# Sins of the Father [CthulhuTech]



## Watchman (Jun 14, 2010)

Early in the morning of the 10th of July, Julian Nimes woke. He managed to, with some effort, shift his old tired body out of bed, slip on a pair of slippers and shuffle to a window. If his caretakers had been present, they would no doubt have demanded that he allow them to help him, but he could not allow that today. Today he had to appear strong, as if he were a man thirty years younger than he was.

Looking out of his window, he saw his son Jeremy talking animatedly with one of _his_ servants - the butler. He'd let Jeremy 'convince' him to let Harold be the one who actually met his guests and ferried them to the mansion, and no doubt he had some plot in store. The number of times Jeremy had raged and ranted at him for his decision to split the inheritance with complete strangers had progressed far beyond the point where Julian cared to keep count, but he had done it for a reason - a reason Jeremy obviously could not comprehend.

"I know I've chosen wisely," he murmured to himself. "And after all, _Lho Choraem Hieram._"

Watching Harold drive away, headed towards the distant dome of the Boston Arcology, Julian took a deep breath through ancient lungs. Today would be a good day - he could feel it.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 15, 2010)

The Boston Arcology. Guy had only been here once, a long time ago when he had met Julian Nimes. It was not a place that brought forth fond memories, and though he was indebted to the old man, he would have preferred if he would never have to come here again. It had been where he had heard his parents had died, and even though Julian Nimes had provided for him, he had always been alone since. If only his parents had never died, then he would not have had to devote his life to fighting, would not have to kill or be killed with his life constantly hanging by a thread. He could live and love like everybody else, even if it was in the death throes of the world and the human race. Instead, now he only knew what it was to fight, to crush Migou and cultists beneath his heel, and that was the only place where he could ever feel alive, in the cockpit of his Broadsword. Now he could only be alive by taking lives to protect lives, the ultimate paradox of a soldier, one that perhaps his parents had grappled with when they fought so many years ago in that great war.

Guy stuck a hand into his jacket, feeling for his drink. There were his composite trench knives, his guns, and finally the small silver canister where he kept his whiskey. He honestly preferred weaker alcohol like beer, but the amount of that he could carry on his person did not provide the kick that he needed to get from day to day. It was a terrible new habit of his, drinking his life away. He had used to drink to celebrate a victory with his squad, but things were hardly so happy now. Happy people did not drink alone after all, and they avoided trying to get drunk in public too.


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## Damaris (Jun 15, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

The elegant woman who arrived at the Boston Arcology seemed put together and composed. Her black hair was cropped in a neat bob, a brush of makeup applied that only highlighted her natural beauty; she dressed in plain clothes that were still of an expensive cut--a white dress shirt that seemed it might fit better on a man's frame, and a low slung pair of black slacks. But Natasha's brilliant mind was roiling. If it hadn't been for this strange invitation, she'd be back in her lab. The new power armor model she was designing had been _this close_ to a breakthrough. But it would be there when she came back. And Julian Nimes was a brilliant man, if not exactly in her field of study. This was too good an opportunity to pass up. She patted the small bag of power tools slung across her hip with the same gentleness some people reserved for their children.

As she looked around for some sort of transport that Julian might have sent, her eyes landed on a rough looking man who stood a few yards away. As she watched, his hand withdrew a silver flask from his canister and her eyes lit up. A man after her own heart. She crossed the space between them in a few brisk steps and turned on the famous Isse smile--guaranteed to charm. It didn't reach her eyes of course, but few people have ever drawn a real smile from the calculating genius. *"A drinking man," * she said, pulling her own flask out. Natasha had designed and built the flask herself. Maybe that was an abuse of intellect, but as long as it kept her Kauffman cold, she didn't care. Natasha didn't pay over two hundred bucks a bottle for that shit to get room-temperature, much less warm. *"The best kind of man."*

He didn't look like a civilian. His eyes were a little too hard for that, and Natasha decided to take a gamble. *"Are you hear for Nimes?*" she asked.


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## Zoidberg (Jun 16, 2010)

Ah, The Nimes Manor. Looking at it in all its oldness and creepytude was very creepy. Its ancient pre-Arcanotech war architecture stood in contrast with the rest of the Utilitarian mold the rest of the Arcology was built out off. Its owner, one Julian or Jules Nimes(I tend to forget first names, it's a military thing) was an eccentric whose queer interests include being compassionate to other human beings in a time when compassion was impractical. 

My story began a few weeks before this whole mess started. I was walking by the old place when I felt _something_ inside that place. Now, I may be a Para-psychic, but I'm more of a thunder flinger than an empath. But still, there was something wrong about the place. Whenever I go near it I felt a prevailing hatred, like reality itself was demanding me to level that place down. I reported this to my superiors, but the idiots laughed it off! Apparently Nimes was such a credit to society that they wouldn't dare bother him unless a shoggoth suddenly bursted out of his house. He also knew a lot of people in high places, so accusing him of being a filthy fishhumper wouldn't be a smart thing to do.    

But I know that old bastard is hiding something. Luckily a few friends of mine at the OIS shared the same sentiment, and one of them happened to be a 'ranking officer'. So after a couple of days of convincing them HQ decided to let me check things out. Conveniently, the old bastard was planning some sort of boring activity involving his bucketloads of cash, giving me a chance to enter his domain of evil. Now, that sounds like I'll be mostly doing some detective work, which isn't my favorite part of the job, but as a HERO OF NEG I had plenty of clout and prestige, and no one would guess that I worked for OIS. In fact, I've been working there for the past 4 years and I still haven't been found out. To everyone else I was just a hero working an honest job as a government worker, of the morale-boosting kind. 

And so here I am, Oswald 'Thunderbolt' Creed, a government worker sent to help an old man do some boring work involving the bucketloads of money he had. Then I kill him if he turns out to be a cultist, or worse.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 16, 2010)

He saw the woman before she even noticed his existence, and took in every detail of her body instantly, ascertaining that she was no threat to him even before she started walking towards him. The woman was beautiful, and that beauty was a natural sort of shine, without the inches of cosmetics that some women were known to use. Still, her beauty was merely an objective observation on his part and was hardly enough to move him, although perhaps there was no person in this world that could move his heart. It had been hardened by war and directed with relentless fury towards the pursuit of his dreams, which were defeating the Migou, driving away those that would call upon the Old Ones, and protecting as many people as he could. Lofty dreams for a person such as himself perhaps, but they were pure and simple, and that was all Guy needed.

She smiled. It was a fine smile. A practised smile. A smile for the ages, and yet not one that would pass the trained eye of a soldier who saw all sorts of smiles every day, few of them sincere. Of course, it was also a diplomatic smile, a polite smile, and he had to give her credit for trying. There was no reason to respond rudely, and so he did not.

"I suppose your idea of a good man is one who's willing to die young then? But then again nobody lives forever." He answered, taking another drink as he did so. He did not intend to keep drinking his life away, but it was a habit by now, one he saw less and less reason to kick every day. After all, he was hardly going to live long enough to feel its effects in his old age, not when he was already way past his life expectancy as a soldier who faced down the worst the universe had to throw at humanity for a living.

"I suspect we're all here for Nimes. This isn't a place where I'd come for a holiday, and I owe the old man that much."


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## Damaris (Jun 17, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

*"No need to be so negative,"* Natasha said, turning over her own flask in her hands as if suddenly fascinated by the gleaming metal. *"Not a man who will die young, but one who's willing to play fast. As for living forever--"* Natsha broke off into her own thoughts for a moment, designs and equations pouring across her mind. The powerful arc of metal in power armor or mecha, and the subtle, infinitely small ways that engineering could bolster the human body, make it stronger, faster, smarter, _better_, if she was only given enough space, enough money, enough materials--*"That's only a matter of time, isn't it?"*

"You're a soldier, aren't you?" The words came out as a question, but Natasha was assured enough in her own mind of their truth. She'd seen the hard look in the man's eyes before, when she demonstrated her latest technology to troops before they were deployed, troops who watched the latest power armor take missiles to the face and keep going, troops who knew despite that all of Natasha's work and effort, all her genius was doing nothing more than barely hold the line. They were going to die. Maybe humanity was going to die. No wonder Natasha drank too much.

*"What could a soldier owe Julian? He doesn't do much work in your field."* Natasha eyed the girl leaning against the military poster across the station from them. As she lit another cigarette, Natasha's pasted smile flickered into something a little more wary. A tall woman speaking with a man softly, both slightly dressed up and assumed guests of Nimes, brushed past the girl without a thought. Natasha tilted her head to the side, examined the girl before focusing back on the man she'd addressed, realizing that she hadn't even asked his name. *"I'm Natasha Isse, by the way."* She wasn't stupid enough to press a soldier for his name.


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## Watchman (Jun 17, 2010)

Zoidberg said:


> *Spoiler*: __
> 
> 
> 
> ...



"Can I help you?" said a voice over an intercom at the gate that quite clearly had no intention of being helpful. "This is private property, do you have any business with Mr. Nimes?" It was clearly a female voice, with the unmistakeable tinges of a Nazzadi accent.


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## Zoidberg (Jun 18, 2010)

A Nazzadi eh? Nice, Nazzadi are badass bug killers. My old drill instructor was a Nazzadi, but that's another story. "Yeah, I'm Mr. Creed, I was sent by the government to help with the paperwork involved in your boss' inheritance. Tell him the guy Ritchman sent is here." Sean Ritchman was a high-ranking official with close ties with old Nimes. He wanted to do this whole inheritance thing himself as a favor to Nimes, but Ritchman was too busy with government stuff. Of course it'd be embarassing if he sent some generic flunkie for the job, so I was sent. Poor guy, doesn't even know that his friend might be a fish humper.


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## Watchman (Jun 18, 2010)

There is a brief pause before the intercom hisses into life again. 

"Mala will show you in. Mr. Nimes cannot see you himself at the moment, but an escort will be provided. Proceed directly to the front door, and do not wander off, Mr. Creed," the voice states frostily.

The gate unlocks and retracts, allowing you to enter the grounds of the mansion.


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## Zoidberg (Jun 18, 2010)

Huh. I always imagined Nimes taking care of hungry orphans or blind people, but this lot is pretty strange. Most of them are definitely rich people-types, so they're probably Nimes friends or some such. Anyway I couldn't care less about these stiffs, I need to see that Nimes guy. "I was told that an escort would be provided for me." I said with my booming voice. At once every eye is on me, with some whispering in awe. It isn't everyday you see a war hero after all.


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## Watchman (Jun 18, 2010)

Zoidberg said:


> Huh. I always imagined Nimes taking care of hungry orphans or blind people, but this lot is pretty strange. Most of them are definitely rich people-types, so they're probably Nimes friends or some such. Anyway I couldn't care less about these stiffs, I need to see that Nimes guy. "I was told that an escort would be provided for me." I said with my booming voice. At once every eye is on me, with some whispering in awe. It isn't everyday you see a war hero after all.



As you say this, you see the front door of the Mansion open, and a male Nazzadi emerge. He sees you and makes a beeline straight towards you.

You presume this is your escort, and as he reaches you he snaps off a quick bow, and proceeds to type something into his PCPU. Holding it up so you can see, you see that it says: "I am Mala. I will be your escort in the Nimes Mansion. Please do not enter rooms you have not been authorised to enter, and be about your business as quickly as you can. Thank you."


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## Zoidberg (Jun 18, 2010)

Humph. They send me the stiff one. Well, no turning back now I suppose. I check my own portable computer thingamajig to see if my files are all there, and follow stiffy. Truth be told I prefer the computer built into my power armor, but this thingamajig will do. "Lead the way, my good man." I say charismatically.


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## Watchman (Jun 18, 2010)

The Nazzadi gives a nod and leads you through to an entrance hall.

"Mr. Nimes cannot see you at the moment - he is preparing for the inheritors and gave specific instructions not to be disturbed. Is there anywhere in particular you would like to visit in the house?"


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 19, 2010)

*This took way too long. *

"A matter of time, huh? The way things are going, we will all live forever. Together in the kingdom of heaven that is." Guy smiled darkly, knowing full well that if things continued without some great change, the only absolute outcome was the complete destruction of the human race, whether it was to the Old Ones or the Migou. He was also not a religious man, finding it hard to place his trust in a benevolent god in such an era, and if the gods were not benevolent, then there was no point in offering them tribute. "As for living fast... When you're in the world I'm in, it's either living fast or rotting away slowly, that's all"

"I'm not a soldier, not right now. Now, I teach people how to be soldiers. It's the only reason why I have to time to be here right now. I will eventually return to my Broadsword of course." He shrugged. "Call me Guy. I'm here to return the favour the old man did for me twenty years ago."


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## Watchman (Jun 19, 2010)

Harold Watts scowled as he pulled in at the coach station. The coach Julian had hired barely looked big enough for all the people waiting here to fit in it. And just as he'd suspected and feared, the number of people waiting was more or less equal to the number of invitations Julian had sent out previously.

Harold didn't ask for much in life - just a stable source of money, and his employer, the _son_ of Julian Nimes, had seemed like just the ticket to make Harold set for life...

Until his father, no doubt afflicted by senility, had fixed upon the idea of sharing the vast Nimes fortune amongst almost two-dozen random people he'd met years ago. Something that made Jeremy unhappy, and certainly made Harold unhappy as well.

He guessed he'd have to think of another career option come next payday. Reaching out, he flicked on the intercom system.

"All those headed to the Nimes Mansion, get onboard," he said in a dull monotone, and remotely opened the doors to the coach.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 19, 2010)

Georgio had almost arrived at the station, while his bus ride didn't take him exactly here, the location was well known and the extra walk was not more than a mile or two. However, Georgio had been thinking about something, and it was something he had just noticed on his ride over.

The letter he received was not addressed to him. The letter was meant for a Michael Irving, not a man Georgio had any knowledge of. Still, Georgio had confidence he'd be able to pass himself off as this man. If this Julian Nimes was really discussing his inheritance he couldn't be too young, perhaps he would not even suspect a difference.

Georgio lifted his head to attention when he heard the announcement.

"All those headed to the Nimes Mansion, get onboard."

The voice was not too far away, but Georgio brought his pace up to a quick jog, probably seeming like a sprint to most. He arrived at the station within the next 20 seconds. 

"I'm here, hope I'm not too late." Georgio said happily, the whole while trying to emulate what the man 'Michael Irving' would feel in this situation. He had little knowledge of that man, but there were a few things Georgio could say without knowing anything.


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## Damaris (Jun 20, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

Well he wasn't the cheeriest of men, but Natasha couldn't really blame him. The world was screaming and falling apart these days. She took another sip of her vodka and continued watching the girl across the way from them. Why was she staring at them? Natasha briefly considered and dismissed the possibility of sexual attraction--she knew that she was good looking enough, but the girl's stare didn't hold that sort of hunger--and was about to approach her when a coach pulled up at the station and a dull apathetic voice rang out from an intercom, calling all of Nimes' guests to the vehicle, which now opened its doors. Natasha dragged her eyes away from the girl and with an exaggerated sigh, turned towards the coach.

She looked at the soldier--Guy--and raised her flask in a cynical toast. *"To our grand adventure," * she said with a dry smirk on her face, and downed the rest of the liquor in one smooth swallow. With that goodbye, she pushed her way through the station and settled into the coach. There were quite a few guests, and she didn't intend on not getting a half-decent seat for the crowded ride.


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## Zoidberg (Jun 21, 2010)

He's letting me go anywhere in the criminal's house? This'll be easier than I thought! Of course it's far too early to do some snooping especially since I forgot to memorize the contents of the map HQ gave me, so I decided to ask for a tour of this house. "I'd like to go to your kitchen to get some pie. Then perhaps a tour of Mr. Nimes' wondrous home." After lunch.


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## Watchman (Jun 22, 2010)

"Pie will be arranged," Mala typed. "But the cooks are busy at present. Mr. Nimes is expecting a large group of guests soon, and they are preparing lunch for them. In the meantime, I will show you the house."


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 22, 2010)

"Grand adventure, huh? I certainly hope so. I can't stand just sitting around and talking." Guy smiled wryly, remembering how he dreaded meetings and always found a way to squirm out of them. An inheritance gathering seemed like very much an excuse for a boatload of meetings, with lawyers and with the other recipients. It was a singularly terrible concept, and he would never have come if he did not owe Julian Nimes one last favour. He owed his life to the old man after all, he could hardly turn down a formal request from him. If there was a way he could be here to repay the man without having to partake in the endless legal squabbles that were sure to come, he would have done so immediately.

After Natasha had gotten onto the coach, Guy took a moment to sweep the area behind him, examining everybody from the corner of his eye. There had been somebody watching him, and he did not like it. On the battlefield, ignoring something like that meant receiving a bullet right in his back, and while this was no warzone, it had long become a conditioned reflex, seeking out the watcher and taking it out if it was dangerous. It was not after ascertaining that there was no danger to his life that he got onto the coach himself, making a mental note to watch out for those who had their eyes on him. Inheritance squabbles had the tendency to get ugly.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 22, 2010)

Despite the distance, Georgio did manage to arrive first on the bus. Here he was, worried about being late, worried that things could go wrong, and yet everything was fine. At least so far. Georgio was spending so much time worrying about what could go wrong on this trip, that he didn't notice much outside of his head.

However, the group of Nazzadi outside the bus certainly was enough to draw his attention. There was just something about an armed group of Nazzadi that was off-putting. Especially when you had no business being somewhere. 

The next thing that took his attention was a woman, she was a tad older than Georgio for sure, but who here wasn't? Even though she was a bit outside his age group, Georgio thought she looked great. In fact, she probably looked better than any of the girls he'd been with. He noticed her looking around the bus, probably for a seat, because it had started to fill at some point. 

Georgio was just about to motion for her to take the seat adjacent to him so he could catch a better look, until he realized that another woman had already taken that seat. Georgio would need to ignore the dark haired lady for now. Talking to someone that knew what was going on would be much more beneficial.


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## Watchman (Jun 22, 2010)

It looked like everyone who was going to get on the bus had gotten on, so Harold closed the door and started the coach on its journey. It would not be a long journey, and some small perverse part of his heart looked forward to the... reception his boss would give these people.

---

Some time later, he brought the coach in through the vehicle entrance of the Mansion's grounds, and parked it next to Julian's collection of top-of-the-line sports cars he never used. A Nazzadi woman was waiting for them there, with a bundle of envelopes in her arms, and Harold barely concealed a snort of derision before turning his attention to the guests.

"Right, let's get down to business," he grunted over the intercom. "You've all been assigned rooms for the duration of this meeting, and will receive your keys from the Nazzadi waiting outside. Light refreshments will be made available for those who want them, and dinner will be served at 6:00 PM, where Mister Nimes will let you know the terms of his inheritance. Until then, feel free to go where you please, and please, direct all questions you have towards her, not me."


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 23, 2010)

It was not one of Guy's habits to peer over a girl's shoulder to see what she was drawing even if she was sitting right next to him on the coach. Of course, she was the same girl who was watching him at the station, but as far as he could tell she meant no actual harm, which was good enough for him in a place like this, and no reason to invade her privacy. Even then, though he was trying not to, he could see the details of her drawing from the corner of his eye, the face of a man he could not recognise outlined and shaded in her sketchbook. It was a decent drawing as far as he could tell, but it held no meaning for him. There were many reasons why a girl would be drawing the face of a man, and none of them were any of Guy's business, so he instead occupied himself by looking out the window throughout the whole coach trip.

There had also been the Nazzadi male who had been surveying everyone on the station for a reason that Guy could not guess at, but for now that man posed less danger to him than the girl beside him, so he let the fact go, preferring to instead concern himself with the present. The present, where he was heading towards the mansion of Julian Nimes, a man he had only seen a handful of times his entire life, and yet a man who had saved his life when he had nowhere else to go and nothing to live on. It was basic decency and courtesy to fulfil his last request, that Guy be present to partake in the inheritance of the old man along with the myriad other men and women who the old man had most probably helped in some way or another as was his hobby when he was younger. He came, certainly, but Guy could not shake off the suspicion that there was more to this than a simple inheritance dispute, though that would surely be involved in some way or another. The old man had no reason to hand out any of his vast fortune to any of the orphans he had helped, not when he had already saved them once without expecting anything from them in return, and even Julian Nimes' vast fortune would be little more than a pittance when spread amongst so many people. It would, at the very least, certainly involve drama from the eldest son, who would have received most of the money if not for this odd arrangement.

When the trip ended and all the guests got off the coach, Guy listened silently to what the butler had to say, noting from his body language and his voice that there was something that he had against the Nazzadi, whether it was the woman or the race as a whole. He was also probably generally unhappy about the whole deal with the inheritance, not least because it probably created more work for him than he was used to with the relatively reclusive Julian Nimes. Not that all this had anything to do with Guy either, so he pushed all these observations to the back of his mind as he headed up to his room and waited for the clock to hit six. He was not too interested in the inevitable socialising that would take place, as the various men and women sized each other up if only because they were possible competitors for the sheer amount of money that was at stake.


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## Watchman (Jun 24, 2010)

Mala glanced out of the window and saw the arrival of the coach. Quickly, he typed: "I am sorry, sir, but the tour must end here. I must help attend to the guests." But he stopped before he could show what he had written to Oswald Creed, and gave a quick bow to someone standing behind him.

"My, my, and who do we have here?" said Julian Nimes with a small smile on his face.


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## Zoidberg (Jun 24, 2010)

The tour through the house was a generally boring one, even if I did find a whole bunch of suspicious places. I made a mental note to call in Westinghouse later. Her para-psychic abilities would be pretty handy in looking into these areas without having to go there ourselves. 

The Nazadi was about to tell me something when the boring stiff bowed down to an old man, who greeted me with a smile. I identified him at once as the suspect Julian Nimes. He looks harmless enough, but those were always the ones who turned into fish monsters when you least expect it. Of course it'd be rude if I didn't returned it, so I said. "Oswald Creed, government agent. I was sent by Mr. Ritchman to help with the paperwork and insure a smooth transfer of your assets to its recipients."


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 25, 2010)

Georgio exited from the bus orderly with everyone else, however, he had lost sight of the dark haired woman on the way out. Pity, he had hoped to throw in a conversation with her before he went into his room.

Still, the important thing was to retrieve his key from the Nazzadi awaiting the guests. However, Georgio noticed she had given him a suspicious look, when he approached her. Perhaps it was part of her nature, but it did not help Georgio's perception of things.

"What's your name?" The Nazzadi woman asked, the suspicious look in her eyes was still present.

On the bus, he did practice his identity of 'Michael Irving,' and the woman next to him, believed every word he spoke. However, testing the identity on another who might actually know of Michael would be far more difficult.

"This is my good friend Michael Irving, Zory. Let him through." An aged voice crackled over the Nazzadi's communications device.

"Yes, Mr. Nimes." The woman complied almost instantly handing Georgio the envelope designated to Michael Irving.

The weight for the envelope seemed a little off, but Georgio wasn't ready to open it just yet. "What're you up to after handing out these keys?" Georgio's tone was polite and charming, and even with his appearance, there was nothing rough in the way he spoke. 

There would undoubtedly be suspicions of him, and this Nazzadi likely has some leftover. Dealing with her remaining skepticism would make for good practice. Nazzadi or not, Georgio was confident in his ability to influence a woman.


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## Damaris (Jun 25, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

Natasha tried not to lose her temper as she exited the coach, but really; some of those people _pushed_. She didn't see the soldier--Guy--she'd been talking to at the station, which was a pity, because he'd seemed halfway intelligent and good for conversation. Not to mention he'd been drinking. She didn't mind drinking alone, in fact she _could _and _would_ on frequent occasion, but it was much more socially acceptable to drink with others, and Natasha thrived on social interaction. It was almost as addictive as the alcohol; the thrill of adrenaline she got from swaying people to her side, knowing that she held an allure over them that couldn't be understood--if her money didn't do it, her prestigious reputation in the field did; and if that didn't cut it, there was always her physical beauty.

