The Exploding Rink #fate_ic 6/13/2017

DiscoDude: **---BEGIN SESSION---**
DiscoDude: **Session logging commenced**
Chocolate: Last time we left off... We were all going to the donut cafe, so we can discuss stuff while evidence is getting processed
Chocolate: Right?
Ryusui|GM: Right indeed!
Ryusui|GM: Welcome, ladies and gents, to Precious Donuts - a rather high-end donut cafe a little outside the price range of your average cop, which makes it perfect to discuss things without any policemen in earshot.
Ryusui|GM: Because you *do* want to discuss the case in private, correct?
Chocolate: (Well, we could ask for a private room in a normal-ish Donut Cafe, **assuming** Chocolate has "cred" with it, or something... Otherwise, this will do.)
Ryusui|GM: (do Donut Cafes even *have* private rooms?)
Chocolate: (usually a backroom, at least)
Ryusui|GM: (like, where donuts get made, or...?)
Ryusui|GM: (i'm sorry, I legit tried to do research on donut cafes, but all I got was stuff like Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts ^_^; )
Reality Glitch: ((The Freezer.))
Chocolate: (God, the Freezer XD. It would certainly be accoustically secure)
Chocolate: (Hope you all order hot cocoa!)
Ryusui|GM: Well okay, then, yes. You have cred at this place - a perennially unhealthy-looking Rock Candies named Mullog will gladly let you use his freezer if you ask, though he'll probably give you a weird look. (To be fair, he gives *everyone* a weird look.)
Ryusui|GM: Before that, though, you're in the lobby of the place, where a single customer is rattling off an order that sounds a lot like "two number 9s, a number 9 large, a number 6 with extra frosting," and so forth.
Ryusui|GM: It'll be a bit before he finishes, so you're free to talk amongst yourselves.
Xoa: (omfg)
Chocolate: "Well... I hope you don't mind the cold. We'll have to talk in the freezer, it is absolutely accoustically secure. Also, no one in their sane mind would discuss things there, which means no one will try looking there for us." Chocolate said, turning to the others behind themselves "Maybe you'll want to order order hot cocoa..."
Xoa: Xoa slowly comes to and looks around, "...Remind me again why are we in here, like...To discuss what exactly?"
Chocolate: "Yes, that's the spirit. Let's wait to go into detail when we are where we should be."
Chocolate: _Chocolate says, seemingly oblivious that Xoa is actually unaware_
Reality Glitch: "Cold won't bother me, but what about you?  You don't have any fur."
Xoa: "...Uh...?" She pauses and shrugs and just rolls with it.
Caillou: *rolls his eyes at the irony of 'no one in their sane mind'. He's tangled with some nigh-omniscient-seeming baddies before, but this was a bit much.*
Chocolate: "Very observant, but I am used to it by now..." Chocolate replies, before making a pause "Also, I kinda wear a rather warm set of garments under my tuxedo. That helps."
Xoa: "So uh...When are we going in?" She asks, trying to break the silence.
Ryusui|GM: "...one with cream cheese, and a large soda," the cashier says, without missing a beat. "Here you go." The customer nods and pays up.
Ryusui|GM: It's your turn to order.
Chocolate: "We need to make an order first! How are we supposed to stand being amidst frozen food, if we have not a snack ourselves?"
Caillou: *looks back at that fellow.*
{I'll have what he's having, plus a large hot chocolate.}
Reality Glitch: "Um.  O.K.?"
Ryusui|GM: The cashier blinks, as if you've condemned her to a new circle of fast food hell. "And will that be for all of you," she says, hopefully, "or...?"
Caillou: "Naw." He smacks his lips.
Chocolate: (*Cough* God, my sides)
Ryusui|GM: She sighs. "One number nine, and..." She doesn't bother reading the rest out loud as she taps it in. "And the rest of you?"
Reality Glitch: I gulp out of the sheer cringe of that.
Reality Glitch: "mmm"
Reality Glitch: "I'm fine.  Thank you."
Chocolate: "Ah, yes. Hello Lara! Nice to see you, how are you doing? We've come here for... A special reason." Chocolate starts saying, in a rather chippy tone "I need to make a weird request... Ah, it's not my order. Which will be a half-dozen of donuts and an extra-hot coffee. But there's something more I need to ask..."
Xoa: "I guess...uh...a dozen glazed donuts and a gallon of iced coffee?" She looks at everyone.
Ryusui|GM: (Mullog and the cashier are two different people)
Chocolate: (Now I know! Yaaay!)
