Ill Met By Moo-Light

[aelwyn_aberration]

Who: Aelwyn Abernant & YOU?
When: 4th of September, two days after the last night of the circus.
Where: Holy Cow Ice Cream Cafe
Summary: A meeting, away from the prying eyes of ADI.
Warnings: TBA?



[Aelwyn mentioned offhand that they should discuss a plan of attack in person, away from the prying ever-present eyes of the ADI. Pretty early in the morning she tells a few people she thinks are tight with enough people to make a meeting work without having to go through the regular channels and one things leads to another and eventually, a meeting is organized.

At an Ice Cream place, which, to be fair, makes a really good milkshake. Aelwyn arrived here extra early, just to check that she managed to actually book the place and keep it away from prying eyes. Luckily, it seems that whatever money she has, it's good enough to afford one booking.

So she's there, at the table, a cup of ice cream in her hand.]

I think we've all got out suspicions, right? And I'd say a lot of us are sick of not knowing when we're being watched by those who claim to be protecting us.

Who wants to start? [Logically, she knows she should, but she's a dramatic bitch, so why should she.]

Comments

CW: mention of injury (burns); threadjacking OK; will match prose or brackets

[guildmastermind]

Shiroe has his usual leather notebook, but has traded out the quill pen and bottle of ink for...a ballpoint pen with a feather taped on the back of it. Don't judge him. At least he's not wearing his cloak? Though without it, the corded mouse that he wears tied around his neck is visible, which is just as weird in its way.

His face is still shiny and red on the lefthand side, pulling at the still-healing burns when he speaks or makes a strong facial expression. But it's healed well since the circus; someone's been pestering him to put burn cream on it.

"Is this meeting to share information about the circus and other recent weird encounters off the grid, to talk about ADI without being watched, or both?"

open to trhreadjacks!

[marmoron]

[ and here's keith sitting with a strawberry milkshake in hand. ]

Think we should take this as an opportunity to talk about both. There's been a lot of messed up things going on and ADI hasn't exactly been entirely forthcoming.

[ a beat. ]

What happeend to your face?

[ because apparently nobody told keith you don't just ask questions like that. ]

[guildmastermind]

Pyre slapped me. Apparently his flesh turns to hot wax if you manage to upset him enough. I was very determined to get information out of him, and that was an interesting fact to learn.

[He smiles, even though doing so hurts.]

I've got a bit more information from and about him--and relating to the circus as a whole.

[aelwyn_aberration]

He threatened to do the same to me. He's fond of doing that, isn't he? [She rests her head on her fist.]

Go on...? [She desires the facts.]

[guildmastermind]

Well, I pointed out that he'd be nothing without the circus, that Fenix rescued him from a life of obscurity and loneliness and that he could be dropped at any time. You know, just pointing out the hooks Fenix has in him. Pyre seems like he might have been a sweet kid to begin with. He's just desperate to be seen.

[marmoron]

So he's... made out of wax? Or at least he can turn parts of himself into wax?

[ .... ]

Sounds like the Fenix Down Extravaganza and the old Smoke and Mirrors circus that Charles Moore was a part of aren't all that dissimilar after all.

[guildmastermind]

Oh? What do you mean by that?

[Shiroe's intrigued by that comment--that's not something he's come across in his research, yet.]

[aelwyn_aberration]

Both. [That burn looks nasty. This is the guy who taunted Pyre into hitting him, huh.

Can't relate. The foolish little cretin crumbled as soon as Aelwyn dared him to try. Still, at least he's not dead.] Sing to your heart's content, dear. I think we've all made a lot of observations that don't entirely add up. So the hope is that by sharing that information we can get closer to getting to the bottom of it all, and figure out our plan of attack when we meet the boss.

[guildmastermind]

True, all boss battles require adequate preparation.

[Not how she meant it? Oops.]

Most of what I've learned is in relation to Pyre specifically. I shared my key points on the network already--even if you're not willing to post there, you'll find it by looking.

There's a few themes that don't seem to connect with one another, though. The funhouse seems separate from Pyre and his performance.