But that wasn't the issue on hand. She focused back in on the Nazzadi (and _how_ she itched to get her hands on one of those. Biology was not her forte, but they were truly fascinating. One little dissection couldn't hurt.) woman who was handing out small envelopes to the guests, and slid into line. The woman smiled at her and handed over the package, Natasha's name neatly inscribed in a painstaking hand on the outside. _"The key and directions to your room are inside there," _ she said, and Natasha weighed the package in the palm of her hand. Heavier than a key would suggest, but she thanked the woman--in a voice that came out as more of a flirtatious purr. Perhaps she was a bit excited about socializing. But not now. She wanted to get to her room and find out what exactly Nimes was up to.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 25, 2010)

Guy stuffed the picture that the girl had given him into his jacket, resolving to ask her about it and the man she had drawn when he could get his hands on her once more. For now, he examined the contents of the envelop, wondering what exactly was inside. A card, a cryptic note, and a gemstone. The gem aside, while he could make no sense of the former two items, looking at them sent a chill down his spine, a sense of familiarity coupled with dread as he studied them. He had seen the language before, though he could not read it, and the motif of the card too elicited a reaction from the back of his mind. He could not remember where he had seen these things before, but he knew that they were dangerous. He had to find out what exactly it was that these items were, or it was entirely possible that his life would be forfeit. Unfortunately, he was not the type to ponder over riddles and search dictionaries for the meaning of the words written on his note, so he would have to take a more direct approach.

"Perhaps a grand adventure isn't so out of the question now." Guy said to the air before him, remembering how he had denied the possibility of such a thing occurring to Natasha just moments ago, and a wide grin spread across his face. The actual prospect of an adventure had flipped a switch deep within Guy, the action that would come washing away the depression that seemed to weigh down on his heart at every turn. If he screwed up, there was every possibility that he would die, and if he succeeded, there was no guarantee that he would come out of it alive anyway. He had thought to leave the battlefield to grieve for his comrades and find a way to make sure no such thing ever happened again, but Guy Kurogane was wrong. In this day and age, in this broken world, there was no place in this world that was not a battlefield waiting to happen. The Migou were far away now, but mankind's enemy was not merely Migou, for there was the ever-present threat of Man himself destroying everything he had built. If it was Julian Nimes himself that thought to bring danger to the world and the people he swore to protect, even if he had saved him from starvation many years ago, Guy would not let such a thing pass.

It was time for war, even if his Broadsword was miles away in storage. First of all, he would have to find the girl. She seemed to know something about what was going on, and that was as good a place as any to start. So standing tall, Guy opened the door to his room and stepped outside, determined to know what it was that he had received before it came around and bit him in the ass. There was no doubt that something dangerous was happening, and it was the job of a soldier to prevent that danger from reaching the people. That was all.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 26, 2010)

The Nazzadi, Zory, was not as harsh in the way she looked at Georgio after that. Her gaze was softer, and when she spoke, her tone was gentler but still unyielding.

"I'm sorry, I don't have time to chat right now. I'll have some time at around 3:00, so if you want, I'll meet you here around then." With that, Zory returned to her work.

Such a diligent woman. At least she was willing to meet him again in about an hour. In the meantime, Georgio figured he would examine his assigned room.

Of course, with an enormous area like this, his room could be anywhere. Someone said something about a map right? Oh yeah, they did!

The room key and the map were supposed to be in the envelope. After that somewhat delayed recollection, Georgio opened his bulky envelope, looking inside for the map and key.

Georgio made a brief examination of the envelope's contents. More than just a key and map, there was also a playing card, a gemstone, and a note. 

The note's message caught Georgio's attention almost instantly. 'Liars receive their just desserts, and fools never prosper.' This message was practically tailor made to him. That means Nimes already knows he's a fake!

Hold on. It was Nimes who told Zory to let him in. If he already knew that Georgio was an impostor, why would he go out of his way to allow Georgio in?

For now, without knowing the full picture, Georgio shouldn't try and look too suspicious, to others at least. If Nimes doesn't oust him, he'll continue playing the part of 'Michael Irving.'

The map was nice, simple, and easy to understand. No complex directions, just a well drawn picture of the area with arrows leading to his room. Georgio needed some time to think of his next move in light of these circumstances. He was not going to lose his shot at some of that inheritance money.

Georgio placed the note back inside the envelope, he could think of some use for it later. His map in one hand and his envelope in the other, Georgio walked straight to his assigned room. 

Once he arrived, Georgio unlocked the door with his key, and quickly took in the room's general features.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 26, 2010)

The Servant had been too quick, too ready to point out the rooms of the other guests when there was no reason for him to be ready for such requests on such short notice. What that meant though, Guy could not tell. Figuring that there was no reason not to just go ahead and head for the girl's room, even if there was something off about the circumstances that he could not put his finger on, Guy walked in the direction that the Nazzadi servant had given him, intent on wringing the information he needed out of the girl. It did not take long before he reached the room that the servant had pointed him to, and before he could even knock on the door, it opened by just a fraction and the girl poked her head out. While to most people she would have looked the same as always, a practised eye like Guy could tell that there was a tension about her, an edge of excitement in the otherwise stoic girl.

"What are you doing here? Are you stupid or something?" She said when she saw him, her voice barely above a whisper. That was when Guy noticed it, her expression and her eyes, they were both far too world-weary for a child her age. They resembled Guy's more than they did her peers'.

"I probably am stupid. I was probably born stupid. Even if I wasn't stupid, I act stupid by default. So will you talk to me or am I going to be stupid somewhere else?" Guy's answer was honest and simple. He had not thought much about what he was doing, but stopping himself to think was far more difficult for him than for most people, so he constantly moved forward, never regretting his actions no matter how he cursed his circumstances, because even if he did many stupid things, if he always acted on his first impulse, that of a soldier who protected his people, he would never go wrong. He would do many things that were useless, even some things that were more harmful than helpful, but he would never do wrong.


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## Damaris (Jun 26, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

She slit the envelope open neatly with one fingernail, then slipped her hand inside, retrieving a map and a key. Ignoring the other objects for the moment, though they preyed relentlessly on her curiosity, Natasha made her way to her room. The walk was short enough, but she still half-ran down the hallway and turned the key impatiently in the lock. If there was a puzzle here, she wanted to be the one to solve it. 

Shaking the remaining contents of the envelope onto the bed, she examined them; a tarot card, a large sapphire (she held it briefly, analyzing the value before putting it back down), and a note. "The ocean is inside you, ever unyielding". She didn't think that Nimes was a fan of poetry, and Natasha's taste for alcohol was fairly well-known in their social circle. If the saying was a jab or a threat, she'd seen much worse. Her real questions lay with the mysterious language underneath. 

For the first time she wished that maybe she hadn't focused so narrowly on engineering in college. She'd been brilliant enough to have studied the arcane knowledge with the best; she'd simply been bored stiff by the one intro course she had taken. But that was Nimes' specialty, and now that she was on his grounds, playing by his rules, she felt uneasy. No matter. She had time to kill.

Folding the note into her pocket (and, after brief consideration, she slid in the tarot card as well, careful not to bend it) and locking the sapphire in her suitcase, Natasha stepped outside of her room. She locked the door behind her and made her way down the hallway looking for someone to interrogate talk with.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 26, 2010)

Guy's eyes picked up everything in the room in an instant, and yet he had the disconcerting feeling that the girl opposite him could see that he saw everything even though his eyes only made the smallest of movements to scan the entire room. It was very much like his own, except that the envelop the girl had been given clearly had contents parallel but entirely different from his own. Her card was that of a crucified man, and her gemstone was clear crystal, her note nowhere to be found. If each person's envelop was different, then clearly there was a deeper meaning behind each item, tailored to each individual. His was a knight, and if that knight belonged to Guy alone, then it clearly represented Guy alone, both warriors encased in steel fighting enemies that could not always be defeated. The gem though, he still knew nothing about, although he was familiar with the connotations of red as a colour, bringing forth images of blood and passion. The note confused him more than ever, and at this point he could not be bothered to figure it out.

"Sorry about charging in like that. I can't help being rushed to action whenever anything happens." Guy said as he closed the door behind him, his apology sincere as all things from him were. He was physically incapable of deceit, and he did not like lying anyway, though he could never remember which came first. "I knew something was up the moment I opened my envelop, so I had to do something. It just so happened that the first thing I thought of was the picture you gave me."

"Who is it? And why will it save my life? More importantly, who are you, and why did you try to help me with the picture?" He answered her barrage of questions with his own, before pausing for a moment and remembering his manners. He had always been told his social skills had never progressed beyond that of a child, but he had never found a problem with being straightforward. "But first, I'm Guy, though maybe you already know that."


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 26, 2010)

Georgio looked around the room in awe. It was a beautiful room, everything in it was probably something Georgio could not afford. It was beyond any hotel room he had ever stayed in, and needless to say, well above the quality of his own home.

Georgio checked the time and noted that he still had 45 minutes until his planned meeting with Zory. There was a lot that he needed to think over.  Mr. Nimes knew his identity, but how long had he known? Did he send that letter to Georgio knowing that he wasn't Michael Irving? 

Mr. Nimes allowed Georgio inside, despite Zory's suspicion, in fact he did it before Zory even had a chance to question him about it. Was he trying to cover his mistake in sending this letter to Georgio? Maybe he needed Georgio here for something. Does Zory know anything about this?

Questions started up and went through Georgio's head, of course, at this point he did not have nearly enough information to answer them. Maybe there were some hints in his room. Although everything looked in order Mr. Nimes might have had something placed in the drawers. Perhaps a note like the one that was in his envelope.

Georgio opened the drawers without a second thought, and inside he finds, two books, a pendant, and a PCPU disk. The first book was nothing more than a photo album, completely useless to Georgio and the second book was written in an incomprehensible language. The pendant doesn't tell him anything and he doesn't own a PCPU. 

Completely useless. Georgio figured the disk would contain the most information, so he needed to acquire a PCPU at some point. It could be an entire explanation to his situation.

Georgio still had slightly more than half an hour until his meeting, but he didn't really feel like waiting around in his room. Georgio decided he could look for someone with a PCPU or something.

Georgio exited his room, making sure the door shut behind him. He left the envelope and most of its contents inside his room, but took his key and map with him. The key was inside his right shoe, fitting beneath his foot. His map was in his left sock. It was a shame his clothing didn't actually have any pockets, but Georgio could usually find a way to carry anything with him, someway or other.

Georgio examined his surroundings.


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## Watchman (Jun 26, 2010)

There were times when Harold disliked what his job entailed, despite the money he was paid for it. Attending to the needs of the wife of his boss was certainly the prime cause for his dislike, though, he decided upon seeing Michael Irving leave his room, having to look after the rabble Julian had assembled to divide his fortune up amongst came a close second.

Still, distasteful as it was, it was still only _second place_ in his list of work-related dislikes.

"Can I help you?" he said through gritted teeth to the man.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 27, 2010)

"Not unless you could get a PCPU." Georgio said jokingly, shrugging as he did so. Georgio knew the man to be the bus driver, and from the looks of it, he was room service as well. 

Within a second Georgio could tell the man was not happy, in fact, he could feel that the man was irritated. Georgio wasn't skilled enough to discern the cause, but he was willing to try and figure it out. If the man was already upset with Georgio, he had nothing to lose by trying to fix things. 

"I should thank you for the ride over. You do your job well." Georgio didn't grin as he thanked the man, that could be seen as patronizing. No, instead Georgio looked composed and he spoke with sincere gratitude.

"Much obliged. I'm glad you enjoyed your twenty minutes in the coach." The butler replied dryly, at least it was an improvement over irritation.

"Unfortunately, even Julian Nimes isn't rich enough to have spare PCPUs lying around. You'd be better off finding one of the... Nazzadi." This man didn't even bother to hide his contempt. Such blatant prejudice, but at least now Georgio knew where he could find a PCPU.

"I'm sure one of them can help you further. In the meantime, I must attend to Master Jeremy's wife, so unless you have something urgent...?"

"No, you've been more than helpful already. I'll need to pay one of those things a visit." Georgio was done talking with this man, he started to take a leisurely stroll back to where the bus had let him off.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 27, 2010)

So the picture was not important now. Guy could live with that, and there was no point in forcing the issue anyway. He made a mental note of the girl's advice to avoid direct confrontation with the man in the picture. There was no reason not to trust her at this juncture, and a mental note was just that anyway, a note. It was hardly a command to live by, and knowing how he operated, Guy would probably forget about it the moment the adrenaline started running and he had to start fighting. It was one of his many fundamental faults, one that had probably cost him a number of promotions by now. Not that he wanted to change it particularly much, he rather liked rushing into things and being stupid, and things turned out for the best for the most part anyway. After all, he who hesitated was lost.

"The card? It makes me think of Jesus Christ, the guy's been quite an icon for about two thousand years now. I don't think that's what you're asking about though." Guy wondered if he was accidentally making a bad joke before pulling out his own card, a knight in armour. "My card reminds me of myself. My call-sign is Knight-1, and the closest thing to a modern day knight is a Mecha pilot. It seems about right. Your card probably probably represents you as well, though I couldn't imagine how."

There were many things that a man on a cross could mean. Sacrifice, torture, humiliation, execution, or any number of things he could not think of right now. All of that was basic knowledge if a person knew the slightest thing about modern religion. On the other hand, how that linked to a teenage girl he could not tell, though he knew that she was not a normal girl in any shape or form.

"What do you think about these things we've been given?"


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 27, 2010)

Eventually Georgio made his way back to the car park, spotting Zory almost immediately. He couldn't tell what she was saying, but he knew that she was speaking Nazzadi. Georgio had heard it before, and it sounded vastly different than any other language he could identify. 

She spoke spiritedly into a PCPU. Listening to her was much better than listening to the butler's dry monotone. Plus now Georgio knew where he could find a PCPU. 

For a moment, Georgio wondered if he was early. Not that it really mattered since Georgio was pretty sure she was done with her work. Still, he knew better than to interrupt someone's chat.

Georgio decided to stand almost ten yards away, he figured he'd approach her when she finished her business, or when she noticed him to the side of her. Whichever came first.

Georgio only needed to wait about half a minute. Zory finished her conversation but it doesn't seem like it went her way. She sounded irritated when she finished, but then turned her attention to Georgio. 

"Ah, Mr. Irving. Did you find your room alright? Sorry I couldn't answer your questions back then, but I have time now." 

"Yeah, I found it just find, the map was helpful. By the way, there's not much of an age difference between us, so you can just call me Michael." Georgio told her politely, waiting a moment before continuing.

"As for questions, I'm sure I had some before, but right now I'm curious about you. How are you right now?" Georgio started with a simple pleasantry, he'd get to the real questions later.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 27, 2010)

"You're too young to be martyred. I wasn't even out of training when I was your age, and I was one of the youngest in my class. I prefer prophet. Much less depressing." Guy gave a wry smile as he pulled his own gemstone out of his pocket, the red gem heavy on his palm as he examined it. "The stones, I know nothing about, but we can change that with the wonders of technology. We should be within a PAN right now, so we can just use the internet for this."

"PCPU, scan the gemstones and search the web for common meanings associated with them." Guy pulled back his left sleeve as he spoke, revealing his wrist-mounted PCPU slowly blinking away. He managed to grab one when the army was giving them out to their officers a few years back, and while it was a bit old, it still retained basic functionalities and could at very least, read discs and access the internet, though its Augmented Reality was a bit lacking. Not that Guy cared much on that end, he refused to carry around a set of glasses on top of everything else he had to carry along with him at all times. As it started searching, Guy pulled his Holo-Interface Unit out of another of his many pockets and placed it on the bedside drawer, letting the screen pop out by itself.

"I haven't gotten a pendant though. It wasn't in my envelop."


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 27, 2010)

"Very well, Michael, though that wasn't a question I was expecting." She chuckled softly before continuing. "I'm doing well, though as I'm sure you can understand all this extra work for the inheritance meeting is a bit stressful. Mr. Nimes is going to a lot of trouble to make it a special occasion for everyone."

"Oh man, now I feel sorta bad. I'm partly responsible for creating more work for you. Although if it's any consolation, I am sure that this will be a very special occasion for everyone." Georgio was lighthearted in his comments, casual conversation was a good way to relieve stress. Plus, he was glad Zory wasn't as harsh as he thought a Nazzadi would be.

"What do you do around here when there aren't any special occasions? Just maintaining this enormous place or...?" Georgio trailed off in order to give Zory a chance to answer.


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## Zoidberg (Jun 27, 2010)

Humph. If he thinks for a second I'll fall to his wily charms, Nimes has another thing coming. But I don't want to put any suspiscion on myself, so I'll play along. "Thank you Mr. Nimes, but I have other things in mind. As my job requires it, I need to meet with the potential heirs. Can't have them plotting anything sinister while I'm around." I joked.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 27, 2010)

The information rolled across the screen, and Guy scanned it quickly for anything that was relevant. His gem was a red jasper, and it seemed as though there were many overlaps between it and his card when it came to the message it was meant to send. It was a strong protective gemstone and promoted physical energy, that much was covered by the knight. More importantly, it was supposed to be a gem that protected against the hazards of the night specifically, which brought his mind back to the note that he had been given.

_Keep the fire close. Beware the hounds, but fear not the dark._​
Perhaps there was something in the gloom of night to be afraid of, and yet it was somehow important that Guy himself did not react to that fear with the help of the blessing conferred upon him by the gemstone. He would have dismissed it as silly hocus pocus, but magic was very real and refusing to give it a chance without truly knowing about the effectiveness of such a branch of magic was folly. He would take every blessing he could get, because Guy Kurogane had no intention of dying just yet.

The girl's crystal - quartz - had interesting information as well, but knowing as little as he did about her, there was just no way for him to connect the information presented to them with the girl in front of him. The only thing he could think of was how Jesus was supposed to have had healing hands, which would sync with the supposed healing properties of the quartz, though the girl herself had rejected the comparison of the prophet and she knew more about herself than Guy would ever be able to guess at.

"I'll go get the rest of my stuff then." He shrugged as he headed back for the door, pausing for a moment just before he opened it. "Although I still have no idea what to call you. What's your name?"

After receiving his answer, Guy headed up to his own room and put his HIU on the table once more, deciding to refine the parameters of his search even as he looked for the pendant given to him.

"Unit, refine previous search to include only results relevant to modern arcanotechnology and-slash-or occult studies. Old age superstitions can be discarded for now. If possible, refine search further to results favouring the gemstones being worn as jewellery such as pendants."


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## Damaris (Jun 27, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

After her rather interesting meeting with Jeremy Nimes in the hall, Natasha had given him a cursory affirmative answer and then gone back to her room to examine the sapphire and card once again. The saying she had already dismissed. Words were not her specialty, but symbols and puzzles she could understand. Unlocking the suitcase, she removed both the sapphire and her PCPU (designed by yours truly, thank you very much, and top of the line security; her eye-scan, voice-print and fingerprint were needed just to get past the first level of clearance) then settled down for searching the web. Forty-five minutes of research later, she folded her neatly taken notes on the bed and began to look for a suitable outfit to wear to Jeremy's little meeting.

_Natasha's Notes_
_
Sapphire is a stone of protection and prophetic wisdom, a wondrous crystal that can watch over human destiny. It is believed to promote joy, faith, hope and protection during long journeys. It brings light and peace and opens the mind toward beauty and intuitive understanding. Sapphire stones are thought to be able to maintain the hope needed in order that our deepest desires and dreams will be fulfilled one day. Sapphires are often marked as stones of destiny. They bring mental clarity, and clear perception. It has been argued that they also bring financial independence and even abundance in this area. They increase the ability to communicate, release depressive moods and bring calmness, mental clarity, clear vision and peace. _ [If handwriting had a tone, this section of the notes would be scornful. The writer obviously had no truck with the metaphysical meaning of the stone. In the next section, the notes become more precise, several numbers and formulas being underlined and circled.]

_The chemical formula of sapphire is Al2O3, which means that this stone is practically aluminum oxide, i.e., alumina. Since I believe everybody has seen aluminum metal and knows how it looks like, it is really amazing to me that its oxide can be so magnificently different. The hardness of sapphire stones is amongst the largest in the mineral world, approaching 9 out of the possible 10 on the Mohs scale. 

Sapphire is a variation of corundum, which makes its structure almost identical to the structure of ruby. The difference is only in the minute amounts of additional atoms, so called impurities, which incorporate themselves in the corundum matrix and change many properties of sapphire vs. those of ruby. One of the properties is the color of course. The characteristic color of sapphire, the scientists believe, comes from iron and titanium impurities. In this particular case, one electron jumps from the Fe atom to the Ti atom. This electron then is able to absorb the energy of the red end of the spectrum, therefore effectively transmitting the frequencies from the blue - purple end of the ligh spectrum. This is exactly what gives sapphire the characteristic, well known deep blue color. It is thought that what produces the other colors of sapphire has to with the combination of iron and chromium. In sapphire under magnification one is often able to see threads of rutile, unlike rutile quartz where the rutile needles are visible with naked eye._

Satisfied with the new information, Natasha put on a pair of black slacks and a white dress shirt, sliding on a pair of slung-back heels as she stepped out the door, making her way to the garden to see what Jeremy Nimes was planning. The card and sapphire were both with her now; she wasn't taken with the ideas of healing energies, but it couldn't hurt. Now she just prayed this event would have an open bar. Wasn't as if he couldn't afford it.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 27, 2010)

"Ha! It'll definitely be special. Mr. Nimes has been like a little puppy all week, bouncing around finding things to do. I haven't seen him this excited since he finished his latest thesis. He insisted on packing those envelopes personally, for instance, and he probably have done all this work himself if it wasn't for his health..."

Zory trailed off for a moment, then coughed, probably didn't want to talk about Mr. Nimes' complications. So, that means the note was definitely from Mr. Nimes. Also it seems like she's worked here for a long time, maybe she'd met Michael Irving before?

"But yeah, aside from special occasions, I'm the Caretaker of this Mansion. Mr. Nimes' right hand, you could say. I'm in charge of making sure everyone else does their job properly, and when Mr. Nimes wants something done that he can't trust anyone else to do, he asks me to do it. When I have some free time and there's nothing urgent that needs doing, well, we've got plenty of things to do here outside the Arcology. Sister Mary, always has something or another planned, some fete or charity drive, and I've started visiting the museum they built where the Miskatonic University used to be - the curator's almost as knowledgeable as Mr. Nimes. Ah, but here I am, chattering away. You must be bored stiff out here - come on, let's get a drink inside the house, and then you can tell me about yourself." Zory finally stopped herself, after speaking at length about various things.

The way she pronounced Mary was closer to Mah-rai, probably her Nazzadi accent, or maybe it was a Nazzadi name. Georgio wasn't too interested in Museum's, but the curator sounds interesting. Maybe he can translate the message in Georgio's letter.

"That sounds like a grand idea, although I'm not sure how long I could talk about myself, I'm not a very interesting person. At least, not compared to you, the right hand of someone like Mr. Nimes and so young too. I'm jealous, when did you come across this job?" Georgio wasn't sure where they would find drinks in the house, so he would just let Zory lead the way.


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## Damaris (Jun 27, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

Most of the garden's beauty was lost on Natasha the moment she locked eyes on the bar. Still, she managed to glance around at the guests, flashing a smile at Jeremy, though her charm was lost on him; his gaze was fixed on something behind her in the house, and though Natasha looked back up at the estate, she still decided to make her way to the drinks. Never let it be said that she was a woman without a purpose.

The ever-cheerful coach driver was there, but Natasha ignored him, ducking around the back of the bar to pour her own drink. "Nothing personal," she said, selecting a bottle of scotch from what even she had to admit was a _very_ fine collection (the drink she so liberally poured was a Saint Magdalene 19yo. Natasha liked to fancy herself a drunk with taste.) Now, the prey other guests. The one man who seemed noteworthy was the one who had smiled at her without missing a beat in his card tricks. That was a talent to be admired. Grabbing her full glass and keeping hold of the bottle with her other hand, she made her way over.

Natasha wedged herself between the sunglasses man and a sweaty banker-looking type who kept adjusting his tie, all without spilling a drop. Knocking back the scotch, she set the glass on the table and began pouring herself another from the bottle. "Now how in the world did you meet Jeremy's standards, good sir? I thought you had to come from money older than the country before he'd give you the time of day."


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 28, 2010)

Zory got the drinks very quickly once they arrived. Georgio wasn't too used to any kind of actual selection with drinks, so he asked for some of the local bear. Zory didn't get anything alcoholic, just some grape soda, it made sense since she probably wasn't off for the day.

Once Georgio and her were settled, Zory told her story.

"Mr. Nimes took me and Mala in when we were kids, orphans. He's basically been like a father to us, and I think he's seen us as his children, sort of." She paused for a moment, as if to mull over her next sentence.