Reality Glitch: ((brb))
Ryusui|GM: (sorry, I thought I'd made it clear ^_^; )
Chocolate: (Who's this lady?)
Chocolate: (Is this a Lara? Does she have a criminal record?)
Ryusui|GM: As it happens, yes, she does have a nametag saying Lara.
Ryusui|GM: She looks...well, "war-weary" would be a good way of putting it, and you're not 100% sure it's the food service job.
Ryusui|GM: Mullog is nearby, though, watching over the operations of the cafe anxiously.
Reality Glitch: "Heh, did know this place had a Squidward."
Ryusui|GM: (A who now? 😉 )
Xoa: "What the hell is a squidward?"
Reality Glitch: "Sorry;  slang term from a place I used to frequent.  Basically, the ultimate cynic who hates their job, but can't get fired."
Chocolate: "So... About that request..." Chocolate says, leaning on the counter "Can we use your freezer? We kinda need a place that is accoustically safe. And too insanely cold to pry on, as well."
Xoa: "Whatever you say." She shrugs and then looks at the cashier, slapping the countertop, "I'm still waiting for my dozen donuts and gallon of iced coffee."
Reality Glitch: "That was .... suprizingly bluntly put."
Chocolate: "No point beating around the bush."
Ryusui|GM: Lara squints at you. "You'll...want to talk to the boss about that," she says, looking meaningfully at Mullog.
Reality Glitch: "Are you sure?  Might attract suspicion."
Ryusui|GM: (It's cool; Mullog knows you, you know him, etc. XD)
Chocolate: "Thanks." Chocolate says, nodding, before paying for his order "Now, if you excuse me." they say, before headig off to talk with Mullog himself.
Ryusui|GM: There's one other guy working here, and with a look of absolute despair on his face he finishes the order. All of it. Perfect and to the letter, for every single one of you.
Ryusui|GM: Mullog coughs as you approach. "Chocolate," he says, in his usual hoarse hissing voice. He downs another cough drop, but it doesn't help. "You said something about needing a secret place to chat?"
Reality Glitch: (Given who diverse Floraverse species tend to be, can I get a more detail visual description of Mullog?))
Xoa: "Thanks." She slides over a tip, and then eats two donuts and drinks straight from the gallon jug of coffee. She then goes ahead and inputs some more data onto her compact and closes it. "Well This should be alright until I run out of donuts or coffee."
Chocolate: "And that's why we need a secret place to chat." Chocolate taps the ground with their cane "Too loud. I am certainly too loud, no way to get a private conversation with me around."
Ryusui|GM: (He's a Rock Candies, though he looks perennially sick with something. He's practically furless and his rock outcroppings look dangerously like gypsum or something similarly fragile. It's hard to tell *what's* wrong with him but the rumor goes around that he just plain ate too much donuts in his foolish misspent youth.)
Ryusui|GM: (If nothing else, if pressed, he will lament that his obsession with donuts drove him to this state. Didn't stop him from running a donut shop, of course.)
Reality Glitch: ((Since I'm going to be recreating the scene for Chocolate, does that mean it'll be played out as an actually Fate conflict scene with Chocolate making INvestigation rolls?))
Chocolate: (THEY ARE JUST TOOO GOOOD! *MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH* CAN'T STAHP)
Ryusui|GM: He shrugs. "Just tell your friends not to touch any of the food. Or spill any beverages on it." He indicates a door in the back, which says "EMPLOYEES ONLY" in big red letters under the shop's logo - a donut encrusted with icing in Prattle.
Ryusui|GM: Can anyone here read Prattle?...
Chocolate: (Xoa is an imp)
Xoa: (Xoa can)
Ryusui|GM: Xoa, you know it says "ONE TO RULE THEM ALL" - pretty dramatic thing to put on a golden flaky pastry ring.
Chocolate: (Chocolate probably has a super-broken understanding of prattle, I wonder what they make of the sign)
Xoa: "One to rule them all?" She read the words, "What does that mean?"
Reality Glitch: I swallow a chuckle as I absentmindedly glance Xoa's understanding of the writing from my prerefrial.
Ryusui|GM: You asked Mullog once about the sign, since you couldn't *quite* understand it, and he told you it symbolized the hold donuts had over him...and his drive to make the greatest donut of all.
Reality Glitch: "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."
Chocolate: "Hmmm... I believe it is a reference about how donuts wholly and absolutely dominates the owner's life."