[abrightboy]

Maybe Pyre's performance was only a distraction. Maybe the funhouse is where the real shady stuff is going on.

[Don't mind the guy in the suit who's just sitting down and butting right in.]

[guildmastermind]

Or they're both shady, and working in partnership toward different goals. I'm not so willing to dismiss the performances at this point.

[Shiroe doesn't mind the company at all.]

open to threadjacking

[marmoron]

[ does he want to start? no. not really, but he's got so many gripes with adi's wonderful record of transparency at this point that it all comes out at once. ]

Alright. Is it just me or did anyone else get the impression Fenix has been alive for a really long time? The guy said he was 35, but claims to have been on friendly terms with one of the performers from the original Smoke and Mirrors circus act that had the railcar derailment accident [ air quotes audible. ] a century ago. Said he met Charles Moore at a clown camp, which I'm pretty sure is bullshit.

Found an obituary for Charles Moore who apparently died at 102 years old which is damn near miraculous for the average life expectancy in the 1900s. That circus used to be known for its fire performances and traveling wax museum, apparently.

[ pause for a sip of milkshake and then-- ]

Putting that aside -- regarding the kelpie attack weeks ago, Reyes seems to think they were sent here by a cult that's based in Maine or Canada. That obituary for Charles Moore was also from a paper in Maine. Might be a coincidence, but anyone else know of anything weird about Maine?

[ another slurp. ]

Also? Fuck ADI.

[aelwyn_aberration]

Seems pretty obvious at this point that our Fenix and Charles Moore are one and the same. It's interesting though, that even though a lot of the acts are aligned with the fire god itself, there's also a lot of other things completely unrelated to the Desolation.

Toys filled with insects, the long pig, the Mirror Maze. Perhaps Fenix is branching out.

[marmoron]

Is that speculation or is that a fact?

[ like has anyone managed to dig up pics of Moore to confirm or... ]

And what exactly do you think the goal is there? Gathering an avatar zoo to what end?

[aelwyn_aberration]

Speculation, but it seems like a pretty obvious connection. I know it's not entirely the same but there are liches in my world who take on new identities after staging their own death. It could be wrong, but I think it's likely that Charles Moore shed his identity to control the circus once more.

But I have a theory. It's less a zoo, and more a farm. He takes people already touched by these entities, like myself or like any of us that have already been assigned a patron against our will, and takes them the extra mile to becoming avatars. What he intends to do with them is another matter, but he definitely pushed Pyre into that role intentionally. My guess as to the purpose behind all this is to create formidable monsters that are primarilly loyal to him. But it could be anything, creating chaos, amusement, making avatar soup... [She shrugs.]

Andrew Jaeger | OTA and threadjacking!

[bloodalwaystells]

Jaeger will of course be at the meeting, a strawberry milkshake that he's mostly forgotten at his elbow as he flips through a small binder full of photographs and handwritten notes. He's taken the time to compile everything into one neat file, and has brought it for anyone who wants a look at it.

Included are some slightly fuzzy, distorted pictures of the train-car-turned-ticket-booth, some very normal photographs of the Funhouse, and a few pages of neatly typed-up notes with more details scribbled in the margins. He's thorough and precise, almost painfully so, but it's all there and easy to read.

"This is everything I've been able to gather, between my own experiences and what others have told me over the online meeting the other night. If you have anything to add, please feel free."

[twistedbones]

Thackery casually slithers up from under the table to perch on the seat next to Jaeger, not having bothered to ask anyone to move so he could get there more...normally. Peering at the photograph of the ticket booth he thought he must have seen wrong from across the table, he asks, "What's wrong with that picture?"

cw: Mass death, burning

[bloodalwaystells]

Jaeger should be more disturbed at the sight of Binx in his human guise creeping up to join him at the table, but he simply reaches over to pull the chair out a bit. Just because there's the illusion of a human there, doesn't mean he can't make it a little easier for Binx to manage. Then, he looks over at the photo in question, his expression grim.