"And we wanted him to be proud of us. So Mala and I worked as hard as we could, and I earned this position." She gave a wistful grin. "Mr. Nimes is a wonderful man, isn't he? Was he the same with you? How'd you meet him?"

It wasn't a question Georgio was unprepared for, if anything he was thankful, if Zory was asking him this question, it meant that she hadn't met Michael Irving before. Georgio took a long gulp from his can, finishing it before he would answer her question. 

"He certainly is wonderful, but I haven't had the chance to meet him. My connection to Mr. Nimes is indirect." Georgio looked down at the can he was holding before he continued. "My father knew him. I think they were friends, but I don't know much about the situation. Mr. Nimes was always beneficent, even though my father isn't with us any more, he still helped my mother and I." Georgio paused for a moment, and took a deep breath before he continued. 

"I never really thought that I could meet with him. It just didn't seem like something I was allowed to do, but it's different now. He sent me that letter, and he wanted me here. Even so, I don't really feel like I belong here, you know?" Georgio picked up his head and let out a sigh. Placing the empty can back on the table before grabbing another beer.

"Ah. No wonder I didn't recognize you when you stepped off the bus, Mr. Nimes must have given me your father's photo. I'm sorry for your loss - I lost my parents too, but I was so young I don't think I really got it until after Mr. Nimes took me in." Zory finished by taking a sip of her grape soda.

Before she continued, she shook her head before voicing her disagreement with Georgio's statement. "If Mr. Nimes wants you here, then you deserve to be here. If he didn't want you here, he wouldn't have told me to let you in, would he?"

"No, I guess he wouldn't." Georgio spoke quickly, his mind had just moved to a completely different interest. Zory had a photo of Michael Irving. Sure, it may not matter right now, but if Georgio ever did run into someone here who knew Michael, it would be best to be able to explain the visual differences.

"You really have a photo of my father? Is it on your PCPU? May I see it?" Georgio's questions came one after another, perhaps he was unable to hide his excitement. She wouldn't know the real reason he was thrilled. Georgio put down the can of beer he was about to open.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 28, 2010)

The pendant itself was not difficult to find, and Guy managed to uncover a disc and a pair of books along with it. The first book was a Nimes family journal and photo album of some sort, very little of which looked particularly interesting as Guy skimmed through it. The second book was written entirely in the strange language that was in the note, a language which Guy could not even begin to understand and yet sent shivers down his spine even as he saw it. Putting both books aside for now, Guy decided to read the information that had been put up by his PCPU, the more refined results telling him most of what he needed to know about the gems they had been given.

The first article was written by a professor from Miskatonic University, which Guy knew used to be the university right here in Boston, though it had been destroyed in the previous war and was rebuilt as a museum when the place was reconstructed as an Arcology. Apparently all surviving documents had been transported to the new Miskatonic University near Chicago, and that was about where Guy had gotten bored and stopped researching on the place he was going to visit. The gist of the article was simple, that the documented benefits of gems as found after arcanotech research were pretty much the same as the old superstitions, which probably made Guy's job a bit easier.

The second article was just an online manual on the use of gemstones in the modern age, and though the author was unknown, at least the information was interesting. Apparently the reactions from gemstones were stronger when worn by a person they shared attributes with, and they were more capable of using its power. Even more interesting was how they gave crystal quartz for those who were empty inside as an example, which immediately made him think of Bianci and how he had thought she was far too strange for a girl her age. If the cards, gems, and notes truly fit the recipients well, then it just confirmed his suspicions, though it ultimately meant nothing so long as she did not raise a hand against him.

The third article if it could be called that, was a protected document of an intercepted communication between Julian Nimes and a certain Professor Feng Zhao not too long ago. His rank as a commissioned officer in the military gave him access to the necessary Level 1 Security Clearance needed, but it was still odd. The communications were too odd and out of context for Guy to understand what they were saying in full, but there were some conclusions that he could draw from them. Julian Nimes had enemies, he did not trust his son to deal with his inheritance because he was 'dangerous, unpredictable, and too spiteful', and he was desperate for something.

"Right then. Computer, save the intercepted communications, then display the files on the disc." Guy muttered to the unit on his wrist as he pushed the disc into its drive. Bianci could wait for now. There was nothing to be gained from making their new partnership too obvious by constantly visiting her anyway. When such a large inheritance was at stake, their potential enemies were not just those who dabbled in things man was not meant to know. As the PCPU started reading the disc, Guy picked up the pendant and slot his gemstone in before putting it in one of his many pockets. He could do with any protection he could get after all. That was how he had managed to be one of the longest serving veterans in the army after all.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 28, 2010)

"Eh? Sure." Zory's eyebrows raised a bit. She was clearly stopping herself from asking something that could be insensitive.

She tapped the PCPU on her wrist a few times, and quickly it showed a holographic image of what must be Michael Irving. There was nothing notable about this man, he was middle-aged and looked very dull. Georgio could not pretend that this man was once him. Anyone with this picture would know they aren't the same person. 

"This is the picture I was given." Zory put the image down so that it was right next to Georgio's face, she was probably trying to find similarities between them. 

"Hmm..." Zory was obviously a little confused and frustrated, she must not have found any obvious similarities. Georgio could not see anything remotely similar between them either. Had he been more perceptive he could have faked something generic as a familial similarity. 

"I guess we really don't look anything alike. My mom always said that I took after her, but I still thought there'd be something." Georgio put his hand on a can of beer, he didn't lift it, or make any motion to open it. He just held onto it and sighed. "Maybe we should talk about something else."


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## Damaris (Jun 28, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

She considered the new information, took a swallow of scotch and then smiled at Jeremy. Surrounded by these fools, even if one was a sorcerer, was unbearable. Squabbling and plotting like children, for the sake of what? Money? While the world burned around them, they would give up everything just so they could sit in their mansions when their death came to them. Disgusting. Not as if she was any better though, she noted with a wry smile. And there was nothing to lose. She drained the rest of the glass and put it down on the table, pulling the bottle towards her and reading the label in the same fluid motion.

"This might be the last of this quality on whiskey on earth," Natasha remarked, running her thumb down the side of the glass. "This company was destroyed a few months ago, its main distillery wiped off the map. A world where with only cheap alcohol, where Nighttrain becomes the drink of the elite. Isn't that a scary thought? I don't think I could survive."

Helping herself to another glass (the bottle was only half-full now, and Natasha could feel the fire in her throat and blood. She'd be feeling the effects soon.) "Leave the Nazzadi to me. I know Nimes, and there's no one I can't charm. Give me an hour or so with them, maybe some--" she illustrated her point here with an obscene gesture that was definitely not suited for such company "--and they'll be out of commission. As for the other guests, I already have an inroad with one. I can bring you something of his." Without waiting for Jeremy's reply, she stood up and pushed away from the table, saluting him carelessly with the bottle.

"To the prodigal son." Walking back up to the mansion, exaggerating her walk a tad more than was necessary, she began her hunt. Guy the soldier was her first choice, but Nimes...Julian Nimes was a close second.


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## Zoidberg (Jun 28, 2010)

I must reluctantly admit, this criminal has a sense of humor. "Thank you, Mister Nimes. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be doing my job now." Uncovering evidence on you, you cheeky bastard. 

I left the hallway to meet up with the various potential heirs outside. Anyone of these people can be accomplises to the suspect, or something worse altogether. Nothing much, just some decent-looking folks socializing and such, but there is that one guy who looks like a fighter.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 28, 2010)

Zory shrugged, Georgio wasn't sure if that meant she was indifferent, or if she was trying to comfort him by making the issue seem unimportant. Still, Georgio had addressed the immediate issue, he knew what the next thing he needed to do was.

"That's not that uncommon. I'm told that most male Nazzadi take after their fathers exclusively, and most females take exclusively after their mothers. I suppose there'd be some humans that were the same, since we all come from the same stock, right? But yeah, let's change the subject. I bet you have some questions, so I'll do my best to answer them." Zory was clearly trying to be helpful, and Georgio didn't have much of an issue with it. 

Before that though, Georgio opened the can of beer he was holding and took a drink. "When do you need to get back to work though? I wouldn't want to hold you up from anything urgent." He only had one more important question, and it wouldn't quite do to ask it here.

Zory quickly checked the time on her PCPU, before commenting. "I've still got about a half-hour before I need to go. So ask away. My job's to look after the guests, after all."

Half an hour was enough time for Georgio to get done with what he needed. First he finished the beer he had started to drink. He was starting to feel a little nauseous and light-headed. "I'm glad you take so much pride in your work, nothing at all like that butler." 

Georgio waved his hand as he spoke that last line, and knocked the beer can he had put down off the table. Naturally Georgio got out of his seat to pick up the can, but when he tried to get back up, he lost his balance and fell right back to the floor. "I think I may be a little drunk." Georgio laughed.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 28, 2010)

Guy looked at the screen and groaned. The program that had been booted up was entirely in that accursed language that he could make neither heads nor tails of once more, and now that program included a spoken version of it that sounded like nothing he had ever heard before. It was obviously not English and most definitely not his mother tongue Japanese. Plus if he remembered what his Nazzadi colleagues spoke correctly, it was not Nazzadi either. Stretching a bit further, it was not the language of any of his enemies either, based on what he had heard of them. It was not the language that the Migou, Dagon, or Rapine Storm used, as far as he could tell, and Guy's hearing was fairly good even if it was not as acute as his eyesight.

"Computer, run the menu through a translator. No, cancel that order. Just close the program." Using the internet for everything had been the order of the day for decades now, and Guy had almost made the stupid mistake of assuming that nobody was watching the airwaves and that what he was trying to translate would not bring the OIS rappelling off rooftops after his ass. No, he already knew that there was something dangerous about what was happening, and so he had to rely on somebody who could be relied on to just know the language. There was definitely somebody who did in this house, because somebody had to write that stuff after all. The best bet was Julian Nimes, but Guy had no intention of making the first move with regards to the old man. He had the home field advantage in any form of engagement in this place, and Guy needed some inkling of what the hell was going on before he could even hope to get to him.

"I need a beer." He decided as he left the room, making sure to lock the door behind him.


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## Watchman (Jun 28, 2010)

Bianca kicked her feet idly as she scrutinized both the card and the gemstone. She had a faint idea as to what the answer to this puzzle could be, but then again, she could be looking at it in completely the wrong way. So could Guy, for that matter.

Blargh. She hated riddles. Her mind didn't work well with them, and sitting here, glaring at these objects wasn't exactly going to yield any results. Maybe Guy would find something, but if he didn't, she might as well try and do something productive. She worked better out and about, being active, and so that's what she'd do.

Scribbling a number on a note, she tucked it slightly under her door - it would be unnoticeable unless you were either specifically looking for it, or had the eyes of a hawk, and then got ready to go exploring.

Slipping on a pair of heavy boots, stuffing the pendant and card into pockets, and hefting her duffle bag onto a shoulder, she left the room, made sure the note was properly positioned and locked the door behind her.

"Let's see who else we can find," she mumbled under her breath.


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## Damaris (Jun 28, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

Deciding to head for Guy's room first was the easy option. Nimes was still playing the aloof host, and Natasha had no desire to get in a fight with the only person on the estate who's intelligence she could respect. But she didn't want to tramp around the large mansion searching the bedroom wings either. Besides being a waste of her time, it was bound to attract the exact kind of attention she didn't want, either from Jeremy and his lackeys or from one of the other players in Julian's game.

She decided to head for the kitchen. There were bound to be servants down there, and even if one of the Nazzadi wasn't in evidence, she could find someone who would tell her where they ought to be.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 28, 2010)

Guy crushed his emptied can and tossed it into the bin where it joined the four that he had cleaned off in the last ten minutes. His head was still mostly clear, but he felt a tiny bit more cheerful and much more relaxed, which made everything seem better. With his need for alcohol sated though, it was time to return to work, and it was as good a time as any to return to his search for the answer to the riddle that had been put before them. Which of course meant going to Bianca's room and asking her what she had found out, because Guy had no intention of actually sitting down and thinking the riddles over if he could help it in any way.

He had only just reached her room when he noticed that there was a card placed under the door, hidden away such that only the sharpest eyes would be able to notice it was there. Of course, since Guy happened to be one of the few people in the world that would be able to see it easily, it made sense that the card was probably for him. Which was why he picked up the card and read it, wondering what Bianca had written.


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## Watchman (Jun 28, 2010)

Bianca found the person she was looking for quickly enough. At the coach station, two people in particular had grabbed her attention - she'd already made contact with Guy, but the businesswoman he'd talked to seemed to be just as potentially useful in her own way... Although right now, she seemed slightly inebriated. Still, she could probably use that to her advantage...


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 28, 2010)

The note included a PCPU number and a reminder to send text messages only, since Bianca was apparently going to meet new people and did not want to be interrupted. Her socialising was going to be useful in diffusing any suspicions people would have had of them, and the last thing they wanted was to have people discovering that the two of them were actually suspicious people. Not that Guy arrived with anything less than completely pure intentions, but circumstances changed. More importantly however, was the fact that when he removed the note, he found that it had left a deeper impression on the carpet than it should have, as though somebody or something had moved it before. That was worrying, because if anybody else had seen this note, they would have recognised the working relationship between Bianca and Guy in an instant. This was, more than anything else, something that he would have to tell her about.

"Computer, send the following message to the number I'm typing in right now, text only. 'Note found moved, secrecy compromised. Keep pendant on self at all times. Guy.'" He whispered urgently into his PCPU as he headed back towards his room, feeling just a little bit threatened for the first time. It was probably as good a sign as any that he would be needing his weapons sooner or later, and he needed to get them ready as quickly as possible. Besides, he was hardly the person to look for for socialising. His social skills were essentially at the level of a child, having spent most of his life on the battlefield or preparing for it. Being one of the longest serving veterans in the army tended to do that to people, especially when they started training from when they were actually children and never had a chance to let skills unnecessary for survival in combat develop.


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## Damaris (Jun 28, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

She was used to people staring at her. Engineers at development meetings, their faces plastered in expressions of awe or jealousy, men and women at parties sizing up her body, the disapproving stares she received whenever she was careening towards one of her infamous blackouts in a public place. No matter who was watching, or why, the feeling was always the same. A prickling on the back of her neck, a slight feeling that something was _off_. Despite the very fine scotch that was currently influencing her thoughts, Natasha wasn't stupid enough to ignore those warnings. She looked over her shoulder, than turned on her heel and faced the girl from the station.

She'd looked like a mongrel at the station, but here she was bolder. When Natasha saw her, she took a step forward instead of retreating like someone who'd been caught up to mischief. Intriguing. She was young, certainly not old enough to drink at Natasha's estimate (not that she herself had ever followed _that_ particular law) and maybe able to be unsettled by a drunk. In any case she was up to something. Maybe she was one of Nimes little games or she'd followed the coach here from the station looking to steal something. If it was the former, playing along might get her information. If it was the latter--well Natasha could care less if Nimes were robbed blind, and she still might get a useful pawn ally out of the deal.

She sauntered toward the girl, a silly drunk's smile on her face, and wrapped an arm around her. "Servant? Perfect. I was just looking for someone to find me a room to lie down in. I can't remember where the blazing hells mine is, and I'd like to nap or something to beat the headache I'm sure to have tomorrow. Single malt whiskey is the drink of the gods, but always remember that it _hurts._" Dragging the girl off by one arm, Natasha flipped through her mental catalog of the house until she located a small room that had been _listed_ as unoccupied. Slamming the door open with more force than was necessary, she pushed the girl in and exaggerated a stumble after her, slumping against the door frame and bringing one hand to her head. "Tell me I'm allowed to crash here for a bit."


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## Watchman (Jun 28, 2010)

Back outside in the garden, Jeremy Nimes fought the urge to put his head in his hands. This first day hadn't even ended, and already he was beginning to despair. His "allies" were a collection of spineless individuals, a money-hungry and hopelessly carefree freelance sorcerer and a woman who proved once again that genius constantly flirted with madness (and sometimes leapt over the boundary for a one-night-stand), especially in the Strange Aeon. And he could not shake the feeling that things were about to get worse.


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## Damaris (Jun 28, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

Natasha was half-sure that she could take the girl in a fight. Her most recent ex had been a high-ranked soldier, and he'd taught her the rudiments of self-defense. And Natasha had the element of surprise against a smaller enemy. But even if she wasn't quite blindingly drunk yet, the alcohol would slow her reflexes enough that even if the girl couldn't beat her, she might escape and send all of Natasha's plans spiraling like the cliche house of cards. Her mind explored different possibilities as the girl talked, her subconscious registering the words and filing them away. Looking for someone implied that she was here for more than petty thievery, and that she wasn't working for Nimes, or she'd have known who Natasha was. An agent of Jeremy's? Unlikely. She didn't seem him planning this far ahead. Maybe an outside factor. But what would warrant that? This was a legal transaction, Julian was certainly within his bounds by staging this little contest. Bah. That was for later.

As the girl's words trailed off, Natasha drew her hand away from her face and straightened up, her posture falling back into her natural, lounging grace. She was standing slightly off-center of the middle of the doorway; not imposing enough to be a threat, but anyone who wanted to exit the room would have to pass by her. 

"You were watching me at the station, and now you're following me here. You're not one of Julian's guests, and I doubt you're a servant, with that PCPU and attitude. You're a puzzle and I'm an engineer. It's my _job_ to solve problems and find solutions." Natasha tilted her head to side, examined the girl. Her aura exuded an easy charm now, just a curious woman who couldn't handle her drink and didn't really care about anything beyond her own amusement. "You intrigue me, and very few people do." A slight smile (it even touched her eyes--most of this wasn't a lie) and Natasha completed the facade. Now to wait.


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## Watchman (Jun 28, 2010)

After his brief meeting with Oswald Creed, and having left his envelope with Mala, Julian Nimes proceeded back to his quarters. From what he could tell, his guests were becoming rather lively, which was good. But the best was yet to come. He glanced at a large, ornamental Grandfather clock that showed there was still some time until dinner, and settled down in a chair with a copy of "The Mysteries Within", and waited.


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## Damaris (Jun 28, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

The girl's eyes jumped to the door, but she didn't make a move, and Natasha decided she had reached the same conclusion as Natasha herself: it was too much of a risk. She was cunning enough not to jeopardize herself without need, she'd have to remember that. An opponent who would let themselves remain in a trap was either extremely confident or had a trick they thought you didn't know. Both options were deadly, but one was deadlier than the other, and Natasha had no intentions of dying anytime soon. Not when the world had so many vineyards still maintaining a third of their efficiency. 

The girl explained herself and uncrossed her arms. A good sign. Natasha didn't press the guest issue, even though she really didn't believe it; there was no use in undoing her hard work. At least not before she need to do so. “Well, mutuality is always the best when it comes to establishing a relationship. We know why I'm so...captivated--” Yes, that was a very nice word. Very powerful, almost like a statement of submission. “--by you. But what in the world could a girl like you want with a good-for-nothing like me?” Well, Natasha was far from a good-for-nothing, even if you hated her. But if the girl was tailing her because she was Natasha Isse or for some other reason; now was the time she hoped to find out. Natasha slumped against the doorframe at ease, both hands slipping into the pockets of her slacks. Her right hand curled around the large sapphire there. If worst came to worse, it could deliver quite the blow.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 28, 2010)

"Well, Harold, I mean, Mr. Watts is-" Zory began, but stopped as Georgio stumbled. "H-hey, are you okay?" She reached her hand out to try and stop Georgio from falling again. 

"Thanks, I guess I don't hold my liquor very well." Georgio helped himself up using Zory's outstretched arm. "I think I've had enough, probably wasn't a good idea to drink before the inheritance meeting anyway." Georgio shook his head, as if it would help his poor balance.

"Would you mind helping me back to my room? I don't think I can make it back myself." Georgio paused for a moment, as if trying to remember something. "I got my map right here." Georgio pulled his map out of his left sock.

"Yeah... Probably wasn't your best idea," Zory admonished gently, and waved away Georgio's attempt to give her the map. "Thanks, but I have one already. Mr Nimes wanted me to know where all the guests were." A map of all the guests rooms. That sounded useful.

She slung my right hand over her shoulder and Zory started to bring me back to my room. "Are you sure you can get yourself collected before dinner?"

"Yeah, I've got like an hour and the pancreas gets rid of alcohol around that fast, I think." Georgio didn't know anymore about anatomy than he did Spanish, but that sounded about right. 

They arrived to his room in a couple of minutes. "Do you need my key or do you have an 'open all doors' key with you?" Georgio asked, half in jest.


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## Damaris (Jun 28, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

She softened a little as the girl recited off the facts about her company. Isse Inc., was pretty exceptional, Natasha knew, and its founder was even _more_ amazing. No one had ever accused her of being humble, but then she had no cause to be humble. Natasha saw no point to limiting herself with the notion of "moderation" or "restraint", not when her intelligence and cunning were so extreme by her very nature. There was no use going against the natural order of things. And in her mind, the natural order of things dictated that Natasha Isse always come out on top.

"You read your textbooks quite thoroughly," Natasha said, favoring the girl with a half smile. "But you know I stepped down, and so you must also know the reason. You should know that I'm thought a mad genius by half the business world, emphasis on the mad, and an unreliable drunk who somehow saves her own ass by the skin of her teeth by the other half. You must know that my alcoholic tendencies have plastered me across tabloids quite a few times. As have my indiscriminating--" here Natasha's charming smile morphed into something more feral, almost _predatory_; as if you were watching a lion in a zoo, admiring its tame, captive beauty--and maybe you lean a little too far over the fence, and suddenly the gully separating you from the beast isn't so large, and you're all too aware of the rippling muscles, and the sharp teeth in that yawning mouth and the fact that _there's a reason this animal is caged_--but it was only a moment. And maybe it was just a trick of the light. "--sexual tastes. But that's not fit for polite conversation."

Natasha shook her head once, twice, as if fighting some thought off, and then turned that slow, whiskeyburn smile on the girl again. "But why I'm interested in you? You expect someone like me to be at an event like this. The rich and the spoiled all gathering together to send off one of their own with a last hurrah before clawing each other like hyenas over his fortune. But you don't seem like one of us. You don't dress like one of us. So what about you could make Julian Nimes invite you to have a chance to inherit his fortune? Why are you here?"


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 28, 2010)

Guy was about to return to his room when he felt the presence of somebody sneaking up on him, the senses that had served him well in war serving him in the same capacity here. It did not matter that the sound of somebody trying to sneak up on a person across a carpeted floor was fundamentally impossible for all but a handful of people to consciously register, because these things, things like responding to an incoming potential threat, they were mostly instinctive anyway. Things like feeling the bead of a sniper and diving into cover despite the fact that the shooter was miles away and essentially impossible to see. The only thing Guy was not confident in his ability to anticipate and avoid was a cat, but cats rarely turned up in the kind of life he led anyway, so that was mostly moot. Mostly.

Turning around, he saw that the person approaching him was a Nazzadi, another one of the many servants that Julian Nimes kept around. He did not speak, but instead typed into his PCPU, asking what Guy was doing at a room that was not his own. He also looked somewhat impressed that Guy was able to notice his presence, probably because Nazzadi prided themselves on their ability to move swiftly and silently.

"This is my friend's room, I had something I needed to talk to her about but she's not in right now." That was the truth of the matter of course, Guy did not lie and he could not lie even if he wanted to. Telling the bits of the truth that were convenient was a skill one invariably picked up in the military even if they did not want to, if only because of the endless reports that had to be submitted after almost every incident minor or major.

"Now, is there anything else you need? I have to return to my room to prepare."


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 29, 2010)

The look on Zory's face told Georgio that whatever he said about his pancreas was not entirely accurate, maybe it wasn't even close. He figured she was being polite by not saying anything.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Zory responded, and it took Georgio about a second to realize that she was serious. "Mala, myself and Mr. Watts all have sets of keys to about every room in the house." Zory pulled out a ring of keys, it must have had like a million billion keys or something. Quickly, she flipped through all the keys until she got to the one that opened his room. The door opened easily, and with Zory's help, Georgio managed to get onto his bed.

"Is there anything else you need? I hear that drinking a lot of water will dilute the alcohol in your system, weakening its effects..." Zory was giving Georgio some advice, probably didn't want him looking silly at the dinner. 