Reality Glitch: "I'm remembering a movie."
Ryusui|GM: "I wanted to put that whole thing on the logo," Mullog says, swallowing yet another cough drop, "but the designer said it wouldn't fit."
Caillou: {We are getting off topic. Chocolate, do you actually need us in there?}
Chocolate: "Yes, in fact. Let's go in." Chocolate says, taking the lead and pushing the employee's door open, as they walked past it.
Xoa: Xoa followed closely behind with donuts and drink in hand.
Ryusui|GM: (So everybody's going in, right?)
Chocolate: (RG is a bit offli- oh, here he is)
Caillou: (Not sure what Xoa and I would be doing in there, but alright.)
Ryusui|GM: (well, Chocolate seems to have an idea)
Reality Glitch: ((I thought the others would go do their own thing while Chocolate and I were in the freezer.))
Ryusui|GM: (that's what I thought too, but let's roll with Krasu's idea, see where it goes :3)
Chocolate: (if anything, the other two *can* walk out the freezer)
Reality Glitch: ((Are we going to have a full conflict between me and the Mew York Reaper?))
Ryusui|GM: So you're all in the freezer. It's a nice and spacious freezer. It's also very, very cold to keep all the food in here fresh.
Ryusui|GM: All the stuff is by the walls, so you have a nice, open space in the center to work with.
Ryusui|GM: (BRB; you guys keep talking)
Chocolate: _Chocolate takes a long sip of their coffee_
"Alright. Caillou, I need you to talk with the other one- I *think* we didn't get their name -About what happened today. While I talk to this one about what happened when they got attacked. Once you are done with it- Wait, where is Inya?"
Ryusui|GM: She was bringing up the rear.
Ryusui|GM: If you peep through the door, you can see her making her order
Ryusui|GM: Which makes Caillou's look *minuscule* by comparison.
Ryusui|GM: (also back, if it wasn't clear already XD)
Chocolate: _Chocolate realizes that Caillou has made a gigantic order_
"How are you supposed to eat all of that? Geez... Anyways, you can try talking with Inya, or conducting your own investigation. Or, anything, really, your choice."
Ryusui|GM: (Talking to Inya, or Xoa, you mean?)
Chocolate: (Well, after he's done talking with Xoa, that is)
Chocolate: (I don't think Chocolate got Xoa's name)
Caillou: {Alright. What was your name? It's sometimes hard for me to catch new names when I read normal speech.} (<@!Xoa>)
Caillou: (Did your tag change?)
Ryusui|GM: (no, sometimes Discord is persnickety about formatting pings)
Reality Glitch: ((No, you just can't have any character other than a space adjacent to the mention.))
Xoa: She looks at him "It's Xoa, and I heard your name a lot, Cailou."
Caillou: (Ah, it was the period it was whining about.)
Chocolate: "Now, I am sorry, what was your name again?" Chocolate asked, as they pointed towards Argee "Since the time for sublety is long gone, I suppose it is time to get down to business, is it not?"
Chocolate: (Is it Argee?)
Ryusui|GM: (yeah)
Reality Glitch: "OH!  Yes!  Uh, I haven't really used a name in so long.  I'm having trouble remembering."
Reality Glitch: "I guess just Argee is fine."
Caillou: {That is something *most* people don't have difficulty with. I am now informing you that I am deaf, so as to not subject you to unnecessary confusion and embarrassment. Can you tell me what happened with the vulctan?}
Caillou: (Caillou is familiar with the species of Jewel.)
Caillou: (And most places for that matter.)
Reality Glitch: "Well, I'm terrible with names.  I only remember Chocolate's because of how odd-sounding it is."
Ryusui|GM: (what happened with the what now?)
Ryusui|GM: (oh, you mean Strige XD)
Reality Glitch: "And I got the whole deaf thing from your lack of auditory memory."
Caillou: (Talking to Xoa, Argee. XD)
Reality Glitch: ((I'm sticking with it.))
Reality Glitch: "Anyway, Chocolate; ready to start?"
Xoa: "Yeah, Strige. He put a jewel on the rabbit, said some things and started to transform it into something really grotesque. And when he tried to fight me with the concrete staff he said something along the lines of 'The Screw...' or something. I busted him up a new one and then the police came and then here we are in this freezer." She looks at Caillou.