"I suspect there's a great deal of built-up energy around the booth that's bled out into the visible spectrum." He shifts some papers around and comes out with a typed page. Notes are scribbled in the margins in a painfully precise hand, something for his own reference as he explains the photographs.

"This is the converted train car that the circus was using as a ticket booth. It was the same car from the crash a hundred years ago, and several people died inside it." A flash of grimace- if he dwells on it too long, he can still feel the rush of overwhelming heat and horror. That memory is going to be staying with him for a while yet, even as informative as it was.

[11calls]

Don't mind Alex, coming in and just sort of walking up, her eyes wide as she looked at the picture, and her recorder dangling off the end of her wrist like a purse. The red light isn't on, so she's not recording, but she's definitely paying attention. Paying attention and she can't help but to ask. "Were you using a particular camera when you took this shot? Or was it just like from a cellphone or something?"

open to threadjacking

[aelwyn_aberration]

So, beyond any theories we might have, there is one question that I think we all need to try to answer. What are we going to do about it?

[She leans forward, placing her now empty ice cream cup on the table and rests her chin in her hands.] The way I see it, with the circus we have two options, maybe three.

The first is that we ignore it, and hope that it doesn't cause any further trouble for us and instead focus on whatever threats have been happening this month that we will then monitor and proceed to do nothing about.

The second, however... is that we catch up to Fenix, and eliminate him. [Gives a slightly weary glance to Keith.] Now, before anyone calls me a psychopath or whatever, I want to point out that whether or not this man has been killing people or if he's just been harvesting fear from circus shows, he's still turning people into "Avatars" who will then go on to be threats for us later once they've quit his little show. If we let him go on like this, he'll just make more people like Pyre.

Alternatively, we capture him. I'm not into that idea, personally, because I don't think we really have any way of holding him.

[writetheway]

Um... [Monika has been doing a lot of listening and very little talking, but okay, now we're talking about murder in the ice cream parlor. She glances at the door like she expects the police to burst in or something.] Behind the ADI's back, you mean? Did you ask people not to bring their phones...? [You know, that most of them got from the ADI and that are being paid for by the ADI. Monika doesn't have hers with her, at least.]

And also--like--I'm not saying it's a good idea or a bad idea yet, I guess, but--if he's making Avatars, then he might be one too, right? Can you just, like... Kill someone like that?

[Not to mention one of these people can use fire, and fire definitely hurts her and most people here, as far as she knows.]

[graveyounglady]

[Mercy's also been listening and found herself mildly concerned with some of the conversations going on. She nods at Monika's comment.]

I reckon it'd be a good idea to bring this to ADI. They got experience fighting these folk, don't they? Maybe they know the best way to deal with them. We ain't from this world. No telling what that means for the magics it's got kicking around. We already seen some of the bad stuff... I don't want no one winding up dead on our side if we can help it.

[aelwyn_aberration]

Mercy makes an excellent point! [Just to let Mercy know that she is supported. Aelwyn plays favourites.]

Regardless of what they actually are, the ADI's official job is hunting monsters and preventing the apocalypse. There's no reason for them not to want to at least discuss it.

[aelwyn_aberration]

Well, I didn't bring my phone. I assume you all had the foresight to not do that? [She told the people she reached out to first not to bring theirs, she may have made an error in assuming that that message wouldn't be lost in the sauce.]

At my full power? Yes, absolutely. [She honestly doubts he can resist against being Disintegrated, as powerful as he may be.] As is? Maybe not, true. Still, I'd say it's worth discussing at least.

Whether or not we tell the ADI we're planning on making a move on Fenix is another matter, though. They hardly seem to be friends of his, so honestly I think it's a good idea to at least bring it up, just to know if there's a limit to the amount of force we're allowed to use for quasi-human avatars.

[writetheway]

I don't have mine, but some of us aren't from places that have things like cell phones, so they might not realize how easy it is to install tracking apps and things... Or, uh, what a tracking app is. [BUT ANYWAY.] Using your powers is feeding the entities, isn't it? And--murder causes fear, too, obviously, so would that... [Hm.] Is there a way to deal with people without feeding the entities?