"Don't worry about the alcohol, I told you I'd be fine by the time dinner rolled around. Still, I'm pretty surprised that you have keys to just about everyone's room, does that mean I can expect a midnight visit?" Georgio smirked, and at the same time, he reached out with his mind. He wanted an exact read on whatever Zory's thought of his question.


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## Damaris (Jun 29, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

"No. No, that was all I wanted. You're an interesting girl. Good luck with whatever game Nimes is playing here." Natasha slipped out of the room and down the hallway, her right hand still wrapped around the sapphire. She glanced at her watch and bit back a curse. Barely anytime before dinner, and Jeremy would want some sort of prize from one of the guests, if she still wanted to keep up that side of her scheme. _If_ she was lucky, she might be able to get something from someone at dinner; the drunk act might let her get a little more touchy than normal. And there was still the matter of the soldier she had talked to at the station; she did need to get in touch with him. Alliances were important, and she'd need his muscle. And a drinking partner. Drinking was nice, drinking alone was fine, but drinking with people was better. 

Natasha debated with and finally decided on it, breaking into a very undignified sprint, but as a result, she unlocked the door to her room with fifteen minutes before dinner. Which was more than enough time to squeeze into a dress and heels, brush her hair, brush her teeth, and lock up the sapphire in her suitcase. The dress didn't have pockets, so the tarot card and note went...well, let's say that if she slept with anyone tonight, she'd have to explain the paper sandwiched between her breasts. That taken care of, she re-locked the door behind her and began walking down the hall. Damn heels. Hard enough to navigate in when she wasn't slightly tipsy. Nimes better serve some damn good wine tonight.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 29, 2010)

Zory's eyes widened, and then she turned her head, but not quick enough to stop keep Georgio from catching sight of her blush. "You really are drunk, aren't you?" She almost managed to say this without her voice wavering. It was an admirable attempt.

But the vocal answer didn't matter. Georgio could _feel_ her response, and they confirmed what he had noticed. Confusion, frustration, embarrassment, enjoyment, all those roiled over one another, moving in according to the Nazzadi's heartbeat. Georgio was able to distort the tone of her heart with only a few words.

What really caught Georgio's attention though, was a different emotion. It was much smaller than her more immediate emotions, but Georgio knew it was the kind to last much longer. That emotion was like a seed, it was buried so deep under everything else Zory felt. However, Georgio knew that it would grow. Her interest in Georgio would feed it, and before long, it would stand above all other feelings.

"Anyway, I've... I've got to get going. I'll see you at dinner." 

"Yeah, I'll see you at dinner Zory."


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 29, 2010)

"Kurogane, but call me Guy. Don't worry about it, no offence taken. I'm just in a bit of a hurry." Dismissing the servant, Guy headed up to his room as quickly as he could manage short of straight up running there. There was, by his estimates, only a bit of time before dinner, and in that time he would need to get everything ready, and he did have quite a number of things he needed to get ready, almost like a lady before a party.

Entering his room, making sure to lock the door behind him, Guy unwrapped his scarf and unbuttoned his jacket, tossing both of them onto the bed where they landed with a muffled clank of metal hitting metal. His jacket had too many pockets in it, and most of them were filled with the sort of thing a soldier made sure to carry around with him at all times, especially when he had no idea what kind of trouble he might get into.

"Bring up the gun assembly manual. I keep forgetting how to do that." He said to nobody in particular, which of course meant that he was talking to his PCPU. The unit silently transmitted the information to the HIU that was still on the table, the instructions and diagrams appearing in the air in a way that would surely have been wondrous to people only a few decades ago. Following the instructions given to him, noting that he would have to thank his maintenance staff when he got back to base for taking care of this stuff so Guy did not have to, he removed pieces of metal from the various pockets of his jacket, clipping them in place one by one until a pair of Enforcers were formed. He had not wanted to seem distrustful by bringing guns into the house as though he thought the place was dangerous, but he had not wanted to be stupid and be unarmed either just in case the place really was dangerous. Which it was.

Putting his now complete guns aside, Guy also withdrew a pair of trench knives, which had been placed in thin plastic cases to prevent them from stabbing him by accident. Made from composite metal, with spiked knuckle duster guards, they were based on the simple yet effective World War I era Mark Is, even down to the blackened blade and grip. They were also illegal in most arcologies without a weapons permit for being brutally effective yet easily concealable melee weapons. He was actually better with a longsword, having gotten used to the large hyperedge swords used by his Broadsword, but carrying a great honking sword was not only just a bit gaudy, it would have been even more obvious than carrying a pair of Enforcers around. At least he could hide trench knives in his boots, though he actually strapped them around his thighs under his jeans. One would have to be looking for it to actually see it.

The pistols though, were a bit too large to easily conceal, forget the standard issue seven magazines that he also carried on him at all times, so until he found a way to hide them, Guy contented himself with sticking them in a drawer where they were safely out of sight. He was confident that he could cut his way back to his room from anywhere in the house with just his knives anyway.

"Alright, next the radio assembly manual. Why the hell do I have to lug a radio around with me anyway?" He said to his PCPU as he pulled another dozen pieces of metal out of his jacket, piecing them together based on the instructions that were once again supplied to him by his computer. The radio was more innocuous, simply because he was expected to send a report back to base every two days about his activities even when he was on leave, and he needed a radio just in case the internet ever went down or he had something that he could not afford to be intercepted. After all, the internet was more heavily monitored by all sides than the airwaves. When that was done with, he placed the radio on the table next to his HIU, out of the way but not particularly hidden.

"Now then." Guy said to himself, stretching his body now that it was liberated of several kilos of metal. "There's nothing to do, so let's find out some stuff about this place."

Having decided thus, he picked up the family album and started flipping through it, wondering if there was anything about the relationship between the old man and his son in there. The protected message he had managed to pick up had made him interested about that much, and it could go a long way to solving the mystery that was Julian Nimes and what he wanted to do here.


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## Watchman (Jun 29, 2010)

Georgina Nimes stirred from her slumber, and sat up on the comfortable sofa inside her chambers. As per usual, the twin stenches of dust and mold blanketed the darkened room, and only a few slits of light passed through the closed Venetian blinds to penetrate the gloom. From their cots, her children's soft breathing told her they were still asleep, and so luckier than her. Lifting a hand to her forehead, she felt it come away wet with perspiration. If only this damned fever would break! Her husband needed her support, now of all times, and yet her feeble constitution rendered her unable to even leave this room.

She muttered curses in her native tongue - one for the fever, one for this inheritance and a third, most violently of all, for Julian Nimes and whatever scheme he had come up with. By the time she had finished, she had passed into unconsciousness again.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 29, 2010)

Most of the book was mind-numbingly boring, as was to be expected of a journal detailing the great achievements of an ancient family that had been old and rich even before the Strange Aeon began. What Guy did manage to figure out from the family history though, was that most of the family had either died in military service or disappeared from the public eye after descending into madness. All that was left was a few isolated pockets of a family that had been much bigger only a few years ago, with Julian Nimes heading the largest branch left, even with only a tiny family of five. At least, a family with five surviving members, not including the old man's dead wife and a name that had been painstakingly removed from the family tree which had taken Guy's sharp eye to locate, having been reduced to a mere smudge next to Jeremy Nimes' name. Scanning it with his PCPU revealed Alice Nimes, Julian Nimes' daughter, erased from history just like that. There was no trace of where she was, what had happened to her, and certainly no clue of who had tried to make her disappear.

The next area of interest was the bit detailing the life of Jeremy Nimes, if only because Guy wanted to know why it was that Dr Zhao had said that he was unsuitable for the inheritance. Bit was the keyword however, because there was surprisingly little written about Jeremy Nimes, although perhaps the surprise was unwarranted for, because there was no place for failures in a compilation of the glorious history of the Nimes. The fact that there was so little information on Jeremy was information in itself. The things that were written about him were hardly flattering either. He had been expelled from New Miskatonic University before finishing his degree, but he had managed to get by on his family name and was now a fairly successful businessman by all accounts. There was a slight blip in his life when he abruptly married Georgina Nimes, maiden name unknown. In fact, there was nothing known about her except for her first name, her nationality (Brazilian), her religion (Catholic), and her occupation (ghost writer for biographies). Even her history with Jeremy Nimes was shrouded in mystery.

"I should have brought a few beers with me." He grumbled as he drained his flask, leaving it dry when he dropped it behind him. Guy was built tough, and he could drink for nearly forever before actually getting drunk, and he threw that off quickly too, especially when he had to process about a dozen riddles at once, and he had been thrown into an ocean of them.

"Computer, search for the name 'Alice Nimes' and save all results relevant to the current Nimes family." He ordered his PCPU as he stuffed his jacket and scarf into the closet, wondering where he could get another set of clothes as he did. He had only brought what he could carry on him and had not bothered with luggage, and such a decision had proven to be silly now, as it seemed as though Guy would be here for a long time.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 30, 2010)

Georgio got dressed soon after Zory had left, since there was no need to act drunk. He was wearing a suit that he found in the closet of his room. It fit Georgio perfectly when he wore it, as if it had been tailor made for him. 

There was still a bit of time before the dinner, so Georgio took some more time to evaluate his situation. This was one of the biggest chances of his life, so he had no intention of screwing up over a silly mistake. 

However, he found himself unable to concentrate. Whenever he began to really focus, he was interrupted by the sound of scratching on his door. The noise was just loud enough to draw his attention because his ears would strain to pick up the noise. Waiting for it to stop was futile as well, because it simply did not stop.

Georgio finally decided to check it out, it was now becoming bothersome. He stopped right before he touched the door's handle. 

"Who is it?" Georgio asked from the other side of the door. Although, it would be strange to expect an answer, a person would have knocked. It was probably a cat or something that he needed to scare off. Still, Georgio decided to listen to any kind of reply before opening his door, whether it be more scratching or a verbal response.

The scratching stopped for a moment, but it was soon replaced by crying one would expect from a baby. Surprised, Georgio quickly opened the door to see if there was actually a baby at his door. "What the hell?"

Yeah, it wasn't a baby. It was a monstrous rat ferret thing, it was huge and bloated with white fur and three crimson eyes. It blinked a few times with two of its eyes, probably taking in the new detail of Georgio standing in front of him, but the third eye did not blink. It made that cry again, that infant whine, however the way it cried made Georgio think he was being laughed at.

It made a quick lunge for Georgio's ankle, but he was even quicker to react. Without a second's delay, he slammed the door shut in the rat's face. Georgio could hear it scurry away afterwards, probably didn't like having it's face shattered by a door. 

"I was just attacked by some kind of mutant rat thing, the kind that would live in a sewer, beneath some nuclear powerplant, with a mommy rat that drank while pregnant." Georgio was no comedian, but he still tried to make himself laugh so he could calm down. That thing was not frightening to Georgio, but it did manage to give him quite the shock.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 30, 2010)

The search for Alice Nimes had turned out blank. There was no record of an Alice Nimes in this generation, or even the last two generations. She simply did not exist, wiped from the world's database much like she had been wiped from the history books. There would surely be a blind spot or two, where the erasure was incomplete or simply sloppily done, but Guy's ability with computers was generally limited to what he could order the PCPU to do, which was the norm in the post-LAI era of the world. He would ask a friend to help him with it, but he knew nobody that he could both trust and trust to be able to do the job right. As it was, Guy's only real choice was to assume that Alice Nimes was a printing mistake until he got an opportunity to really dig deeper into the enigma that was the Nimes clan and whatever it was that was conspiring in these halls.

Bianca might know more, but this was information that Guy did not want to risk being hacked out of the air if he could help it, so that would have to wait until he met her face to face. That in itself was something that had to wait though, as he received a message from her that was both reassuring yet worrying. Reassuring because she did not appear to be panicking about the note being found, and worrying because she expected him to do something that was inherently difficult for the type of person that Guy was. He could not be expected to distract a person for any great amounts of time, and certainly not in a manner that was in any way friendly or peaceable. His social skills were just too lacking for that, and his target was not the type of person who could be swayed easily. From their brief interaction, Guy could tell that she was used to things that he had never even experienced in his life as a soldier, and he had no idea where to even begin.

_I'll see what I can do, but don't expect great results._ Guy sighed as he replied to Bianca, getting off the bed and changing into the suit that he had found in the closet. It fit him perfectly, but somehow Guy was hardly surprised. Everything else had been tailor made after all, actually having tailored clothes was probably to be suspected. Once that was done, Guy left the room, making sure to lock the door, heading for the dining room while thoroughly unused to the feeling of a formal suit. Natasha Isse was supposed to be there eating, but what was Guy going to do after he found her?


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 30, 2010)

Georgio took a few minutes to regain his composure. That whole rat thing was pretty messed up no matter how he looked at it. Still, at least his suit wasn't dirty. 

He figured it was about time to leave for the dinner, for such an important event it was better to be early than late. He grabbed the map that he had placed on top of his bed, and looked up the dining hall's location.

He tucked the map away in a jacket pocket, and gave himself one look in the mirror before he considered himself presentable. While Georgio didn't wear many suits in his life, but they always struck him as nice. He didn't feel uncomfortable wearing one, and they looked much more proper than anything else in his wardrobe. 

Georgio exited and locked the room behind him, looking down both ends of the hallway for any mutant rats that may be lurking. Then Georgio made his way to the dining hall, occasionally pulling his map out to check his location. It would be a fairly uneventful walk until he arrived.


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 30, 2010)

Cold sweat rolled down the back of Guy's neck as he walked through the hallways of a house that was far too big for its own good. He was clearly not the type of person who regularly saw social functions, and he was quite obviously not the type of person to ask to accomplish anything at a social function. He had been seriously considering skipping the majority of dinner, but apparently fate had other plans in store for him, and she clearly intended to bring him along kicking and dragging along the way. That much was obvious the moment he heard a loud, unfriendly conversation ahead of him.

Things were made even more clear when a woman ran past him as he approached the dining room, and he could tell that she was about to cry, the tears welling up in her eyes even as she ran. Stepping around the corner only served to reveal the identity of the man that had reduced her to such a state, a man that Guy recognised from his research into the Nimes family. Jeremy Nimes, the son of the old man Julian Nimes, the son considered too dangerous to become the heir. He was not alone either, with the coach driver Harold Watts and an unknown young man behind him. The unknown man was wearing sunglasses, Guy noted as he looked up, indoors.

"What are you looking at?" Jeremy Nimes snapped as Guy glanced somewhat uninterestedly at the trio. It was a direct challenge to Guy Kurogane, and while he was not foolish enough to respond to every challenge in kind, he was not the sort of person who backed down from this sort of thing. Besides, there was no harm in poking at Jeremy Nimes a bit, just the find out why it was that he had been considered too dangerous for the inheritance.

"A married man who still makes women cry, a smirking old man that has no idea what he's getting into, and somebody who hasn't realised why sunglasses are called sunglasses. At least, that's what I think I'm looking at. Why don't you enlighten me, Jeremy Nimes?" Guy looked up and flashed his own smirk at the three of them before continuing on his way, having provoked the men enough. They were probably fairly infantile as insults, but they were the sort of thing that Guy worked with all the time, with straightforward words that were always invariably true.


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## Zoidberg (Jun 30, 2010)

"Just some paperwork, Whitmore." I said, winking. "And what are you doing here?"

Ah yes, there goes by reputation as a HERO OF NEG work its magic. Though in my job discretion is the key, a great reputation can break through mistrust and redtape much easier than cash could.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 30, 2010)

Once Georgio got to the dining room, he noticed two Nazzadi at the double-door entrace. One was Zory and the other had a nametag identifying him as Mala. Georgio recalled that Mala was adopted with Zory, but Georgio paid little attention to him. 

Zory was a lot more composed than she was when Georgio last saw her. She acted natural as she explained that it was a buffet with open seating. Ending on a completely professional note, she told him to seek either her or Mala, should he need assistance. Although, Georgio doubted he'd need any assistance eating.

First thing Georgio did, head for the food. Now Georgio knew the importance of a healthy diet, so when he saw pizza, he made sure to grab half the pie. Along with that, he stacked fried chicken and French fries on top of the plate. 

Georgio was pretty sure this would be all he needed, so he started looking for a place to sit. There weren't that many people here yet, though Georgio almost instantly noticed the dark-haired woman he had meant to talk to at the station. 

Well, he knew he'd see her eventually. Georgio decided to bring himself over to her table, and strike up a conversation with this beauty. "Hello, how are you doing Ms...?" He asked her as he sat down in a chair on the other side of the table.


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## Zoidberg (Jun 30, 2010)

So it's not just me who thinks this criminal's hiding something. Good, it'll help me get back-up quicker. "I get your point man, but we can't just point fingers and wait for them to snap. Now then, I heard from a very reliable source that they have pie..."


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 30, 2010)

"No, I wouldn't understand, Mister Watts. Because both my parents died twenty years ago and Mister Nimes probably farts more money in a day than they managed to get from their lives' work. That said, I'm not offended, so don't worry about that." What Guy left unsaid was that if he had really felt offended, if Jeremy Nimes had truly insulted him in some great and unforgivable way that Guy could not simply laugh off, the man would not have been able to walk away with all four limbs intact. Military men were quick to action after all, and angering them was hardly conducive to a long life. It was a good thing they spent most of their time with other military men, or any image of upstanding individuals with infinite discipline and ability would have been shattered long ago.

"As for your proposition... It depends on what you have to offer, doesn't it?" He was looking at the man in the sunglasses as he said that, nodding just slightly. He did not trust any of them, if only because none of them had done anything to earn his trust, but if he wanted a clearer picture of what was going on in this house, he would need to hear the stories of as many people as possible. That included Jeremy Nimes' side of the story, and that of the man in the sunglasses. He doubted that they would have anything to offer him, as he was not here with any intention of returning a rich man, but it could not hurt to listen.

On the other hand, Jeremy Nimes had stormed off, so it was unlikely that he would be figuring out why he had been considered too dangerous soon, and he did rather need to get to the dining hall. Of course, there was only one exit from it and Guy could see when anyone was moving in or out, so it was not a major problem just yet. Assuming Natasha Isse was still at dinner, Guy would know when she was about to leave.


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## Damaris (Jun 30, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

She'd been glaring at the wine bottle, which refused to become something worth drinking no matter how she stared, when someone sat at her table. Natasha looked up, expecting to see Jeremy prepared to bother her about whatever plot he was festering over--and a small part of her hoped that maybe the girl from earlier had caught back up; what _interesting _ talks the two of them could have--but it was just a man. A boy really, on second glance. He was definitely younger than her. She was getting old these days. She should really get around to inventing something about that, but it'd take too long. Biochemistry wasn't her thing. 

"I'm fine," Natasha said, splashing wine into a cup that was far too large to be designed for drinking. "Nimes really let in the kids, huh? That girl, and now you. Maybe he's test-running a daycare instead of dying. You're probably too young to drink, aren't you? Good, that means I get this whole bottle. Don't buy cheap wine when you're older, no one will like you." Natasha drained the cup, frowning as she put it down on the table. "That tastes awful." 

Er, what had he asked her again? "I'm Natasha Isse. You can call me Natasha. And who are you? Hopefully not the kid of someone I've slept with. Or outbid on a contract. I don't know which option is worse."


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## skiboydoggy (Jun 30, 2010)

"I'll take care of them if they ever become a problem, but like I said, what do you have to offer for it? In any case, I'll keep it in mind." Guy said somewhat dismissively as he left Harold Watts behind, heading into the dining room. He had no intention of being used as a weapon by anybody, certainly not a man too bitter to think that it was not his birthright to inherit more money than anybody knew what to do with. He would kill the Nazzadi if it ever came down to that, and if it ever became a choice between his own life or that of the servants, then they would become corpses before they ever got that chance. It was not egotism that made him think like it, but simple observation. There was nobody in this house that could fight him and win, that was cast iron fact.

Entering the dining hall, Guy suddenly felt like his suit was heavier than any equipment that he had ever carried, even though all it held was the items in his envelop, the card, note, and pendant that altogether would have weighed next to nothing. It was just that he was a fish out of water in a function like this, and as his eyes roamed the room, he picked out the one familiar face in it and headed towards it, the few words he had shared with her being more than enough to assure him that he was safer with her than alone. Besides, distracting Natasha Isse had also been the request that Bianca had sent him, and there was no reason not to help her with that much, even if it seemed as though she had no intention of leaving the dining hall in any state of sobriety for a long time.

"Natasha. Am I interrupting?" Guy tried to sound as confident as possible as he said this, though it was probably a failure. His idea of a dinner was cooking ration packs on a mech's engine or the nonsense they served at the base's canteen. (The former was tastier.) This was not it.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jun 30, 2010)

"Oh? I look that young to you? I'll take that as a complement." Georgio didn't care much for that condescending tone, but he understood, age meant something to certain people. Rarely were those people interesting.

"My name's Michael Irving, but I don't fall under either of those categories. I'm neither rich enough to even start a bid on any contract, nor do I come from such shameless parents." Georgio paused so that he could eat a piece of chicken before continuing. "Really I'm just a boring guy looking for something interesting."

Georgio stood up so he could easily reach the wine before sitting back down. Once he was settled again, he began to pour the wine into his cup, which was much smaller than the one Natasha had with her. He took a sip after he helped himself to a bit more of his food. "I wouldn't mind if it were a bit sweeter, but it's still a fine drink." 

Georgio knew that this kind of wine must be expensive, at least to anyone with a moderate budget. Georgio didn't know much about her, but it was safe to assume she had a good deal of money. 

"Natasha. Am I interuppting?" It seemed that an acquaintance of Natasha had made his way over. The man did not seem to have much social grace, even with those few words and the way he carried himself, Georgio could tell he was not the kind of person who belonged here. 

"Oh no, feel free to take a seat, we've practically got an entire table." Georgio was the first to reply, taking the polite route. Crude was a word that came to Georgio's mind whenever he looked at this new guest. However, Georgio himself was not one to think lowly of a man with shortcomings. "My name is Michael Irving, nice to meet you."


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## Damaris (Jul 1, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

Was that an insult? Clumsy for a backhand, but she appreciated the effort regardless. People who didn't take her bullshit were the _best_ kind of people. It was a pity she had so few of them for clients. Michael Irving? She'd never heard of him, but made a mental note to research him on her PCPU after dinner. If he warranted an invitation to Nimes little charade, he had to be important; just like that girl was, no matter what kind of game she was playing. "It wouldn't be a matter of your parents being shameless, trust me."

But before she could push the matter forward, the soldier from the station appeared. _Perfect. _ She didn't even have to find him. Just let Jeremy see her with him, and she'd have insurance in his little plan, regardless of whether she decided to go through with helping him. Natasha had to admit though, that he didn't look like the stoic man from before. Stuffed into a suit that fit very nicely over his shoulders, he still managed to look as pained as if someone were pouring the best quality gin in the world down the drain. Or maybe that was just Natasha's private nightmare. No matter.

"You're interrupting nothing, dear Guy," she said, poking a piece of steak with her fork. It oozed a suspicious red-colored liquid and Natasha pushed it to the other side of the plate. She liked her meat charred. "But can I ask what you've been up to? I looked for you after we all got settled in, but I only ran into the strangest little girl instead."


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 2, 2010)

"That's good." Guy relaxed a bit as he took a seat, slightly less uncomfortable now that he was in the company of somebody he at least knew the name of. Dealing with people was just not what he was good at, and there was nothing to do in this room except deal with people. He was much better at dealing with bugs, though he would draw the line at fighting a Spider alone, that was just too frightening to think about. He would probably just have called room service or whatever was the equivalent and just came down for the announcement of whatever it was that the old man wanted to announce, but he had been asked to do something here before he could even think of that as a viable alternative. "Guy Kurogane, nice to meet you too."

"I've been looking through my room, needing beers really badly, trying to figure out what the hell's going on... Things like that." He turned to Natasha, answering her question as truthfully as he could without revealing everything in the middle of the dining hall. The strangest little girl Natasha was talking about was probably Bianca. She was no doubt a strange one, and it would certainly explain why he had been asked to distract Natasha if the two had met and Bianca had decided she needed to snoop around. "Now then. Excuse me, but I'm going to get my food."