Chocolate: "Yes, yes. I used to hear people tell me that my name was funny, back when I started my carreer, I don't know if I should find it refreshing or otherwise, the fact that someone is doing this again, after all those years." Chocolate says, before taking a bite from a donut, there's a pause before they finally swallow it, "In any case, would you tell me what happened, the day you were attacked by your assailant? Assumedly, the Mew York Reaper?"
Caillou: {The rabbat seems to be fine. How did that happen?}
Reality Glitch: "It's better if I show you."  I melt onto the floor, spread out, and pull myself up into a four-walled room formation just before touching the shelves.  The images on them perfectly replicate true depth.  The sun is just peaking over the horizen in an open, but mostly empty street.  All the doors and window-blinds are closed in this residential seeming district.  A facsimily of myself, in the solid purple and white humanoid dragon form with my iconic simulated hoody, walks into the center of the scene, looking down at the compact in my hands.
((This is the best image of mine I could find.))
http://orig10.deviantart.net/9b56/f/2016/140/4/f/i_m_new_to_tumblr_by_reality_glitch-da34ost.png
Caillou: *swallows the first number 9 order whole.*
Xoa: "Agree over there...or whatever their name is, reverted them back to normal...somehow."
Chocolate: (The humanoid dragon is different from what Chocolate saw Argee as, right?)
Reality Glitch: ((Only in color.))
Caillou: To Chocolate: {Ask him how he returned the rabbat to normal.}
Reality Glitch: ((I changed color with mood before.))
Caillou: To Xoa and Inya: {Should we take this somewhere else? I feel like our part of this would be less... *classified*, and I feel like this is going to get distracting.}
Chocolate: "Iis that you? And what are you doing? And why are you there?" Chocolate asks, before making a pause "And Caillou is asking how you turned the Rabbat to normal."
Reality Glitch: <@!Caillou> hears in their head, <I sqeezed the curse out of 'em.>
Reality Glitch: <@!Chocolate> <Yes, That is me.  Shapechanging includes color.>
Xoa: _shrugs, "Sure, I can go somewhere else if it really demands it."_
Ryusui|GM: (Inya's not with you yet.)
Ryusui|GM: (If you walk out, though, you'll probably run into her. XD)
Caillou: <I'm not even going to ask.> {Let's go, then.}
Chocolate: "Please, Argee, proceed with the other questions."
Xoa: Follows Caillou.
Ryusui|GM: "I *said* let me *in!*" Inya squeals petulantly, holding an armload of donuts and coffee. Mullog looks positively miserable. "I told you, the sign says 'Employees Only' and" - he sees the two of you emerge from the freezer - "oh thank *heavens* you're here!"
Caillou: {I need to ask you a few questions as well, Annyong.}
Reality Glitch: (( <@!Ryusui|GM> , can you G.M. the scene for me?  I'm afraid of stepping on your preestablised canon.))
Ryusui|GM: (it's fine. All I'm gonna ask from you is to set the scene.)
Reality Glitch: ((I did, but no; I won't have enough time to play the conflict out before my laptop dies.))
Ryusui|GM: Caillou: "I don't *care* what the sign says; the people *accompanying* me are - oh, *there* you are!" Inya grins triumphantly as she notices you two emerging. She doesn't even bother to correct your mispronunciation of your name. "What is it you wished to ask of me?" she says, with undue dramatic flair.
Ryusui|GM: So yeah, Chocolate. You can clearly see it's just before dawn; the streets are empty except for Argee. A tense minute passes, and then...a flicker of movement at the edge of the simulation.
Caillou: {Miss Annyong, you said that your group had business with the Jewel Mining Corporation? Could you elaborate on the specifics?}
Chocolate: _Chocolate slowly crushes a donut, their grip tightening in tension, just before they take a bite. Their eyes transfixed_
Ryusui|GM: "Ahhh. Yes. That business. Well. I'm afraid Togu was the 'detail person,' more privy to the specifics than I" - she manages to make "I didn't understand much about it" sound positively dignified - "but I understand he was to broker an arrangement between the Concern and Keetiv. Everything was...*speculative*" - she punctuates this with a wave of her hand, and nearly drops her entire load of food - "but I'm given to understand that if the deal goes through, the Concern will help extract some of the original crystal deposits buried underneath the village."
Ryusui|GM: "It's...a long and rather *tiresome* story," she says, "but...the short version is, those crystals are of *immense* interest to the field of magical research."
Ryusui|GM: Chocolate: And then it's gone. And...there it is again, a few seconds later, in a completely different position? If it's what you think it is, it's fast. And it's patient.
