides to Hiro, her voice quiet and contained, possessed of the strangest calm. "Suit yourself, just don't blame me .." Already embalmed there's no gore, no blood when Penny slides the knife through the remaining tissue at the base of the skull. Carefully she presses until she can 'see' with the knife what she was looking for. Retracting the knife slowly, something not flesh and not bone begins to issue forth.

An implant of some kind.

"Careful with that,"Alex advices as Penny takes out the implant.

Abel frowns. "Are those Chases or did someone else put them there?" He looks a little sick.

Penny palms and pockets the implants, ah-ah-ahing at Alex with the gun "Back off. The Invisible College is the executor of Chase Kettle's last will and testament. If you can't respect the wishes of a dead man," letting it hang unsaid what she would hate to have to do.

"Piggy you maybe bring those bay leaves?" Never taking her eyes off Alex, her communication with Hiro is succinct and to the point.

"Show me the will,"Alex says pointedly as he stands slowly,"Because otherwise I am going to assume that you are mutalating and stealing from the dead....."

"Besides..."Alex adds,"You can not do much with those implants without special skills...."

"Fuckin' black box," mumbles Hiro, retreating to the workbench. He tears a garbage bag free from the roll, tucking it under his arm. A manilla envelope follows, embossed with six seperate post marks; a wide array of postagestamps. Mostly european, by the look of them. He passes it off to Penny, shooting a look back over his shoulder to Alex. "Don't fuck about with the affairs of collegates, for they are blatant and very fucking high on drugs," he advises.

Gandalf would not exactly be proud.

Abel shakes his head but remains back. He doesn't know anything about this techno stuff anyway.

"Well, if you want to see what happened when Chase was killed, I have it on DVD," Alex states with a bit of a smirk. He then turns to face Hiro,"Be careful who you say shit like that to," he says reaching up to remove his shades. As he does so, his right eye and the curcuitry tattoos flash a bright blue.

You say, "See boyo? Special skills," indicating for Hiro with a half-nod she tosses the envelope lefty at Alex. There other important things to concentrate on. Dickwaving never did hold her interest. She looks at Hiro again. Well, maybe. But other important things - like how to pick up the head with a gun in her hand. "Little help here, hey?"

Alex frowns slightly as he catches the envelope. Opening it he checks inside.

"I ain't threatening anyone, man. 'm just here for m'fuckin friend."

Shaking the black garbage bag out, Hiro stuffs his arm down inside, gripping Chase's severed head through the plastic. He turns the bag inside out around it; twisting it around several times, reverse double-bagging, and fixing the top with a knot. "Let's go, Penny. We can get the body later."

Abel sighs a bit and heads out of the room. He isn't doing any good in here anyway.

Alex takes a smaller envelope out of the envelope and proceeds to open that one.

Pig Boy (Saturday) says, "You paged Alex with 'It's full of crushed bay leaves.'."

Alex pours out the content of the envelope on the floor, leaves of some kind, and then tosses away the envelope. He seems about to say something, but when Hiro speaks he just shrugs instead.

Abel leaves by way of the double doors, entering the Main Hall.
Abel has left.

Penny picks up her cellphone, presses two buttons and starts texting something with one hand, murmuring "Please don't let anyone move his body," gesturing around the lab with the gun "this place is just fine." Eerie, this disaffected notion in her voice. So brisk, so formal all this time. She looks up at Hiro and collects her personal effects. "Alright. I'm ready."

"You shouldn't litter. Those make excellent seasoning," Hiro says, stuffing the bagged head into his record bag, and repacking the remainder of the contents. The strap goes over his shoulder, and he gives Penny a curt nod.

"When he tells us, we'll let you know," he informs Alex, brushing past.

Abel leaves the hall, headed back to the Earth.
Abel opens the two double doors leading out to the plains, leaving to enter the plains beyond.
Abel has left.

Connelly looks at the people coming out of the lab...and keeps back from the door...

Hiro steps out of the laboratory ahead of Penny. His record bag bulges oddly. Another flashed 'peace' at Connelly, and he heads for the exit.

Penny follows Hiro at the same pace, her gun holstered. "Y'think he'll maybe share a cab with us?" nodding up ahead at the doors. "Fuck if I've even got change for the bus.."

Alex enters the Hall from the Laboratory.
Alex has arrived.

Alex steps out of the lab, when he sees Penny and Hiro still in the main chamber he stops. Doesn't do any. Doesn't say a word. Just watches them.

"No bus," Hiro mumbles around the filter of his fresh cigarette, butane flaring between his cupped palms. His tread is the confident, heavy steps of the incredibly coked up. "We walk him home." And exeunt.