It was a buffet dinner, so that made things slightly easier for Guy. He could at least update Bianca on the situation whenever he went to get his food and was out of sight of Natasha and the boy she was talking to. So he left the table briefly, heading for the food and sending Bianca a quick message confirming that he had made contact with Natasha Isse. He then took it as a good opportunity to stock up on meat, since there was always too little of that at base and even less of that in their rations. He moved quickly and returned to the table quickly, sitting himself back down with a plate full of food much more comfortable than before. At least he could now distract himself by eating.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 2, 2010)

Georgio took this quiet moment as an opportunity to eat some of the food he had placed in front of him. Perhaps it was because he picked pretty standard foods, but nothing tasted any different than what he would expect. The pizza tasted like pizza, the fries tasted like fries, and the chicken tasted like chicken. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to be different about the foods, but he definitely didn't think it would all taste so normal.

Natasha's acquaintance, Guy, had returned to the table after a few minutes, with a stacked plate of food. Georgio decided that now was as good a time as any to ask them about Mr. Nimes, and see if they knew anything about this inheritance deal. 

But before he could get around to it, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw the other Nazzadi, Mala, who was typing something up on his PCPU. Once Mala finished, he showed the screen of his PCPU to Georgio, so Georgio could read what had been typed up.

'If you'll please, Mr. Irving, could you come with me? Mr. Nimes wishes to speak with you privately.' 

Well, it looks like Georgio will be able to get a few of his questions answered directly. He knew he'd be called over eventually, and he was looking forward to knowing the reasons he was called here to begin with.

"Yeah, alright Mala." Georgio's plate was practically empty by now, and once he finished the last bit of wine from his glass, he stood up out of his chair. "It was nice meeting you two." Georgio followed behind Mala as he led him away from the table.

Once out of the dining room, Mala led Georgio over to a large staircase. There was something Georgio didn't get though. Zory made it pretty clear that she was Mr. Nimes' right hand, and yet she wasn't the one leading Georgio over. She didn't seem embarrassed anymore when he saw her at the entrance, maybe she's just busy?

Georgio had soon entered a new section of the mansion, this one much more beautifully decorated than any other area. Potraits covered the wall, and although Georgio had little appreciation for this kind of art, even he needed to admit that it all looked magnificent. One potrait in particular, reached from the ceiling down to the floor, it represented some kind of card game, not that Georgio could understand it based off of that painting alone. There was another thing he noticed though, the playing card of the jester was present on that portrait. Georgio didn't know what to make of it now, but he would remember that little tidbit for later.

"Mr. Nimes' quarters are through here, along with his personal Library. Please do not come here without an invitation from him and either myself or Zory accompanying you," Mala typed, Georgio was beginning to wonder if Mala was mute.

Suddenly, Georgio noticed a flash of dirty white in the peripherals of his vision. He managed to turn his head in time to notice a familiar fat forked tail disappear into a room with an open door. It didn't look like Mala saw it, or if he did, he ignored it and just continued to make his way towards a door. The door was opened with a cardkey, and Mala waited for Georgio to enter.

"You know, I think this mansion has a rat infestation." Georgio mentioned offhandedly to Mala, as he entered the open door.

Mala's brows furrow. "A rat infestation? I have seen no such signs of such a thing. I will investigate, however." Georgio didn't think he was very convinced.

Still, he left and closed the door behind him, and once he had gone Georgio realized that there was music playing. Not any kind of music Georgio would listen to, but it was kind of nice. The lights in the room were changing in color as well. It was a little distracting. 

Georgio's attention was taken to a new location once he heard the sudden snapping of a book. A few yards away, an old man was standing with the aid of a cane. The book he had just closed was put off to the side. The man looked up at Georgio and smiled. It was Julian Nimes.

"Now, young man, I think you have some explaining to do. Who are you? And don't say Michael Irving - I know him very well, and you are not him. Twenty years too young, for a start."

Well, he was caught, Georgio could not try to pretend with this man. After all, lying to someone's face when they knew the right answer was simply foolish. He could try to justify himself though.

"There isn't much to explain though, is there? I'm Georgio Brando, not Michael Irving, but didn't you know that when you sent the invititation? You let me in as soon as I got here, and inside the envelope, you had wrote note and it was talking about me wasn't it?"


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## Chaos (Jul 2, 2010)

*Barafu, Outside the Broken Arm*

The nightclub wasn't a pretty sight to behold. And that was the stuff that could still be properly identified as a nightclub. The booze had flown wildly this night, Barafu decided, managing a small smile as he looked at the pools of strong drinks, now mixed with a thick red substance known as blood. Police always did such a messy job. Barafu turned away in disgust to see Sergeant Kaufmann beckoning him.

He knew the Sergeant from his NEG-days, and had been on a sort of friendly basis with him. The kind of friendship which involves graciously leaving bloated bodies for the other and leaving the some more subtle magic traps around an area intact for the other's unit to amuse themselves with. The man also had a sincere dislike of everything cult-related. Maybe dislike wasn't the right word. Hate would be better put. Barafu walked to the Sergeant, who explained their situation.

"Screamers eh? I hate those worst. They always hurt your ears while trying to talk..." Barafu gave the Sergeant a quick nod of acknowledgement and stepped past him, going for the Alcatraz-wagon. Another day, another interrogation. Most of the memories involving these had lumped together as one huge block of screaming persons and a violent throb in his own head. Ah, so be it. The trooper at the wagon nodded to him, acknowledging that he could go inside. Barafu quickly thanked the guy and opened one of the doors. A chorus of screams erupted once he stepped inside. "Fucking assholes" He mumbled.

The screams had died down a bit, with Barafu just watching the people inside. Four men, three woman, and all of them shouting insults, curses and other occult shit at him. It was always his favorite part of the day. He slowly reached for his pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. He took one out, put it in his mouth and lit it. The red glowing head of the cigarette glowed brightly in the semi-dark van as Barafu sat down. "Every single one of you is a failure" The restrained man in front of him glared deadly. It had become silent in the van.

"We're no failures! _He_ will come and kill you!" A woman with a most wild look in her eyes in the back of the van had spoken up. Barafu smiled. He had found the highest rank of this group, without even activating telepathy. He was happy most cultists were to fanatic to be able to shut their mouths at stuff like that. "Is that so?" Barafu stood up and faced the woman, giving her a smile that showed he was certain he would complete his task, and do it easily. The woman spat in front of him. Barafu smiled as he drew another big haul of his cigarette.

The woman collapsed, as far as the ropes allowed her too. She started screaming again, but this time, it wasn't praise to him. It was a scream of pain. A stream of images started to pass trough Barafu's head, the mere quantity making it pound. His arms shook a bit, but not too much. He could take another haul of his cigarette as he calmed his mind and started searching trough the images. The screams had erupted all around him again, but he blocked them out. _Your leaders and the remains, woman..._ Barafu gritted his teeth.


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## Zoidberg (Jul 2, 2010)

Eventually some Nazzadi approached me and Carl here, informing us of a buffet.  

I went ahead of mr. policeman when I heard about pie. They were right, there was pie.

After taking a couple slices for myself I looked around the premises, trying to see if there's anyone I knew here.


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## Damaris (Jul 2, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

The kid, Michael, got called away to meet Nimes, but Natasha was too distracted to be very jealous. As Guy went up and browsed through the buffet, she finished off the wine in her glass and pushed the bottle to the side. She needed to focus. Jeremy was obviously working against his father, and he'd brought at least some of the non Nazzadi servants and a sorcerer into the mix. Not a faction to be dismissed, despite the personal repulsion the man inspired in her. Among the other guests was that girl, someone to be considered a threat on the level of Jeremy, if only because Natasha knew nothing about her. Michael Irving seemed like a non-factor so far, but she could surely find a use for him. The soldier, Guy Kurogane; interesting. Mentally she knew he'd be no match for her, but physically she might find a way to use him to her advantage. His soldier's training would make him a match for even the Nazzadi. She had to find a way to convince him she was on his side. And all of this was just considering the situation without what Nimes himself was up to. Precious gems, tarot cards, cryptic notes--it might be _fun._

As Guy sat down, Natasha decided to probe him for information, wondering what facade she should choose. Engineering skill alone hadn't gotten her to where she was. Clients were quick to underestimate a pretty face, and it was _interesting _ how amicable people could become if you suggested that dinner could easily become something more; more than a few tabloids had labeled Natasha the highest-paid slut in the world. She didn't really care; if people were foolish enough to let sex be used against them, then she would wield it like any other weapon. 

"Have you talked to any of our other comrades?" Natasha asked once Guy looked like he'd settled in with his food. "Surely there must be some interesting people here, with Nimes reputation. Sadly, I've only really talked with his son and the girl I mentioned before. And you, at the station before." There. A little innocence, a shy smile--the subtle charm was often the strongest.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 3, 2010)

"Comrades?" It was an odd choice of words, and it brought to mind rows upon rows of peasants disciplined by years of abuse and propaganda. It was not like the world was a much happier place now than it was a hundred years ago, not in any way that Guy could imagine, but as far as terms went it still felt dated. Dated, but admittedly powerful. Comrades were people who would lay down their lives for each other, or at least were unflinchingly loyal to the cause that they shared. Perhaps it was Natasha trying to make him trust her, trust that she was a comrade to him and everyone else. Perhaps she was just drunk. Perhaps he was over-thinking things. "I've met a few of them."

Then there was the way she was talking, her expression, everything. It was probably because her was nervous, because he had just had too many drinks a while ago, or perhaps because Guy could take in every detail of her every action that she had down pat, but he was far more affected by her now than he was at the station. It was no doubt an act, she was not innocent nor was she shy, but it ran a chill down his spine regardless. He was being taken in by her, he knew that much, but he could not decipher why she would want to do such a thing, and so somewhere in the back of his mind he did not want to accept that it was a lie. He was being stupid, sure, but perhaps it would be fun to go along with that stupidity once in a while.

"It looks like we've been meeting the same people then. I had a little encounter with Jeremy, met a few of the servants, and talked to the girl. Socialising really isn't my forte." Wondering briefly if he should have excluded Bianca from his list, Guy decided that he would probably have failed at trying to get across even such minor dishonesties successfully that it was not worth the try. In any case, it was not like Natasha knowing that Guy himself knew Bianca was going to hurt any of them, unless something utterly ridiculous happened. He then turned back to his food and wondered if he should have gotten another drink. Wine was not his thing, too classy.


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## Damaris (Jul 3, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

He'd talked with Jeremy. That was something new. She'd expected the man's prejudice to those not of his social class to blind him, but if he was expanding outwards...he either had a lot of faith in his plan, or very little. Her hands moved mechanically, slicing off a piece of steak by rote, and she chewed it as she considered her response to Guy. Maybe a half-truth would be the best.

"I'm worried about Jeremy," she admitted once she'd swallowed the steak. Her throat practically burned for just a sip of the wine, but she ignored it. Afterwards, once she'd set the foundations. "I haven't talked to him much before coming here--he was a businessman, but we dealt in different areas. I do know that he built himself on his father's name. I'm worried about what actions he might take. This must be hard for him, seeing all these people gathered in his house to take the money he must think is his. I'm worried he'll do something drastic."

She looked up at Guy through her eyelashes, resisting the urge to flutter them. _That_ would be overdoing it. "When I talked to him before dinner, he mentioned plans of his...I don't know what to do. There's not really an authority here to go to."


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## Zoidberg (Jul 3, 2010)

Well this is unproducting. It's been hours since I got here, and I still haven't seen anything that'll damn Nimes. Though I have to say the pie is really good, the best I've had in years. 

But still, things were getting more and more mundane as time passed. A few snobbish rich punks here, a couple of dirty-looking dudes there, and the occasional ineffectual hero worshipper who asked for my autograph. Whitmore and I exchanged stories with each other to pass the time, until of course he went off somewhere, having sniffed something bad apparently.

I had no idea what that was though. There hasn't been anything peculiar that's happened for a while, only a harmless young man serving wine. He seems to have been insulted by what he percieved as a snub from Whitmore. I kinda feel sorry for the kid, to be honest. 

"Ah, don't worry about it kid." I patted him on the back while I picked up a glass for myself. I prefer merlot actually, but France's vinyards haven't been the same since the battle of Calais. At least we took out half of those damn fishmen's mechs in western europe, though both the Amsterdam and Luxembourg arcologies were almost overrun. "So how long have you worked for old Nimes?"


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 3, 2010)

"Jeremy Nimes..." Natasha was right to be worried about him. After all, he was the one who had asked Guy to kill for him via his butler. Guy had no intention of aggressively pursuing Julian Nimes' 'rabid pet dogs', so it was too bad for Jeremy in this case. Of course, looking at it the other way, no matter how twisted and dangerous Jeremy Nimes' plans were, if he needed to approach a relatively unknown element to take down the threats to his schemes, then perhaps there was very little to actually be worried about. No amount of brains could eliminate the need for muscle, and not even the greatest player in the world could manage anything if the hand was terrible. "Well, he will try something drastic eventually. That's just how the sons of rich men are, if you deny them anything."

The way Natasha looked at him now was almost pleading, and his brief interactions with her told Guy that she was far too strong a woman for that. In that case, it was completely an act meant for an audience of one, and if she wanted to string him along, Guy figured he would take the bait just to see how deep the rabbit hole went. Besides, the question she raised was valid, even if it seemed to be more to stroke his ego than anything. There were no authorities here, no police presence he could see in such a large gathering, and anything stronger than the police would bring in stronger action, and were not adverse to razing the house and killing everyone in it just to make sure everything was perfectly safe.

"This kind of intrigue is outside my scope of duty, but I do have my rank to work with. If you need anything, just ask me. I'll see what I can do to help. I'll give you my PCPU number, so why don't you give me a way to contact you?" Bianca had wanted Natasha's number too, and this was as good a chance as any to ask for it. Although truth be told, his rank itself hardly meant anything here. What he did have to work with were the perks his rank gave him, such as his guns and knives, and his ability to get away with killing almost anyone as long as he had a reason and felt like doing the necessary paperwork. Not that Natasha needed to know that just yet. He was not lying either.


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## Damaris (Jul 3, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

She wasn't sure if Guy had completely bought the act, but his offer to help was good enough for her purposes. He seemed like one of the soldier-types who took himself very seriously; the type who wouldn't turn down a plea for help, or back out of one of his promises. That could be a very exciting potential route. When the time came, of course. No need in rushing things. She shook her head at his offer to exchange PCPU numbers. The only one she had on her now was her personal one, and as guileless as Guy seemed, she couldn't just hand it out to anyone. She should have thought to have brought her business one--but then she wouldn't have had room for this dress, she thought with a wry smile.

"My room number is 12," she said, eying the remains of the steak on her plate. Had she really eaten that? Natasha took another bite, ignoring the raw taste as she thought of what to say next. "If you need me, I'll probably be there. But I have another question. Did you receive a note or card from Nimes? I got a lovely ocean quote that's either a poke at my drinking or something else entirely." The sapphire didn't need to be mentioned yet, though Natasha could still see the glittering blue gem perfectly in her mind's eye. Healing properties--what game was he playing with her?


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 3, 2010)

"Huh. That works I guess. I'm in room 23. I should be there most of the time, not much one for socialising." Not having any PCPU number was slightly problematic, but that was hardly his main goal here anyway. He was supposed to distract Natasha Isse while Bianca snooped around looking for whatever she was supposed to be looking for, which was looking to be easier than he expected. Natasha distracted herself with the food and drink up for grabs, and she would probably have found somebody to talk to even if he was not there. In any case, it did not really matter as long as he had a way to contact her, and she trusted him enough to seek him out if there were any major problems. It was not even a problem of her believing in his honesty in this case, he was just the best fighter in the house, and even if he was thought of as dumb muscle, he was the best dumb muscle she would be able to get. She was going to need him if things went awry, and that secured their working relationship.

"I got a note too, but I can't figure it out for the life of me. I'm just assuming it means to have a torchlight at all times and watch out for scary dogs." Guy shrugged when Natasha brought up the note. He doubted that what she had received was really a poke at her drinking, for though he had only seen his own note so far, it appeared to be more like a piece of advice than a rib at any of his habits. The item that better defined the recipient was almost certainly the card they all got, and he had Bianca's card to back him up too. Although now that he said it out loud, the contents of the note seemed to resonate with something he had heard not long ago.

_Beware the hounds_, because what was more frightening than a pair of killer rabid pet dogs?

If he had food in his mouth, he would have spat it out in surprise, but he did not, so he contented himself with scanning the room for Zory and Mala, noting that neither of them were there. Mala had led Micheal Irving away, and Zory had just slunk out somewhere silently like servants were apparently supposed to. Although somehow, he doubted if Julian Nimes would have wanted to put people on guard against his own servants. Not like it mattered, there were no people in this house that had the ability to kill him, so perhaps it was best if he concentrated on other parts of the riddle.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 3, 2010)

Well, not only would Georgio get to stay as Michael Irving, but he got to ask Mr. Nimes three questions. Pretty good deal. Of course, there were two questions that he just needed to ask.

"If you had to quantify it, how many terranotes would you say your inheritance is worth?" It wasn’t the most productive question. Georgio already knew it was more than whatever his mom had. Still, he told himself that it would help him quantify just how much money he could bring home when this was all done with. If he thought about it that way, it seemed like a perfectly fair question.

"How important are those two Nazzadi to you?" Mr. Nimes did say that he could do things however he wanted, but those kinds of statements had the occasional exception. Georgio wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t run into something like this. Considering he was already somewhat of an influence with the both of them. Plus, he was a little curious to see if Mr. Nimes was actually proud of the two of them.

Georgio wanted to ask about the monster rat that he had seen around the area, but he didn’t think it would matter. There was nothing keeping Mr. Nimes from lying and Georgio was pretty sure that Mala had ignored the rat on purpose. Besides, knowing that there was a monster that belonged to Mr. Nimes wouldn’t help him at all, so Georgio started thinking of his next question.

"And lastly, what’s the point of the strange language you had written on my note?" This was the most difficult question to think of, the other ones were little more than sudden impulses, but Georgio thought that the strange language could be connected. Yeah, it was probably a good question to ask.


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## Damaris (Jul 3, 2010)

*Natasha Isse* 

He didn't know anymore than her, maybe even less. This conversation had been slightly helpful, but as Guy rambled on about his note, Natasha could tell she had learned everything she could from him--for now, at least. He still might be holding something back, but even if that was true, she wouldn't find out anything new. That part of their talk had passed. 

"Well I'm sure that Julian keeps his house well-lit," she said, crumpling up the napkin on her lap and placing it on the table. "There'll be no need for torches. This has been a lovely dinner with you, but I need to go back to my room. I've got a few designs to send off to some engineers at Isse Inc." She pushed her plate to the side--one of the servants would take it up for her, and on second thought, grabbed the bottle of wine. She'd pay Julian back if he really pressed the issue, but a drink in her room while she worked on a few throwaway designs before venturing back out and exploring the mansion sounded like heaven.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 4, 2010)

"Ha! A fair question." Nimes leant back in his chair, and steepled his fingers. "Well, now, if I had to guess..." Nimes drawled. "Thirty Million Tn overall. So, so long as you have two cards and jewels, that's around... Two and a half million Tn, not counting the value of the jewels themselves. As for Zory and Mala..." he paused for a moment.

Thirty million! Did Georgio hear that correctly? Thirty million Terranotes, he was going to ask if he had even heard that correctly. He didn't need to though, once he heard that only two cards and jewels would be worth two and a half million. He could retire at seventeen with that kind of money. Georgio considered checking his mouth for drool. What a saint! This man was dangling such a valuable prize right in front of him.

"They're like my children. They're priceless to me, but we all have to let go of them in the end. You're too young to understand, but you will someday. In the meantime..." he reached to the side of his chair and pulled up a familiar-looking envelope. "Give this to Zory, the next time you see her." It's pretty clear that it was the same kind of envelope that Georgio had received, based on the weight. "For all their years of loyal service, it's only fair they be allowed to play, don't you agree?"

Georgio zoned out, still thinking about money, retirement, and the high life. He missed almost everything Mr. Nimes told him until he got the envelope in his hands, which brought him back to reality. Was he actually being given another envelope in his hands? This was the same as being given two and a half million terranotes. Mr. Nimes was really testing him, giving him an envelope to pass along. Most people wouldn't, most people would end it right there, and ask for that minimum. Georgio was different, Georgio was more ambitious. He would not be satisfied with the minimum amount.

"Finally, 'the language'." He regained his hollow smile. "When I was a child, the Elder Languages were things of wonder - languages that predated all but the eldest human civilizations, that we made up as much as discovered. It's a shame youngsters don't hold them in the same regard my generation did, which is why I used this particular one. It is... fitting, as you'd know if you spoke it. After all, _Lho Choraem Hieram_. Now, that's your three questions. Mala will escort you back to dinner. Enjoy the rest of the night, Michael Irving."

What Georgio thought would be his most useful question ended up being almost completely pointless, it didn't have a big hint or an helpful clue. The other questions yielded much more interesting results.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to Mr. Nimes, I hope you enjoy what's to come." Georgio flashed a smile before opening the door, and looking for Mala to escort him back.


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## Chaos (Jul 4, 2010)

*Barafu, Outside the 'Broken Arm'*

Barafu stepped outside the Alcatraz-Wagon. The images had been crystal clear, just like he liked them best. He was glad this wasn't one of those drug-induced cults, the wavey images their memories supplied always made him nauseous. What he had seen had been equally disturbing and vague though. The leader seemed to be a Nazzadi woman who thought of herself as a canvas for people with needles and just loved the feeling of metal trough her flesh. Also, there had been executions. This cult was the real thing.

The woman... Solomy, had she been called? Also was kind of familiar. He vaguely recalled the name from an earlier case. She had been a huge cult leader that suddenly disappeared. She also had more then a little magic around herself. The way the woman in the images had looked, the direction she had looked... She hadn't been watching the woman who's memories it were. She had been watching him. 

Barafu shook the thought away. There was no way that could actually be. It had been a memory of some time ago. The cultist leader might have known that they would be attacked, but there would be no way in hell she'd surmise who'd survive, denote herself as leader and then do some strange trick that made her peer _trough_ the eyes in the memories of this woman. It was just his mind playing tricks.

He approached Sergeant Kaufmann again, with a little nod denoting that he was done. "Leader is a Nazzadi woman, Solomy. Name sparks a memory, please look into it" he glared at the Sergeant "Also, you have a mole in your system. They knew they'd be attacked. I advise you to track this person down." 

He sank back in thoughts about the other two 'semi-leaders'. Executor was clearly your hardcore thug. Every slightly larger cult had one of these, doing the dirty jobs and keeping any cultists who started developing different ideas in line. Also a bodyguard to the leader and in this case, holder of the remains. Because of course, there was no doubt what these "Ashes of the Founder" were. The liche remains he was looking for. 

The other captain was an enigma to him though. A woman (well, more of a girl) that looked frail enough to be broken by just jumping up and landing on her feet again, a huge tattoo on her face... On the first sight it was strange that someone like her had a high ranking within this obviously serious cult. She must be some kind of para-psychic or sorcerer, Barafu concluded in his head. So there was a mastermind, a smasher and a hexer. A strong set-up.

Barafu lit a new cigarette, then turned back to the Sergeant, who had obviously been waiting for more information. "Lho Choraem Hieram, Sergeant. I need some language guy now" The main thing that annoyed Barafu was that he had no idea where to start looking for clues where the leaders had gone. He could easily 'persuade' some contacts to share their information, but he had to know which contacts. The night club itself would probably be the best place to start. "Don't start cleaning up that mess before I've taken a look inside" He remarked offhandedly, taking another long draft of his cigarette.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 4, 2010)

It was very clear that Guy was the wrong person to send for such a job now. He was completely failing to hold up Natasha beyond how far she wanted to be held up. He considered several different ways he could distract her further, one of which was enticing her with the possibility of wine, and the other was more physical in nature. Unfortunately, either option was closed to him the instant he saw Zory heading for him out of the corner of his eye. The Nazzadi were no threat to him, as long as he recognised that they would be threats the moment he let his guard down around them. Not even the greatest fighter could do anything if he was too preoccupied to raise his hand against those who would seek to harm him after all.

"I'll see you in a bit then." Guy sent Natasha off as he turned to the Nazzadi servant, reaching for the knives that he still had strapped to his thigh. He knew that he was being paranoid, but he could not help it. In a place like this, he could not expect mercy or backup, and all he had to work with were his own two fists and any weapons he could carry. He could tell that Zory was a well trained fighter from the way she was built. It was one of the more useful things about the Nazzadis' lack of nudity taboo. If he let his guard down and she was truly an enemy as Harold Watts had said, he would die. If he kept his guard, there was nothing in this house that could kill him. It was a simple choice to make in that case.