Caillou: {At this point, I recommend against allowing the Concern to obtain the crystals in any way, Miss Annyong.}
Caillou: {Two agents associated with them have turned out to be rather unscrupulous goons of some malicious conspiracy, you see.}
Chocolate: "What in the..." Chocolate manages, before gulping down a bit of their coffee, in a desperate attempt to use the coffee to gain the ability to pay more attention to the shape's movement
Ryusui|GM: "That handsome bird and his lawyer?" Inya says, demonstrating her utter ignorance of the things which went down right in front of her eyes. "Well, I will confess I'm having second thoughts about this whole business deal, though I'd at least like to still go through with the meeting."
Ryusui|GM: You have to be focused to keep track of it, Chocolate. It keeps just at the edge of perception - a suspicion of movement, a fleeting shadow.
Ryusui|GM: Then you think it's gone.
Ryusui|GM: And then...
Caillou: "Er-hum..." {I'm not sure how to respond to that. I don't know what they want with the crystals, but it can't be good. Miss Annyong, was it them that came to you with the offer, or was it the other way around?}
Ryusui|GM: She glances at her bodyguard, who has been present but silent this entire time, in a rare blink-and-you'd-miss-it moment of helplessness. Then she rallies and declares, with slightly less confidence than she would like, "Of *course* it was the Consortium who approached the Jewell Concern. I'm 99.7% sure that was the case." The bodyguard shrugs in noncommital agreement.
Caillou: {You had to think about that for a while. Assuming that you were lying, or possibly mistaken - and I'm not saying you have to admit to that - then riddle yourself this: How did the Concern find out about the crystal reserve, if it's gone mostly untouched and unnoticed? I keep up to date on local affairs, and just based on what the public knows, it would have been safe to assume that the crystal artifacts were just left over from whatever civilization you dug them up from. One wouldn't assume that there's a large reserve that would be worth pointing their mining company at. *Especially* one from overseas.}
(Can I roll my {Disarming Prose} stunt?)
Ryusui|GM: (an attack isn't appropriate for this, but I'll allow {A Keen Eye For Detail})
Caillou: (I'm trying to convince her.)
Caillou: (It's her that needs to get a clue, not me. XD)
Ryusui|GM: (or i could just give it to you since you already explained everything)
Caillou: (That sounds good. Made some slight edits, BTW.)
Ryusui|GM: Inya's eyes glaze over as your explanation washes over her. The bodyguard seems to perk up, though. "It *may* be worth further examination, m'lady," he stage whispers at her.
Ryusui|GM: "Er...indeed! Exactly!" Inya announces, making another dramatic gesture that nearly dumps her order to the floor.
Caillou: {Although, in your own words, I'd at least like you to still go through with the meeting, Miss Annyong.}
Ryusui|GM: The bodyguard seems low-key amused, less at your insistent misspelling of Inya's name and more at her refusal to correct you. "Ha-*ha!* As if such a thing could *ever* change *my* plans!" She does a dramatic arm sweep, and her bodyguard dives to catch all the donuts she promptly drops. (To his credit, he grabs every single one.) "I shall do exactly as I stated, and visit the Jewell Mining Concern to discuss this matter with them in person! And you can...tag along, I suppose."
Ryusui|GM: "Off we go, then!" She turns around and heads for the exit, leaving the bodyguard struggling with her dropped order.
Ryusui|GM: (Last lines, <@&313031434346692609> ?)
Caillou: "Ah- Naht yyett!" He taps her on the shoulder. {I think we should wait for the others, Miss Annyong.}
Chocolate: "Well... The reaper has a way with killing. Because this tension is **killing** me..." Chocolate says, before finishing a throughly pulped donut abd washing it down with their coffee.
Ryusui|GM: Inya huffs like a six-year-old. "Ohhh...*fine,*" she says. She then looks down at her bodyguard. "Why are you down there holding my donuts?"
Caillou: *pops another number 9 into his mouth. He usually doesn't get distracted from delicious food this much. He's usually much better at managing his time. Ah well, everyone has their off-days, he supposes.*
Ryusui|GM: Out of nowhere, Chocolate, the Reaper darts like a flash, in full view. It's just the same as the shape Argee took earlier - the boxy chest and pelvis, the spindly extremities, the unmistakable shape of the *blade* raised...
Ryusui|GM: (and unless <@!Chocolate> has something further to say...)
Chocolate: (To be continued)
Ryusui|GM: (Indeed!)
Ryusui|GM: **==TO BE CONTINUED==>**
Ryusui|GM: !end