"Mr. Nimes would like to see you, sir." She said when she reached him, and he relaxed just a bit. He was being silly. She would not do anything to him in such a public area, and he would be able to sense any sudden moves from her in any place with less people. It was one of the gifts years of surviving the battlefield had given him. He was preternaturally capable of instinctively moving out of the way of danger, in a manner that some said was inhuman. It even translated to his ability in his Broadsword, and that was the reason why Guy had been the only one to survive that day, even as his support crew was ripped apart by the Migou. It had not mattered that he was right at melee range and they were firing in from far away with their great cannons and artillery, they had still died before him. It was ridiculous, but that was how it was.

"Right then, lead the way." Guy stood up and followed after her, heading to a part of the house that he had not explored yet. He had not seen Julian Nimes in years, and he was not really sure if he wanted to.


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## Watchman (Jul 4, 2010)

*Some time before*:

Bianca hummed a little tune to herself as she kicked off her heavy boots. Much as she liked them, they were not the best thing to wear when she planned to use her less-than-perfectly-legal talents - it certainly wouldn't take a genius to note the bootprints in the plush carpet of their room and connect it to her. So she'd be going around with just her knee-length rainbow-striped socks covering her feet, which suited her just fine.

Whilst everyone else went off to this dinner, she had a perfect opportunity to get the advantage she needed tonight, and Guy should easily be able to remember any message Nimes gave when he made his inevitable appearance and send it to her. Checking her duffel bag, and making sure her card, jewel and pendant were safely tucked away in her pockets, she locked her door behind her and set off down the hallways.

She had one target in particular this night, and though she wasn't exactly sure which room in this house belonged to Natasha Isse, she knew what she should look for. Aside from that, she just had to hope Guy could keep her occupied until she was done.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 4, 2010)

The walk to Julian Nimes' room was largely uneventful, with Guy remaining slightly guarded while Zory left her back open like an invitation to strike. He had no intention of attacking without reason however, and so busied himself with examining the hallways he passed through. The decor was even more ridiculously over the top and fabulous than the rest of the house, which was saying quite something. Amongst others, the portraits along the walls each looked more expensive than the last, though only one really caught Guy's attention. It was a floor to ceiling painting which showed a series of cards much like the one Guy had in his pocket right now, and while he did not have time to catch every detail of the painting, he could see that his Knight was in one of the players' hands, and the Prophet was in the discard pile. Slightly disturbing, and Bianca would probably want to hear about it, but prophecy was not something Guy subscribed strongly to.

When they finally reached the door to the old man's room, Guy was in for another shock. The security measures in place made the locks on his Broadsword look like child's play, and even that needed a password and a biometrics scan before it would start up for him. Julian Nimes was either a very careful or a borderline obsessive paranoid man, and neither was going to help Guy figure out what the hell was going on here any easier. Not many people installed a keycard scanner, a 20 digit code, retina scan, and voice scan on their doors. When every security measure was sufficiently satisfied, only then did the doors open, letting Guy in while Zory remained outside.

Julian Nimes' personal room was just as opulent as Guy had expected, with a gradient lighting system changing the colour of the lights like some kind of disco for the elderly, while classical music played in the background. Guy was just considering getting a similar rig for his Broadsword when the old man stood up with the help of his cane, wobbling forward with an extended hand.

"Guy Kurogane! Of all the people I invited here, I'm glad you could make it. It's been so long since we last talked - how are you?"

"It's been a long time, hasn't it, old man? You didn't need that cane when we last met, as I recall." Guy smiled as he took the hand of Julian Nimes and shook it, unable to be anything but sincerely pleased at seeing him again. Despite how suspicious the whole affair was, Julian Nimes had saved Guy's life all those years ago, and remembered him well enough to invite him to such a grand affair. The oddities of the inheritance ceremony could wait until they had greeted each other at least.


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## Watchman (Jul 4, 2010)

"...Idiots..." Bianca checked the contents of another drawer and added a fifth pendant to her ever-growing collection. How many people had come to their rooms and not even bothered to open their drawers?

She wasn't sure what the purpose of these pendants was, but they had a purpose, and if nothing else, she could use them as bargaining chips later on. Some fools had even left their cards, jewels and notes behind; trusting in the mundane and hopelessly outdated locks of their rooms to protect their valuables, and (after attaching the relevent jewels to the relevent pendants, and tying their strings around the cards) she had added those to her loot as well.

Of course, she didn't stop there. Anything at all that was valuable that was within arm's reach was taken. If these people didn't have the means to keep their possessions from her, then Bianca had no hesitation in replacing them as that item's possessor.

Having scoured this room, she retrieved her various tools, stepped outside and relocked the door. This room was the last of this wing of the mansion, so now came the harder part - getting to another part of the mansion without having anyone else see her.

Harder, but still laughably easy for her, she thought with a smile.


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## Chaos (Jul 4, 2010)

*Barafu, The 'Broken Arm'*

Barafu thanked Kaufmann for his help, then turned to Gabriel. "Nice to meet you, Gabe. Now let's get to work" He decided he'd probe the guy somewhere later. It would be hell to have a mole on his side in an investigation, or some other kind of mishap anyway. He gestured Gabe to follow him and entered the nightclub. "I'm gonna look around a bit, and I want you to do the same. Anything you see that might help would be appreciated"

The place had totally been trashed. There was nothing in in the interior, nothing at all, that was still intact. Aside from the bulletholes throughout the whole place, pools and splatters of blood covered half the night club and there were still quite a few bodies lying around. Fucking cops. Can't even clear a place out without making it necessary to clean it up big time. 

"So, you're quite small for a cop, but you know your shit" Barafu offhandedly remarked to Gabe while disinterested trying to surmise if the body before him was really dead by kicking him in the ribs. The guy rolled over, revealing that the front of his face had been blasted away. Ah, that way. "You said that the sentence could hold different meanings, too. Any of them that might be of interest in this kind of... environment?

He was still kind of puzzled at Solomy's choice of words. The woman she'd said it too had no idea what they'd meant, or he'd have gotten the translation trough as well. It might be some motto, but then he should've gotten more memories of that sentence. He didn't know and for now, didn't care. It wouldn't matter a thing what Solomy had meant when she was lying face down with a neat bullethole between her eyes, preferably from his gun.

He first searched the bodies one by one, looking for anything helpful. He told Gabe to help him out a bit with this, if his "pretty hands" could stand the soil of blood. After that Barafu walked around some more, searching the general area for clues. A new cigarette made it's entrance in this time. "Why the fuck couldn't they be a little more subtle..." It was always the same with NEG police forces. They were so intent on destroying their target that anything of value was blown up along with it. Barafu shrugged and asked Gabriel if he'd found something.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 4, 2010)

"I'll return to the battlefield in time. I owe the world that much." Guy managed to say after a moment of silence. Julian Nimes' words sounded heartfelt, and it was hard for him to deny an old man those feelings. Humanity was not winning the war, and even if it did, it would not be because of the mecha pilots' efforts. If humanity won, it would be because somebody managed to get the Engels' production up by something like four times. All Guy could do was to stand and fight as hard as he could, to deny the bugs every inch of land that he could afford, to push the Rapine Storm as far as he could, to beat the Dagonites back into the sea. To fight those small battles, and in those small battles protect those few hundred people and those small towns that would have been consumed otherwise. Guy had fought since near the start of the war. His experience preceded the appearance of the Rapine Storm even, but in all those years, he had not managed anything. Killing a thousand bugs only brought another two thousand to the line of battle, and it was all he could manage to stem that flood even by just that little bit. Even then, with such a small goal, to win those small battles, everyone but him still died.

"But we won't all grow old, old man. I've seen too many men and women die before their time. It's the kind of thing you see on the battlefield. You should be pleased that you've managed to live this long and live this well. You've probably done a lot more for this world and its people than I have." Guy let Julian Nimes sit down by himself, though he remained standing. He was infinitely grateful to Julian Nimes, and he did not deserve to inherit anything from him when he had not done anything for the old man, only receiving his gift. A gift that granted him life, and the ability to protect the lives of others as a soldier. If there was anyone that deserved to grow old, it was this very man before him. That was what Guy Kurogane truly believed.

"I won't fault you for your games, and I want to believe that you only meant the best, but as far as I can tell it has become something dangerous. You've given us things with words that predate humanity, and though I can't understand any of it, all my experiences with them have been bad. Not only that, by gathering so many greedy men and women under your roof to get at your inheritance, you bring out the worst in many. Your son has asked me to kill your Nazzadi servants for him, because he's afraid of them, did you know that?" Guy sighed, unable to raise his voice at Julian Nimes, seeing him as the old man he was. "I have no idea what is going on, but you gave us riddles, and I can only assume that deciphering these riddles is what will allow us to gain access to your inheritance. Keep the fire close. Beware the hounds, but fear not the dark. What does that even mean?"


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## Watchman (Jul 5, 2010)

Alvaro hmmed as he parked the car in the grounds of the Nimes Mansion, next to the coach. Judging by the lights and the sounds in the house, the festivities were in full swing.

"Good," he said with his accented drawl. "They won't notice me, then." Unpacking his cargo from the trunk of his car, he set off at a brisk jog for a side entrance.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 5, 2010)

Mala was waiting there once Georgio left the room. The Nazzadi didn't seem curious, maybe he knew what was going on, but he just walked off without a word. Georgio could hear something lock, probably Mr. Nimes' room, behind him.

Mala stopped for a bit once they reached the room with the floor-to-wall painting. "I found the rat. If you see any other strange animals, tell me. I will deal with them." He turned to face Georgio, a cold look in his eyes. "I have seen the way Zory looks at you. She is like a sister to me. If you hurt her, I will kill you just as easily as I killed the Feathered Rat." 

The rat wasn't feathered, Georgio definitely would have remembered that. However, it was not something to bring up now that Mala had made a definitive threat against Georgio's life. Nazzadi were always made out to be strong, Georgio had never challenged one, but the rumors sounded plenty dangerous. Georgio did not with to try his luck with one.

"Now, to dinner." Mala continued, as if he hadn't just threatened to kill someone or something. Georgio and Mala kept silent for the rest of the walk. Georgio did not wish to talk with Mala right now, and the feeling was almost assuredly mutual. 

It was disappointing though, when he reached the Dining Room, Natasha and Guy had left the table. Perhaps they had other things to do. Worse still, Zory was not in the area either, so he would not have a chance to try out his secret plan. 

Of course, with those other priorities out of the way, Georgio had another issue to deal with. He needed to do something with the pendant in his room. Georgio grabbed a butter knife, for when he got back to his room, and left the Dining Room. With most things taken care of, Georgio made a beeline back to his room.

Georgio got to his room in no time. There was no one in his way, which made sense since everyone was probably still at dinner or somewhere around there. 

Although, things didn't seem so great when Georgio opened the door to his room. It was the rat, from before.  He was hoping for too much when he thought Mala killed it. Oh, and it was not happy this time. It let out the usual screech and got read to pounce. It's tail slapped against the floor, and it's teeth were bared. 

"Hey, an old friend." Georgio said aloud as he pulled his door shut. Well, now he's got all the time in the world to think. Unless the rat can open doors. Can the rat open doors? It got into Georgio's room, does that mean it can pick locks too? Did Mala bring the rat into his room as a nasty surprise? Man, that dude's a prick. 

"Get it together." Georgio relaxed, he could deal with this rat, he just needed to think about what he had. He had his suit, and his butter knife. Now Georgio could go back and grab a steak knife, and it did seem like the smart thing to do. However, Georgio decided that he would wait outside his room, see if that rat really could open doors. That thing was after him, and if he was going to sleep, he would need to deal with it eventually.

After a few minutes, the rat still had not gotten out of his room. It scratched the door sometimes, and made it's crying sound, but it could not open the door. Although, maybe it was trying to fake out Georgio, it wouldn't be the first time, and that rat must have gotten in there somehow.

Before Georgio pursued his line of thinking any further, he heard someone speak up next to him. "What are you doing?" When Georgio's head turned quickly in response to the new sound, he saw that it was just a teenaged girl. Georgio didn't even notice her before, he must have been really lost in thought. "Are you afraid of it?" It sounded like an innocent question, but Georgio was not going to admit he was scared of a rat. 

"Of course not. It's just an animal, even if it is big, I could take it without issue." Georgio spoked casually and convincingly, as if it were a matter he could easily do. "However, I wouldn't want you to get hurt, little Miss." Hopefully the girl would take the hint and leave him alone so he could deal with the rat.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 5, 2010)

Guy thought about the explanation the old man had given him. The game itself seemed simple enough, though Guy was not particularly excited about stealing the right of others to get their parts of the inheritance but he was not above going around to actually doing it if he found somebody that really pissed him off. Grabbing Jeremy Nimes' card and pendant seemed quite appealing right now. He was rich enough anyway. Although even with the card and gem, that still only formed a map and a key. It still had to be read, and the right key had to be used on the right door. Still, this game had been nothing but riddles, so perhaps it was just Julian Nimes giving them another. He would have asked more about the game, but there were more pressing things on his mind.

"Three questions. First of all, if you didn't write the note, who do you think could have written it?" Guy said as he pulled the note out of his pocket and placed it on the table. That Julian Nimes denied having written it was a genuine shock to him, because it was his game after all. There was nobody else that could have possibly gotten their hands on the envelops except the servants, and the servants did not seem like the cryptic type.

"Second, could you read it and tell me what language it is exactly?" The question was simple. Being able to read the mysterious language was the cornerstone of everything. The contents of the note, and the strange program he had found in his room, they were both of this strange language that Guy could not recognise. If he even knew what it was, and what it was they were trying to say, he could possibly figure out something about what was going on.

"Third. Who is Alice Nimes?" She had been erased from history, and if it was not Julian Nimes who did the erasing, then perhaps there was something he could gain out of all this. Answers, information, they were the things one had to have if they wanted to march into any kind of battle with any hope of coming out the better for it.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 5, 2010)

"Oh? I was going to get rid of it for you, but if you think you can take care of it by yourself, then deal with it, by all means. I'll just stand here and watch." She folded her arms as if to show that she really wouldn't do anything, and then she nodded towards the door, telling Georgio to go for it. 

For some reason, the rat got louder then. It was making it's cries more often and was probably just waiting for Georgio to open that door. Georgio was pretty sure it understood English. That was one clever rat, for sure. 

"I was hoping you'd get out of the way." Georgio said, making slight preparations to open the door. The butter knife was useless, but he could make use of his suit here. Georgio pulled out the two envelopes he carried with him and undid a button in the middle of his dress shirt so he could fit them into the shirt. 

"It should be pretty quick, but watch out now." Georgio said, holding his jacket in one hand, and slowly opening his door with the other hand. As soon as the door was opened just a creak, Georgio kicked it back and grabbed onto his jacket with the other hand. He would definitely catch that annoying rat.

The room was empty. The rat was just gone. Although, there was an envelope on his pillow. Georgio managed to find a third envelope. Did the rat actually manage to put that there was bait? Or was that envelope there before? Georgio didn't notice it when he first opened the door to his room.

"Check under the bed?" The teenage girl suggested, peeking out from under one of Georgio's arms. Of course Georgio wouldn't do that, the rat clearly understood English, and it'd be silly to go for a plan that was already suggested. 

Georgio took a step towards the bed, he was certain he'd be able to dodge the rat, no matter where it came from. However, Georgio thought of something the very instant he stepped past the open door. 

"Why aren't you at the dinner?" Things were starting to fit together in Georgio's head as he asked that question. The pieces did seem to force themselves together, but Georgio's mind jumped at one of the conclusions he had drawn. What if he wasn't the first person to learn out about the game?

The girl shrugged, not giving Georgio much more than that.

"Wasn't hungry, and I don't like wearing formal clothes. If you're not picking up that envelope, though, I will." The girl stepped into the room, unafraid of the hiding rat. She did not even spare a glance for Georgio, but instead looked and moved directly towards the envelope. 

Georgio made it a point to spot the football he had brought with him, it was not too far from him, it sat untouched on a chair.

"Why do you want the envelope?" Georgio was suspicious at this point, if she didn't go to the dinner, there's no way she would have known about the envelope's importance. However, if she did go to dinner, there's no way she could have gotten back over here so quickly. Did she know the rules before hand? That was the only explanation he could think of while under the pressure of a rat attack.

"Isn't it obvious? They're important, or we wouldn't have been given them in the first place. It doesn't take a genius to understand Nimes has something planned. Besides, the cards are nice and the stones are pretty. I'm collecting them." The strange girl answered. She's almost reached the envelope by now, and reaches out a hand to take it. She's going to take the envelope, more importantly, did she say collecting?

If she's collecting them, then she probably has more already. She already has envelopes and she just walked into Georgio's room? Maybe she really isn't aware of their importance, or maybe she thought that Georgio didn't know the rules yet. It wasn't important though, what mattered now was that Georgio could get those envelopes. No shame in stealing from a thief.

"I think they're pretty nice too." Georgio shut the door behind him once he finished speaking. Dropped his jacket to the floor, and made a quick dash to the football in his chair. He would definitely reach the chair before the girl reached his door, even if she ran for it. However, he doubted she'd run for it, she was definitely a little surprised, at least.

She didn't really move, it was surprising. Georgio was expecting her to make some kind of movement, but all she did was scowl. She was actually looking at Georgio now, not at something else, but directly at him.

"That's a bad idea. Just saying," She spoke calmly as she picked up the envelope. "These doors muffle sound. I could scream as loud as I want, and people would barely hear me outside. The same for you. But consider the situation - there's a little girl in your room, who's not scared of the rat-thing, who's not intimidated by you, and who has somehow amassed a collection of cards and jewels that belonged to other people. Is that someone you want to get into a fight with?" She opened the envelope as she went on with her monologue, was she trying to scare Georgio? She removed her gaze from him and began to peer inside the envelope. 

Georgio couldn't intimidate people. His entire life, scaring people was just too difficult a task, it was much easier for Georgio to try and win people over. He wasn't trying to scare the girl here, he was just going to take the envelopes from her, however it needed to happen. 

"I'm a nice guy, so you know, I'll let you just give me the envelopes and then you can leave peacefully." Georgio stated, making another movement from the chair to the middle of the room. He would wait out either the girl or the rat. Whichever made the first move would take a football to the face at 60 mph and probably wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

The girl gave a soft "hmph," before freezing, and tilting her head to the side. "One person... Nazzadi... female. Someone's coming. Coming here." Well by that description, it was pretty clear the girl was talking about Zory.

The girl turned her attention back to Georgio and pointed to two locations. First to the cupboard, and then under the bed. 

"Rat's in there, I'm hiding under there. Deal with this person without her noticing I'm here, and I'll give you this envelope back." When did she fall into a position to make demands? Georgio didn't need her to give him the envelope back, he could easily take it from her.

But without another word, she dropped herself to the floor and rolled under the bed. After that, Georgio was left alone for a few moments until he heard a light knock at the door. It'd be pretty crazy if the person at the door really was Zory, but for some reason Georgio didn't think he'd be surprised if that turned out to be the case.

Georgio took the two envelopes out of his shirt as he walked back to the door. Placing them both into the jacket he had lying near the door, and carefully moved that jacket a little ways away from the door. It only took a few seconds, but Georgio had taken care of the area fine, still holding the football in his right hand. 

"Hey, who is it?" Georgio asked, which was relatively pointless because he ended up opening the door around the same time, to check who was outside.


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## Watchman (Jul 5, 2010)

Bianca softly tipped the contents of the new envelope out onto the carpet and studied them. She was still no more of a gemologist as the last time she'd seen one of these. It was green and shiny, and that was about the limit of her specialist knowledge. The card this time depicted a man in an feathered cap playing some ancient stringed instrument. Some sort of musician, perhaps? And the message... She frowned, and put that back. It reminded her too much of the message she'd received from her first envelope.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 5, 2010)

The person at the door really was Zory. She gave a small smile when Georgio opened the door. He had not expected Zory to come back over, he thought that he would need to seek her out first. 

"Am I interrupting something?" She asked, changing the small smile on her face to a quizzical look, once she spots the football he was carrying.

"Oh no, nothing really. I'd have gone outside if I really felt like playing around." Georgio replied, he was thinking more about the other girl hiding under his bed now. She had accurately managed to state that Zory would be at his room in a few minutes. He would need to ask her about that when she gives him those envelopes that she collected.

"Would you like to come inside?" Georgio offered, opening the door wider so that Zory could easily make her way through. If Zory was here does that mean the dinner was over? Georgio couldn't help but wonder why she had come to visit. At the same time though, he was just as curious to find out how that little girl knew Zory was coming.

"Sure, I'd love to." Zory stepped inside, but she didn't seem to want to take a seat anywhere, and instead just remained standing. "So...I just wanted to talk, if it's okay with you." Georgio stood tall and quietly stared at Zory, while she was just looking awkwardly at the floor.

"Erm, you mentioned a...midnight visit, earlier." She's blushing, and she's having trouble finishing her sentences. It looked like all that professionalism at the dinner entrance was far from what Zory really thought of Georgio. Georgio figured she must not be around many guys her age, so maybe she never needed to deal with someone like Georgio.

"And so I thought it would be nice if I showed you around. Not the mansion, I mean, but the area. There's a lot here that's special to me, and, erm..." Wow, she must be really troubled, she's barely above a whisper by this point.

"I have a bad feeling something terrible is going to happen tonight. It's stupid, I know, but I have these bad feelings and they've always been right. And right now, it's telling me to not be here tonight. So..." She didn't really finish the sentence after that, but Georgio got the general gist of what she was saying.

"Yeah, I understand Zory. We can leave now, the sooner the better." Georgio wasn't actually sold on the idea of Zory having future telling bad feelings, and he did want to get rid of her quickly in order to collect the envelope from the little girl. However, in this situation he couldn't think of a way to reject Zory without disappointing her. 

Georgio picked up his jacket with the two envelopes in it. "Let me just get one more thing and I'll be ready to go." Georgio knew what the little girl looked like and he would undoubtedly see her later. He was confident he could take the envelopes from that girl at any time. She might even be a good little girl and just leave it in his room for him.

What Georgio did end up grabbing was the PCPU disk and the pendant that his gem fit into, out of the drawers. Placing them both in his pocket, he moved out with Zory. 

Right now, he was more afraid of firing up Mala by hurting Zory's feelings than he was about missing out on a few envelopes. Some little girl was no big deal to Georgio. The Nazzadi that could actually threaten Georgio's life was a lot worse comparatively.


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## Damaris (Jul 5, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

The walk back to her room was quiet enough. No one bothered her about secret schemes to steal away the inheritance, no one wanted idle strands of DNA for sorcerer's rituals. There was just the carpet (an elegant pattern, probably expensive), the walls (bland cream color, probably more expensive than the carpet) and...okay, so maybe it was a little boring. Natasha wouldn't have run screaming from someone offering to draw her into a nefarious plot. Not that she would have ever run screaming anywhere, it was terrible for one's dignity, but that was beside the point.

She unlocked her door and slipped inside. Everything seemed to be in order; except there was something on the bed. Kicking the door shut, she walked over and picked up the envelope. The same weight as the original one she'd received, and shaking out the contents, she saw why. Another gemstone--Amber this time, and she made a mental note to look that up--, another tarot card, and a note. This note at least, she could understand, and Natasha stared at it for a few moments before shaking her head in disbelief. 

"Is this is some sort of life camp? Did I come here to read the sayings someone smuggled out of a bunch of fortune cookies?" She almost crumpled the note before thinking better of it. Instead, the amber and sapphire went inside her suitcase, along with the other two cards, and Natasha laid the notes flat on the room's desk. She might as well get some work done while she was here. The sketches for her proton gun were fascinating enough--they'd enable foot soldiers with no enhancements to blow through mecha like they weren't there--she couldn't focus on them. Her mind kept skipping back to the notes. _I'm a fucking broken record,_ she thought with no small measure of spite, and laid her head on the table. All that alcohol was starting to catch up with her.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 5, 2010)

Guy allowed himself to be guided out of the room, not wanting to press on with any more questions after seeing what he had done to Julian Nimes with his three. He had made the old man cry, something he had not wanted to do at all. He owed Julian Nimes to much to ever want to hurt him, especially not when he had done nothing to harm Guy. The greatest mystery of the inheritance was not his fault, and Guy trusted him enough to believe that. He wanted to believe him. It was not as though he had not seen stranger in this world, like the Para-psychics that crushed a Claymore with just their mind. Guy would just have to forge ahead with the information he had managed to get out of it, and hope that something good came out of it all.

What Julian had said about the person who put the note in was somewhat worrying. The one who put the notes in was supposedly a mysterious Watcher, who the old man could not even prove existed. It was certainly not outside the realm of possibility, what with arcanotech and psychic powers having being proved beyond a doubt to exist, and there being many other things humanity was not quite meant to know lurking in the shadows. There was nothing that he could say for sure, but whoever it was was both somebody close to the old man and incredibly capable of secretive activity. Unless of course, it was one of the servants and Julian was just wrong about that. That, or he was being lied to, but it seemed a rather unnecessary lie, and considering the sheer intensity of his reaction to the note, it seemed quite impossible for it to be a lie.

The answer to the second question was much more worrying than the first. It was something like to a passive aggressive threat to Guy's life, warning him that he was not as invincible as he thought he was, that there was just possibly somebody stronger than him. That somebody who was just possibly his enemy. Guy had enemies, of course he did, nobody lasted a decade fighting and living without getting enemies. There were those he killed, like the Migou, the Rapine Storm, or the Dagonites. There were those he survived, the families of those lost desperately seeking somebody to blame, and latching on to the ones that lived. There were those he surpassed, showing his skill in battle to be the real deal and advancing in the military through nothing more than sheer ability. His social ability was undeniably lacking after all, and while he could read it, there was still very little he could do to influence the bureaucracy that he found himself within. However, these were probably not the enemies that threatened him now, and he could not think of any others. It was something he would have to look into further, and no doubt unlocking this mystery went hand in hand with solving the previous one with the watcher.

The answer to the third question... Well, there was no answer in there. There was no answer in there except that Alice Nimes had existed or did exist, and was not anything as asinine as a publishing error. There was little he could draw from it, except that it was still important to Julian Nimes, whatever it was, and whoever she was. There were few people he could find anything out from though, and he loathed to ask Jeremy Nimes anything. Perhaps he could ask Zory, but if Julian refused to say anything, it was unlikely the servant would. Then again, it would not hurt to ask.

"Zory, I keep hearing about this Alice person, but nobody ever explains anything to me. Would you know anything about her?" He said as nonchalantly as he could as he was escorted back to his room, typing into his PCPU as he did.

_Bianca, Natasha is in Room 12. But she's already returned to her room so you shouldn't poke around just yet._


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## Watchman (Jul 5, 2010)

Bianca sighed a breath of relief as the other two left the room. It had been a good thing she set her PCPU to "silent" whenever she went on one of her excursions. Reading Guy's message, she smiled slightly. Well, now at least she knew _where_ to go when she inevitably paid a visit to Natasha Isse.

_'Understood. I'll be in my room for one hour if you want to talk. After that, I'm setting off again. Respond quickly.'_

After sending a message of her own, she rolled out from under the bed and placed the torn envelope on the bedside table of this room's owner. A promise was a promise, after all, and it would have been very troublesome if the Nazzadi had found her here. Plus, it was amusing to find someone with the courage to threaten her, with a football no less. At the same time, being underestimated by him irritated her, so she would have to send him a reminder, and she knew just the way.

The sounds in the wardrobe were getting louder, as if the creature in there realised the shift in her mood. Rolling up her sleeves, Bianca reached out to open the wardrobe's door...


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 5, 2010)

Zory's response had been as Guy expected. She refused to talk about Alice Nimes, but she did acknowledge that it was a valid subject. Alice Nimes had existed at some point in time, and these were the tiny traces that would lead him to her, the greatest mystery beyond all mysteries in the world right now. What power could possibly erase a person from every history book, and what would drive a person to use that power? It was not something Guy could possibly know, but it was perhaps something he would have to find out by the time he got to the bottom of this strange game that he had been thrown into. A game for a piece of Julian Nimes' inheritance, one where people would lie, cheat, steal, and even kill. It was not a game Guy wanted to participate in, but he would humour the old man, and he wanted to know what the hell was going on anyway.

Heading back into his room, letting Zory return to whatever other work it was that she had, Guy noticed the new envelop on his pillow immediately. He had only locked the door, so it was no great surprise that somebody could sneak it and place something new there, but that quite possibly narrowed the number of suspects down. Julian had definitely been too busy to do anything like that, and too old to even try, especially assuming there were new envelops in every room. Zory and Mala were still suspects, but there would have been a tiny window of time for them to try to pull off anything like that. If anything, it was probably one of the other Nazzadi servants with their keys to every room. Although all things considered, Guy was no detective, so his conclusions were hardly trustworthy.

Opening the envelop, Guy pulled out a new card, gem, and note. The card was of a fisherman casting his net, the gem he could not identify again, and the card was notably less cryptic than the last. _Keep digging. The truth lies a handspan away from the grave._ If the Knight had been Guy as a mecha pilot, then the Fisherman was probably Guy casting out his web in search for answers. The note seemed to back that up, at least, warning him that the search for truth was very often one that would kill the seeker. Then again, Guy already knew that. Knowing that was hardly going to stop him.

"Right, I'll be heading to your room in a bit. Just got some stuff I need to look over." Guy said to his PCPU as he searched his room for any other changes, sending his reply to Bianca quickly, just as she said he should.


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## Damaris (Jul 5, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

She'd almost drifted off to sleep when a knock on the door woke her. Natasha sat up and stretched, pushing the sketches she'd been studying to the side. Still a little groggy from her rest, Natasha opened the door without a thought, before cursing herself and remembering she should have checked first. This time, at least, there was no need to worry; it was one of Julian's pet Nazzadi. Still, she'd have to be more careful in the future. 

Following Mala after his PCPU revealed that she was finally going to talk with Julian, Natasha entered a new part of the mansion. She tried to hide her surprise at the card game painting, and mulled over it in her head as Mala unlocked the door. Had the painting been commissioned solely for Nimes game? If so, he'd been planning this for a while. But if the painting pre-dated this, was he dealing with them under orders? Or following his own superstition. 

The library proper was very nice, Natasha admitted. She wasn't much of a literature person, more inclined to _Mechanics Monthly_ (she'd been on the cover three times), but it seemed quite stocked. But there was the man himself. Julian Nimes. As he called her over, Natasha matched his smile with her own. There was an element of charm, naturally--it was almost an innate ability by this point, but there was also a degree of sincerity. She'd been looking forward to this meeting. 

"I would never miss an event hosted by _you_, Julian. Even if there weren't such sums of money at stake, I would know it to be fascinating. I've been well; I landed a very nice contract with NEG a week before coming here, actually. But how are you? I hope that your guests, myself included, are pleasing you. You seem to have this planned quite brilliantly, I'd hate to see it go to waste."


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 6, 2010)

There was nothing wrong with his room. That was good. There was no guarantee that his room had not been searched, but at least everything was still in place. Although with this new development, Guy made a mental note to search his room for any changes every time he left it for any extended amount of time. It was very probable that he would get new notes and cryptic messages or at least a good pendant for the new gem that he got. What was strange though, was that now that he thought about it, only Julian Nimes would have the gems and the cards, so this new envelop almost certainly came from his hands. Either that, or those of somebody very close to him. On the other hand, Julian giving out new cards and gems was contrary to the rules of the game he had set, since there was no point in proving worthiness if everybody had a pair of each and could each claim part of the inheritance.

Deciding that solving mysteries was not his strong suit and he was better off looking for somebody who liked riddles better to help him along, Guy changed back into his original attire sans jacket, not nearly cold enough to wear it along now that he had nothing to hide in it. He also moved his knives from his thighs to his belt, and stuffed his pistols in it as well, obscuring them from view by letting his T-shirt hang loose over them. There was definitely the danger of a quick-eyed person noticing them in this configuration, but Guy was willing to accept that risk rather than find himself unarmed when whoever would threaten him appeared. When he was satisfied that he was equipped as well as he could possibly be in such a situation, Guy grabbed all the gems, notes, and cards, and stuck them into his jeans pockets before leaving the room and making sure he locked the door.

Heading to where he knew Bianca's room was, Guy knocked on the door.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 6, 2010)

Zory looked very relieved that Georgio decided to go along with her, and once they start heading back through the house, she starts talking. She talked to Georgio about a few things, about introducing him to Sister Mary, about showing him the nice view you could get from that church, and she also talked about taking him to see a Mr. Langford, the curator of the Miskatonic Museum. It all sounded so boring. 

However, Zory was really excited about the whole thing. The way she talked about it might have been enough to get others all excited about this. She definitely did not get out enough. Still, Georgio would go ahead and meet all these people and maybe once he was done, he’d know whether to give Zory the envelope he had, or if he was best off just keeping it for himself. 

Once they were a little ways away from where the cars were parked, Zory pulled out that ring of keys she carried with her. Quickly going through that huge ring of keys, she managed to grab one in particular; it was definitely the key to one of these cars. As the two of them passed a jeep, Georgio noted that Zory was looking at it as if it were something unpleasant. 

"So then, shall we get going?" Zory asked, looking at Georgio with a smile on her face now. 

“Yeah.” Georgio replied a little surprised Zory had the keys to such a nice car. It was a very expensive sports car, and by this point, Georgio started to accept that everything here would be a good deal nicer than anything Georgio saw before. 

Once they got into the car, Georgio had thought of a question he should ask. “You aren’t particularly interested in money, are you Zory?”


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 6, 2010)

Guy could feel that something was watching him as he walked towards Bianca's room, though every time he turned to look at it, there was nothing there. Perhaps this was the watcher that Julian Nimes had described, or at least a close relative of it. It would make sense. Something had to be watching them to know each of them so well after all. On the other hand, if this was the same being who had watched them and knew everything about them, there was no reason for Guy to feel its presence now, not after it had found out enough about him to assign him a pair of cards, a pair of gems, and a pair of cryptic notes.

After turning around and trying to catch what was watching him for the third time, Guy found a cat in his path when he turned back. A cat that had most certainly not been there before. Perhaps this was what had been watching him all this time? Cats were notoriously stealthy, difficult for the eyes to catch and nigh impossible for the ears to detect. That was why he did not like cats much. For how adorable they could be when they wanted to be, they were far too secretive, like they knew something humanity did not. They probably did too, fighting some secret war somewhere while they slept in the rafters. It was the kind of ridiculous thing the universe liked to do.

As Guy watched the cat, he felt an urge to blink, though he knew that the moment he did, the cat would probably disappear on him. He could be stupid and touch it, exactly what Bianca had told him not to do, but that was too dumb even for him. So instead he engaged in a staring contest with the cat, refusing to blink for the next thirty seconds. Not that it ultimately mattered, because he ended up blinking after thirty seconds anyway.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 6, 2010)

"Money? Not particularly. Mr. Nimes provides everything I need." Zory spoke as if it was a question she was well prepared for. Of course, it also showed she had little thought for what she would do once Mr. Nimes died. Still, Georgio was glad that she answered in such a way. It meant that working with her would be easy. 

It was a little unfortunate that once Georgio won this little game, and inherited everything from Mr. Nimes, Zory would be left with nothing. Although, it really wasn't  any of Georgio's concern what would happen to her after he was done with this inheritance game. 

"Right, we're headed off to meet Sister Mary, first. She's an old friend of Julian's. I think you'll find her interesting, and the church is beautiful to visit."

"I can't wait to see it then." Oh yes, a church and a nun, how wonderful it will be. Georgio may have been excited to learn about Mr. Nimes old friends before, but now that he knew about the game, observing these people wasn't high on his list of priorities.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 6, 2010)

The instant Guy blinked, he found the cat heading towards him while purring, then it curled up in a ball by his feet and licked its paws with a forked tongue. Definitely not an ordinary cat. Definitely not an ordinary cat, but Guy could see no difference despite the obvious oddness of the animal. Then he blinked again, and the cat had disappeared. He had not wanted to touch it, but then again it was almost impossible to dodge a cat. That was another reason why he did not like cats much. There was nothing anybody could do to stop them from doing whatever they wanted to do, even if they were strange lizardcats. If only it was a rat or something, he could have just hopped over it and been all the better for it. Of course, nothing had happened, so it was probably best if he ignored it for now, even if it would come back to bite him in the ass later.

Walking on, Guy finally reached Bianca's room without any more incidents happening, and he knocked on her door - for real this time, resolving to not talk about the lizardcat directly until he found out why exactly she told him not to touch strange animals. Although all things considered, it was probably an observation familiar of some kind, barely legal though that kind of sorcery happened to be. Nothing too dangerous, unless the sorcerer only needed a skin sample to control every facet of his life or something completely ridiculous like that.


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## Watchman (Jul 6, 2010)

*Five minutes earlier*

It had taken almost ten minutes of scrubbing at her arms furiously with soap, but Bianca was fairly sure now that the stench of the rat was more or less gone. Finally returning to her room, she spread the pendants she'd collected over her bed, along with her two cards and gems, and the two extra cards and gems some idiot had left in their room in plain sight. The notes, as per usual, she'd disposed of.

She wondered if Guy had had any similar successes tonight. And more importantly, whether or not he'd done anything stupid.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 6, 2010)

Bianca had really done her share of snooping around, having grabbed a whole bunch of pendants, gems, and cards. No notes, however, which was strange. The basic assumption was that everyone got a full set of cards, gems, and notes, and it was apparent that everyone had gotten a second set with one more of everything as well. It was either that Guy's assumption was mistaken, and that only Guy himself had a note for some reason, or that Bianca had stashed all the notes away somewhere. The latter was more probable, but Guy could not imagine why she would do anything like that. The notes were not involved in the game itself, but there was no doubt that they were as important as any other piece of the puzzle. More important even, they were what would lead to mysterious watcher that Julian had mentioned, the one who was subverting the game in the shadows.

"Dinner was what you would expect. I'm never doing something like that again. The only suits I'm going to wear from now on are combat suits. Julian Nimes did call for me though, and he should be asking for you any time now. It was... Informative, but we can talk about that later." Guy shrugged at Bianca's question, answering truthfully as he always did. What he learned from Nimes could wait until after he found out what Bianca herself had learned, especially since now that she had stolen herself full sets of maps and keys as per the rules of the game the old man had set up. How they were supposed to be paired up was still unknown, but amongst those that they had in their possession now, surely they could unlock one part of the whole strange mystery.

"The empty pendants are excellent, but you'll find out more about the rules of the inheritance when the old man calls for you. Right now though, I want to know about notes. Where did you put them?" The notes were important. Having as many of them as possible was the only way Guy could think of to figure out what exactly it was that the one who had changed the game so dramatically wanted. Why had Bianca hidden them? Guy could not think of any reason.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 6, 2010)

The church was pretty bland, it didn't have the grandiose nature that Georgio had expected to see in it. Although it did have the view of the sea that Zory was talking about. Not much to see though, even under the moonlit sky, a sea is just a bunch of water. 

There was someone waiting though, must have been Sister Mary, she was a middle-aged Nazzadi woman. She was dressed exactly as one would imagine a nun to be dressed, in one of those habits.

"Hail, there!" Jesus Christ! That was a loud greeting, even Zory winced when she heard that yell.

"Sorry about that, Sister Mary's a bit deaf, was too close to a shell in the war, and so she's louder than she realizes. But she means well." 

That was informative, but it wouldn't make Sister Mary seem any less irritating. Georgio didn't need some old bat yelling at him. His opinion of her was less than positive, she didn't win any points by walking towards them with an idiotic grin on your face either.

"So, Zory! You've brought someone other than Mala here for once? Who's this lucky young man?" 

Georgio's gaze didn't leave Sister Mary, but he heard Zory clear her throat before responding. "We'd like to see the books, Sister Mary," she says, and the nun's smile dims slightly. What books was Zory talking about? She didn't mention anything like that on the way over.

"Zory, girl, you know I trust you, but I can't just show them to anyone. But come along, young man, and we'll see what we can do to rectify that!" God, so loud. Georgio wondered if he could fix this by telling her to just whisper all the time. She turns and heads into the church, beckoning for you to follow her.

"Zory, what books are you talking about?" Georgio was not a fan of reading, if he wanted to read a book, he'd go to a library.


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## Chaos (Jul 6, 2010)

*Barafu*

"If it meant dying in battle against your enemies is glorious, then it's more then clear that the screaming woman in the van didn't understand it" Barafu offhandedly remarked while fishing a ring of keys from one of the dead cultists pockets. The key-ring was big, and contained a hell of a lot of keys. Someone was afraid they'd get their bike stolen. He dropped the thing in his pockets with a happy jingle. 

Barafu gave a smile to Gabriel as he uncovered something else. A pamphlet, one of the dozens he'd found already. Only this one seemingly had a huge list of names. Names of members of the cult. "Gabe, I want you to go outside and tell the Sergeant that he should have the bodies identified instead of just dropped somewhere and burned" He knew the Sergeant wasn't all too fond of cultists and usually didn't care what happened to the bodies. "Tell him that I want to know who's still running free"

He didn't really like Gabe. The man might be an elite trooper, but he was clearly to full of himself to search a dead man's pockets. Either that, or afraid of stains on his beautiful suit. Pretty boy cop, for damn sure. He would wait until he saw Gabe in a fight to make any definitive statements for himself, but the outlook wasn't too good. As Gabe made his way trough the club, Barafu went back to his work of searching bodies. It wasn't like it was his favorite job either, but at least he fucking did what he had to do. 

A hard metal thing touched Barafu's hand. He drew it from the pocket it was in. A PCPU. "Fucking Bingo" Barafu laughed and held the thing up. PCPU's usually contained tons of useful stuff. He quickly activated it and took a small scan of what he would find on there. Barafu stood up, checked for any bodies he hadn't yet touched with the eagerness of a high school slut and when he was satisfied he had indeed gone trough everything, left the building. Gabriel was still talking with Kaufmann, and another woman had joined them. Barafu recognized her. She was of the same company he was working for. He thought she was named Anna, but didn't know for sure. What he did know was that she was a Russian and that she had probably been sent here to assist him. 

He approached the three. "I'm done here. Anymore news?"


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## Damaris (Jul 6, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

Three questions? She doubted that he would answer them truthfully, if a lie suited his purposes better, but Natasha couldn't hold him at fault for that. She would have done the same in his position. Well, she would never be giving away her money, even on her deathbed, but whatever. She would focus on the other information she'd been given--because she had no doubt that she had been _given_ the information; she'd have to work herself if she wanted to find out anything Julian had hidden. 

"What criteria did you use to invite people here?" She couldn't help it; her mind was built to look for variables and answers to put together. If there was a common pattern, she could use it to form an answer. 

After a moment of thought, she asked her next question. "_'The ocean is inside you, ever unyielding.' _and _'What is crafted with one's own hands can be turned against the crafter. But what is crafted with one's own heart remains loyal even for eternity.'_--what do those phrases mean, and why was I given notes with them in my envelope?"

The final question. "The young girl you've invited here--with the brown eyes and the brown hair--what is she?" Natasha didn't doubt the girl was gifted. One conversation with her had been enough to prove that. So what had Julian seen in her?


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 6, 2010)

"Natasha? She's definitely interesting, but she's too smart and too charming for me to deal with. She might even have me around her little finger by now and I wouldn't even know. She does spend most of her time half drunk though, which gives me a bit of an advantage, since I can hold my liquor better than most." Guy thought about his short conversation with Natasha Isse, and with the immense power that hindsight gave everybody who cared to use it, understood the relationship that they had been moving towards, with him being nudged in whatever direction she needed him in easily. She was a dangerous one, that Natasha, or she would be, if not for the fact that everything else in this house had the potential to be infinitely more dangerous. Her interactions with the world were well documented, meaning that for all her charms and wits, she was exactly what she appeared to be, an intelligent and alluring borderline drunk woman. The same could not be said of anyone else in the house, not even Bianca who was just sitting opposite him. Especially not Bianca. Ordinary teenage girls had no business involving themselves in this game.

"The old man apparently decided that it was easier for him to explain everything to each guest one by one. I guess he doesn't want to leave his room, and wants to judge the players by himself. It probably makes things easier for those who want to find out what exactly is going on in this house, since he offers us three questions and I have no reason to think he's lying." Guy then briefly recounted his conversation with Julian Nimes, leaving out the bit about Alice Nimes. That was his own little secret for now, and it was unlikely that asking Bianca about it would help, not when even the entire internet itself could yield no answers. The only ones who would know anything were the ones who were in a position to have known Alice Nimes, and Bianca was not one of them. "I wanted to ask more about the meaning of the cards and the gems, but he only offered three answers so I only asked three questions. I got what I wanted to know out of it, at least."

Guy then took the totem thing and wondered where he could stuff it, and contented himself with holding it in his hand until he could get back to his room and just have it stand somewhere. He considered protesting about the impossibility of preventing a cat from touching him, what with cats being cats, but decided not to, since it was just bad form for an adult (social graces of a child notwithstanding) to argue with a child no matter what she was like.

"Thanks. I suppose. Although I've never had a problem with nightmares. I'm proud to say it's incredibly difficult to scare me."


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 7, 2010)

"I thought I'd keep that a secret for just a bit. So... _surprise_," It was probably the first time Georgio didn't manage to get a straight answer from Zory. Also, she kept pushing him towards the church, not so forcefully that Georgio couldn't have gotten out of the way though, but still it was a little uncalled for. After a fair deal of pushing, Georgio was finally inside the humble church.

There were no lights. That was probably the first thing Georgio noticed. He wasn't sure if they were trying to save electricity or if there really wasn't any installed lighting, but the only light in the entire church came from the moon, whose light poured in through the open door behind Georgio. The windows were all shuttered, so it was impossible for Georgio to make out anything past the entrance in this blackness.

"So, young man, what's your name?" boomed Mary's voice from somewhere in the back. How did she get so far ahead of them in this dark church? 

"My name is Michael Irving." Georgio replied, he still wasn't sure what was going on, and he was started to look forward to finding out.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 7, 2010)

*NOTHING TO WRITE ABOUT*

Guy sighed as he followed Bianca. He was being too methodical, too functional around Natasha. Mecha pilots were soldiers, but they were completely different types from the infantry or even Engel pilots. They had to have fun when they went into battle, let the adrenaline take over as they counted up kills and laughed the pitiful attempts of their enemies off like they were invincible. It was partly because that was how most pilots chose to cope with the fact that every battle could be their last, and partly because that was simply the sort of personality best suited to mecha combat. It took a bit of whimsy to get a mecha to do what you wanted to do, and when fighting in towers of steel that could use cars as boxing gloves one was afforded just a bit of margin for error. It was something he had lost when he went to teach piloting instead of fighting for himself, but it was something he wanted to find once more. Following a child around seemed like the best way to do it.

"In the garden, past the pond, under the swings? How did you find that one out?" He had not noticed anything in particular when he turned off the lights, only a faint glow from where she had placed the bits and pieces that were supposed to lead to the inheritance. He had expected the game to take a bit more work to get started, with a bit more puzzling over the gems and cards before they got anywhere. Apparently not. Either that, or Bianca had some hidden genius that she had not shown him yet, which would certainly explain what a young girl like her was doing in a place like this, where the money involved was so ludicrous that people were not afraid to kill to get at it. Of course, Guy would not put anything past her yet. She knew way too many things he had no clue about, and while she had proven that she was still very much a child, she had definitely seen things that children were not meant to see. In fact, he had no idea why she was invited here in the first place.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 7, 2010)

Georgio turns his head around when he hears a loud thud. The church door behind him was closed, and now the small light afforded to him by the moon was gone. It was so dark that Georgio could not even see the outline of his hand in front of his face.

Georgio could recall that Nazzadi were meant to have night-vision, and that is definitely a handy trait. Georgio would love it if he could see in the dark without issues. It'd be really helpful at certain times to. Like right now, for instance. That would need to be the reason Zory and Mary have no problems moving around in this dark chapel. 

"Well, then, Michael Irving! You have a single task before you! Catch a Nazzadi in the dark!" Oh yeah, that's going to happen. Georgio prided himself on being a skillful athlete. He was so nimble and so quick, that he could run down a full speed rabbit. However, his agility was completely useless in the dark. 

"...Good luck." Zory was probably right next to him when she whispered that. Yeah, good luck, that helped. How was Georgio supposed to catch a Nazzadi in the dark? Nazzadi were able to see in the dark and he wasn't. Plus, he didn't even know where Mary was to start off with...

Did he need to catch Mary though? The challenge was never to catch Sister Mary. He just needed to catch a Nazzadi in the dark. He also happened to know where another Nazzadi just happened to be at the moment. 

Georgio decided to test this little loophole in the rules, and just kind of waved his arm until he felt Zory. Once he did, he grabbed a hold of her. Now exploiting loopholes wasn't really his thing, but Georgio had to admit, he felt pretty clever for having come up with this solution. 

"Uh, Sister Mary, I caught a Nazzadi. What now?" Georgio asked awkwardly, he hoped she would accept his alternative method, because it was either that or stumble around in the dark.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 7, 2010)

"I see..." Guy frowned slightly when Bianca explained the specifics of the card and gem combination to him. Guy knew about magic, and was regularly in contact with it due to his tenure in the army, where many sorcerers made their living, but he still did not understand it. Apparently, one needed to be a bigwig to even begin learning to use magic, forget trying to understand it. So he did not argue, and simply accepted her explanation and followed on, wanting to see what exactly it was that Julian Nimes had hid under the swing as part of his inheritance. Not that Guy had any real need for all that money, the army provided well enough for its soldiers to live.

When she doubled back to pass him her duffel bag to jump out of the window, Guy raised an eyebrow but otherwise shrugged it off. He did not know why she wanted to avoid the Nazzadi, and would ask her about it later, but for now he would play along. If she had any legitimate reason to avoid them, delaying her now would be a foolish move beyond any stupid moves he had made the whole of today. Guy simply circumventing the whole affair and just jumping out with her was not out of the question of course, but then again there was no reason for him to risk a poor landing and break his ankle. He could take absurd amounts of pain, albeit less than when he was in his combat ready prime, but there was no meaning in disadvantaging himself like that.

So instead he carried the duffel bag over his shoulder and walked ahead normally, wondering where the Nazzadi that Bianca had avoided was, and into the garden. While walking, he wondered whether Bianca was trusting him with millions in cash by leaving him with all the cards and keys to the game, or if she conveniently forgot that she was carrying items that could be converted into the cash equivalent of a small city or two in her bag. Perhaps Guy should be flattered for that.


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## Watchman (Jul 7, 2010)

Georgina woke again, drenched to the skin, with her babies crying and screaming. Rolling off the sofa, she struggled to get to them, but her limbs felt like jelly underneath her, and she couldn't rise.

"J-jeremy!" she called through parched lips and throat. "P-please... Please stop him!" Outside, clouds began to gather in the sky above the Nimes Mansion, and a terrible premonition chilled Georgina to the bone.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 7, 2010)

Guy found the way to the swing easily, no doubt helped by the strange pull the swing exerted on him, drawing him towards it. It was probably magic, and Guy did not think too much about it. He tried not to think too much about the colour in the air marking the marking the spot either. Probably another sorcery, and nothing to worry about. It did not have the mark of any of the strange rituals that the Dagonites and Rapine Storm practiced anyway, so as far as Guy was concerned, it was all good. On the other hand, he found Bianca simply sitting on the swing, notably less cheerful than before, no doubt because there was nothing to be seen here, despite the mysterious allure and colours. No treasure, no twelfth of Julian Nimes' inheritance, not even a silly note that went 'Please Try Again'. Nothing.

"It does look like there isn't anything to see here, huh? Then again, there are only twelve parts to Julian Nimes' inheritance, but fifty two cards and probably as many gems. There are hundreds of combinations we'd available, and only 12 that can win. But I don't believe that this place was marked for no reason. Lend me a pen." Guy reasoned, trying to place himself in the frame of mind somewhere between a child going on a treasure hunt and an old man playing a game. Things happened for no reason all the time, randomness was an inherent part of the makeup of the universe, but rarely did people plan to have absolutely nothing happen. So taking a pen from Bianca, Guy pulled out his map of the house and marked where he could see the colour on it. He was no cartographer, but every soldier had to know his way around maps.

"Well then, let's go. I guess I really should get those nightmares over with."


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## Damaris (Jul 7, 2010)

*Natasha Isse*

Seething over the fact that she'd wasted her three questions, Natasha made her way back to the room in bitter silence. The only really valuable information she'd gotten was that Nimes was soft, someone else was playing a completely different game, and Gialli was as much of a mystery as ever. Her room was the same as when she'd left--crumpled designs and all. Ignoring the engineering problem for a moment, Natasha flung herself onto the bed and began to _think._

Unknowns: Gialli, the mystery note-leaver. Both might be malicious, might be benign, it depended on how she played either. Gialli was the pressing concern, but the note-leaver was almost as bad; whomever they were, they were infiltrating the envelopes without Nimes being able to find out who they were. That meant one of the household. The Nazzadi? They seemed desperately loyal to him, but if they thought they were acting in his best interest...were they concerned about his giving away his money? Worried that some of the guests might hurt him?

Knowns: Guy, Jeremy. Both of them seemed more like pawns than major players, but who was pulling their strings. Guy, she suspected, might be taken in by anyone who could appeal to his sense of honor. A woman, a child, someone sickly. Gialli? They might be allied, she'd have to find out. Jeremy, manipulated by his wife? Or that sorcerer he'd hired? She'd have to get to know more about him.

And herself. She was probably the most exposed person in the house, next to Nimes. Tabloids loved printing any smear or scandalous gossip about her they could. She could use that to her advantage, if she worked a little. A helpless drunk, no matter how smart, would never be considered a threat. No one needed to know about any other dimension to her.

Briefly occupying her mind for the time, Natasha turned on her side, facing the wall. Her gems and cards safe in the suitcase--now how could she get others?


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 8, 2010)

One minute, all Georgio could hear was Sister Mary's obnoxious laughter fill the church. The next, Georgio was blinded by light, which had overwhelmed the previously dark halls. 

"Aha, he's a smart one! Well done, Michael, well done!" Sister Mary congratulated Georgio on his solution, still Georgio did not understand the point of such a task.

Once Georgio's eyes adjusted to the sudden burst of light, he noted that Mary was already making her way over. In her hands, she carried with her a few leather tomes. Those must have been the books that Zory was talking about.

"Yes, yes, I can see why Zory thought you should see these. They're something special, alright. Aside from us, only Julian and Mala know about them." Oh joy, these weren't just any books, these were _secret_ books. Was Georgio really expected to read those? 

"The Unpublished Theses," Zory spoke about them with a good deal of pride. Georgio wondered if it was because these books were something special, or if she just felt that way about all of Mr. Nimes' work. "Books Mr. Nimes wrote that the NEG did not allow to be published. You won't find them in any library or bookstore."

Georgio took one of the books and opened a page, looking up at Zory before he checked out the text itself. She seemed really excited about this whole book thing, but Georgio didn't feel like sorting his way through a textbook. 

"Uh Zory, even one these things would take a few days for me to read through. So would it be alright if I took one back to my room and read it thoroughly, rather than trying to skim over it right now?" Georgio wasn't some scholar, he probably didn't even know what these books talked about. There was no way he would sit on some church bench and spend hours reading theses.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 8, 2010)

Guy could not help but smile at Bianca's rambling, not particularly affected by her insistence that he was stupid. He knew he was no genius, but he also knew he was no fool. What others said on the matter was not going to make him change his mind on his own abilities any time soon. She was not in a good mood now, but if he knew children like he thought he did, the desire to find the treasure would burn stronger than ever after the initial failure, and she would be raring to go the next morning. The prize they were after was great, but Guy had no idea if Bianca understood the vastness of Julian Nimes' fortune or if she even cared. Either way, she was having fun looking for it. That was what Guy could tell from looking at her. She was probably even enjoying the prospect of Guy having a terrible nightmare of some kind.

So he followed her advice and walked to his room without incident, totem tightly in his hand as he entered. If a nightmare was going to come, they were rarely so kind as to wait for the dreamer to get comfortable in his bed. That was just how sorcery worked. At least, Guy hoped it was sorcery. He had no fear of anything a human could dish out, but there were things that humans could not control in the universe. Just as he expected, the thing did not wait for Guy for to fall asleep, what with the green glowing thing in the corner of his room glowing. He was also much more drowsy that he had expected himself to be, which he expected was part of the deal of the oncoming nightmare, whatever it was.

Checking out the glowing object yielded no result. It was nothing that he recognised, and it certainly did not resemble anything human. Plus, as he got closer, the green glow became a green pulse, sending its light all across the room. On one hand, he wanted to investigate more closely. On the other hand, Guy had no intention of touching the damned thing. So he made a compromised and poked it with the totem instead, which was probably not the best idea he could have had. Prodding it turned the green light red, and caused his room door to mysteriously close behind him, and it also wiped away his drowsiness. Guy had no idea if that meant he was dreaming now, or if the mode change of the glowing thingy meant that the specifics of its effects had changed. Either way, being alert was good. He needed to know what was going on and respond accordingly.

"Oh, not you damnit!" He managed to shout when he turned around, the six legged cylindrical shadow exactly the last thing he wanted to see right now. He reached for the gun in his belt, not waiting for the thing to fire first. It responded by drawing its legs back in and unfurling its wings, revealing it to be exactly what Guy had suspected it was. A Migou, a bug, the scourge of humanity, his greatest enemy. It was also armed, drawing a snub-nosed gun from its holster.

Not that Guy was the type to wait to be shot at. Pulling out his Enforcer, he fired a shot at it that pierced its carapace-like armour as he drew in closer, grabbing one of his knives in his free hand. Despite the fact that it was leaking ichor from its side, bugs being what they were, refused to die and simply fired a burst of needles from its gun in return. Shots that were hardly going to kill him, thankfully, as he jumped to the side and evaded the majority of the incoming bullets. A few needles pierced his left leg, but Guy was hardly going to let something like that slow him down now. He could take pain, this was nothing.

A clean slash from his knife, and the bug was hit in one of its left legs as well, although this time the entire limb was severed cleanly. Unfortunately, the damn bug still refused to die and merely tried to take to the air, gun pointed towards Guy as its buzz turned into a high pitched whine. Not that there was anywhere to fly to in an enclosed area like his own room, so Guy simply took the opportunity to bring his knife up and through the Migou's gun arm (leg?) chopping it right off as well, though it merely grabbed the gun in one of its other limbs. Guy cursed inwardly, having hoped to disarm the bug to make it easy pickings, but at least now that it had lost two of its left legs, it had become overbalanced and simply flew into a wall with a thud. That was slightly amusing at least. It did not take long for the bug to act more like a cockroach than the fly it better resembled and stabilise itself well enough to fire another shot however, but Guy simply rolled out of the way of those shots without a problem.

"It would be a problem if mankind's greatest enemies went down that easily, wouldn't it?" He muttered to himself as a murderous grin spread across his face, the adrenaline racing in his blood as he found himself in a life-and-death battle for the first time in a long while. Trying so hard to have fun in combat had the unfortunate side-effect of causing many mecha pilots to actually find combat fun, with the number of enemies shot down being their scoreboard and a genuine bloodlust spurring them on to greater heights. There was an enemy before him, so he was going to kill it. He was going to kill it and enjoy every second of it.

He fired his gun once more, planting a bullet right in what passed for a Migou's face, ripping a hole right in its front end. With that, it seemed to realise that it could not beat Guy in a fire fight, and planted its legs on the wall and kicked off towards him, closing the distance between them in an instance. At that, Guy suppressed the urge to laugh at the poor judgement of the bug. For all their great intellect, for all they were smarter than humans, they did not have the sense for combat that he possessed. The only smart thing to do when outmatched by Guy in a ranged battle was to run the hell away, covering your piss with your blood so nobody knew how scared you were. Moving in to melee was suicide at best, especially for a fucking bug.

The average human could overpower the average bug easily, and Guy was markedly above average in that regard. The only real problem was that they had more arms than humans did, a problem which reared its ugly head when the bug grasped Guy's arms with its remaining limbs and tried to prevent him from moving as it bent its head in, reaching out with its cilia as it did, its alien eyes mere inches from Guy's own. It was unfortunate. He had not wanted to be that physical, his skills as a fighter with blades of all kinds on the level of the greatest masters of the world, but it was not to be helped. So rather than waiting for the bug's cilia-tentacle-things to poke out his own, Guy slammed it into a wall and knocked its legs (arms?) loose, and he brought his knife straight through its underbelly in a perfect cut that sprayed ichor all over his body. Disgusting, he would have to wash that off later. The bug fell over in a heap, twitching furiously before it finally stopped and died like it should have ages ago.

Guy was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so with the Migou dead before him, and the prospect of more enemies coming up, he tried to reach for the needler that it had used on him, figuring that the more ammunition he had on him, the better. Besides, there was a delicious irony in being able to shoot Migou to death with their own guns. Of course, reality being what it was - a bitch - refused to give him that little gift for a battle fought, and he blacked out.

When he finally woke up, he found himself in his bed with no Migou dead in the corner but the wounds in his legs still very much there and the foul ichor still all over his body.

"Bloody hell, they couldn't have waited three more seconds for me to get the gun." He whispered under his breath as he got up, notably more cheerful than he was when he had gotten on the bus yesterday afternoon. Before he could celebrate though, first he had to get to work. If the battle was more than a dream that had somehow brought its effects into reality, there would be signs of battle that would be nearly impossible to erase in one night. Ichor on the carpet, bullet holes in the walls, bullets expended, things like that. He would have to look for those, then he needed to bathe.


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## Watchman (Jul 8, 2010)

Alvaro could tell a military man on sight. Quick perception and analysis were abilities required for those in his former occupation, and he was exceptionally gifted with both. Almost as gifted was his intuition, and that asked him to invite the man over, despite the foul stench he was giving off.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 8, 2010)

Looking around the room had yielded nothing. No sign of battle, no proof that anything had happened to him at all except for the fact that he still stunk of bug and his leg still had small holes in it. Guy was not really surprised, all things considered, if a little disappointed. It was rare that a person got to grapple a Migou to death after all, and it would have made good conversation material if he could have gotten any evidence that it was not a figment of his imagination. Albeit a figment of his imagination that had made itself known to his own body, but a dream nonetheless. Of course, there was no doubt that there was some esoteric proof somewhere that dreams were a reality unto themselves, but Guy tended not to dwell on that. Unless it could physically exist, it did not exist. It was important to be grounded in reality when fighting.

He was about to take a shower when he heard a scream outside his door, and he cursed inwardly when he went to check it out, unable to turn a blind eye just because he still smelled like bug innards. So he opened the door and poked his head out, where he saw a woman sobbing a few doors down.

"I was robbed! _Robbed!_ They took everything!" She cried, before being reduced to a pile of sniffles kneeling against the wall. She was being taken care of by a pair of servants wearing the uniform of the Nimes household, one Harold Watts and another who he instantly recognised as a soldier much like himself. Apparently the soldier had also decided the same thing about Guy, and gestured him over with a smile.

Guy was no fool, and he quickly put two and two together and made a note to talk to Bianca about it. Of course, it was a game, and having things taken like that should have been of no surprise to anyone. It was pretty much her own fault for being negligent, all things considered. Still, Guy walked out of his room and approached the pair regardless - Harold Watts having decided to check the woman's room out.


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## Watchman (Jul 9, 2010)

It had been a long day of waiting, but Yova decided it had been worth it. It was a fool who rushed into a situation without proper intelligence, and as a result of the scouting several of his subordinates had done, he now had intelligence enough to decide how to best proceed. Waiting further would be counterproductive, particularly as his men were now beginning to get restless, so he broke his long silence, speaking again, more of habit than anything else, in Mandarin.

"Gentlemen, we advance.  Ury, inform Professor Feng of our status. Nosara, Tela, Vykaly, the three of you will head towards the mansion on foot. Do not let anyone see you. Not everyone there is what they seem. Haly, you will find our contact, and await further orders. The rest of you, with me. We head to the village. You know what to do."

A chorus of salutes and shouted "Yessir!"s informed him that they did, so with a smile, Yova turned and headed towards one of the three vehicles his team had been provided with.


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## skiboydoggy (Jul 9, 2010)

Help with catching a thief? Guy was not police, and certainly had never intended to be, but generally speaking, if it was something he could help with, there was no reason he would not. Of course, on the other hand, he was not the best person at keeping secrets, and it was very likely that Bianca was the one who had taken all her stuff in the first place, though Guy had heard nothing about IDs and bank cards being taken as well. Although if it was Bianca right now, the last thing Guy needed to happen was for people to start investigating her while she was in a bad mood, so he would have to deflect that attention for now somehow.

"I'll help, but let me change first. This shirt smells like bug innards for some reason." Guy answered the soldier opposite him, before heading back into his room and switching his T-shirt for the shirt from the suit that had been provided him. He would have worn something more comfortable, but the shirt was definitely well-tailored and he had no other clothes on him at the moment, so he would have to make do with that. Then before heading out of his room again, he decided to call Bianca on his PCPU, intending to ask her about the theft and the Migou dream(?) he had.


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## Nimademe (Jul 10, 2010)

*Ashley McNamara*

Entering into the familiar musky bar, The Vladivostok, Ashley walked up to the bar table, none of the stools being available. Kicking one of the current patrons off his stool, Ashley gave him a mean look and took a seat. "Surprise me 'tender, anything 'bove 50%, on the rocks." Ashley said as she slid a bill across the counter, the bartender mixing up her drink. She was supposed to meet a contact here, though she didn't think he'd arrived yet. The bartender having finished her drink, he tossed it to Ashley, not a drop of it spilling. "Still got your touch 'tender." Ashley complimented gruffly, taking a deep sip of the mystery beverage. It tasted great, though the slight spice didn't do her throat any favours. "Oy! Who's the wanker here that'll gimme something to do! Anyone who suggests the 'anky panky might lose 'is sausage!" Ashley shouted rudely as she held her pistol in the air, much of the bar turning their attention to her.


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## Nimademe (Jul 10, 2010)

"Tell you what, 2000 d'os for the big one, 1450 for the hands, and 150 for the lackeys, and we got a deal." Ashley said brusquely, downing the rest of her Iced Vodka Spice. She could tell the the coppers really wanted to catch these ne'er do wells, and if she could make a quick heavy buck out of it with a few well placed shots, then Ashley wouldn't be apt to complain. "Seein' as you 'bviously now I'm the best quality you can get 'round here, and that my success rate is much better than th' average joe schmoe, I'd think it's only fair." Ashley finished, a mischievous look in her eye.


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## Zoidberg (Jul 10, 2010)

It's been several hours since that boring dinner ended. Despite getting the numbers of a couple of ladies it was ultimately a fruitless endeavour. Well, except of course for that wine guy who informed me of some body bags being brought out of the premises, that was useful. 

I couldn't search for the evidence right now though. If they found me snooping around the premises at night bad things could happen. For now, I had to report to my superiors. Taking my communicator from my pocket I contacted H.Q.

"Hey, this is Thunderbolt. I have found possible evidence of sinister dealings happening here in the Nimes residence. Could you send over Ludwig from recon?"


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## Nimademe (Jul 10, 2010)

"Deals a deal jack, ya'got a private dig I can drop off the heads or do I just swing by the office?" Ashley asked, the buzz of the drink starting to wear off. She could use the big bucks this job would offer, and could probably ask for an extra bonus when turning the bounty in. Swiveling on the stool, Ashley faced the barkeep. "Another of those Iced Vodka Spice if you can 'keeper, just put it on my tab." Ashley said briefly to the barkeep, still waiting for Lev's answer.


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## Chaos (Jul 11, 2010)

*Barafu, Outside the "Broken Arm"*

The PCPU seemed broken. Not beyond repair, but certainly not for immediate use. Barafu cursed. He didn't feel like searching someone who could fix the thing for him. But well, that's just the way it is. He dropped the thing in his pocket, deciding to pass it on when he got the chance. 

The woman, Anna, seemed to be the first to see him when he exited the nightclub. She was clearly not the most excited to see him though. This was not only shown by her unhappy face, but also by Sergeant Kaufmann sprinting towards him when he saw him exiting the club. The Sergeant was furious. "Fucking hell" Barafu said as Kaufmann did his story. This cult was more dangerous than expected.

Kaufmann ran off and got into a car, saluting Barafu before getting out. Barafu saluted back, then turned to Anna. "Anna, right? Would I be right in assuming you've been sent here as help?" He then turned to Gabe and listened what he had to say. "A school? Why the fuck'd they attack a school?" Barafu's brains were working top-speed. This must be some kind of distraction. It just had to be. What other reason could they have to attack a school?

Anna broke in the story. So they were moving... Probably a truck, or something like that. Maybe not. Liche remains were not big. It could be any sort of car. At the least it seemed unlikely that they wouldn't have a vehicle. But it stayed at that, unlikely. They could just as well be running trough sewers now... 

"Ok, it seems we got no time to lose" Barafu cut off the conversation. "Bring me to this Yuri Nevems, now. He'll talk within seconds"

((Sorry for this horrible fail of a post, somehow it doesn't work today))


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## Azure Flame Fright (Jul 11, 2010)

Zory seemed to get nervous as soon as Georgio mentioned heading back to his room. Oh, duh! She was scared something was going to happen so she wanted to keep both of them out of there.

"I don't think we should go back yet. Besides, I haven't shown you the Museum yet. But I suppose reading on a church pew can't be much fun. It was nice seeing you again, Sister Mary, but we'll be off now."

At least Georgio was getting out of this ridiculous house of God. It was not a place Georgio belonged in, no matter how you looked at it.

"Hold on just a moment, little Zory! Got something to discuss with you!" Georgio already had his back to the elder Nazzadi, so he couldn't tell what kind of face she was making. That loud voice of hers was just as irritating as always. "Ah, it's not like I can even whisper without people hearing me, eh? Anyway, Zory, the folks down at Rembroke are asking after you. The situation's getting worse."

"Again? And the Arcology's still not done anything?"

"Not a thing. People are saying they're either not getting the message, or just flat out ignoring it. So as far as we can tell, we're on our own out here, and we've got to look after ourselves. And since you're the best shooter outside of the Arcology..."

"I know, Mary. I'll head to Rembroke after I've dropped Michael back off at the mansion. Thanks for telling me. Look after yourself, too."

What kind of dialogue were these two having? Rembroke? Shooters? It didn't sound like something Georgio should get involved with. Of course, now that Georgio gave some thought to it, he needed to go to the Museum, rather than back to the mansion. 

Zory mentioned earlier that the curator was nearly as smart as Mr. Nimes himself. Perhaps that curator would be able to translate the weird language Georgio had on the notes. He had Zory's envelope as well, so he could get both of them read out to him, if possible. 

Zory was smiling when she turned to face Georgio, however, Georgio could easily tell it was a forced smile. He understood Zory well enough to distinguish between when she was actually happy, and when she was faking.

"Right, let's go, then." She got all the theses for Georgio and motioned for him to lead the way back to the car. 

"Hey, Zory, do you think it would be alright if you dropped me off at that museum rather than back at the mansion? I think your bad feeling is giving me a bad feeling." Georgio smiled politely as he spoke, he didn't think there would be a problem asking for something so simple.

"Alright, no problem." Zory responded just as expected. It was a silent car ride though. Not awkward, but for now, neither Georgio nor Zory had anything to say to one another.

Georgio got out once they made it to the museum. "So, should I expect you to come and pick me up, or do you think I should walk back to the mansion?" The last part was a joke, he knew the mansion was probably four hours away on foot, assuming he never got lost. What he was really saying was 'When are you coming back over here?'

"Well, I'm just heading down to Rembroke, so I'll be back in less than two hours. If you need me, though, just give me a call." Right, just down over to Rembroke, Georgio had no idea what that place was. Was it somewhere famous? 

Through the car's window, Zory handed Georgio a small note. There was a set of numbers on it, probably the contact number to her PCPU. "Have fun!" Zory told him, before driving off. Of course, Georgio didn't have a PCPU to contact her with if anything went wrong, however as long as she was still coming back, it shouldn't matter if he could get in touch.

When he turned away, he could see four buildings, and what appeared to be some kind of vertical mineshaft. Georgio couldn't make heads or tails of the mineshaft, so he ignored it, for now.  

It was pretty clear to Georgio that the largest building there must have been the Museum, it definitely looked like a museum. However, it was completely dark. The lighting came from the other three smaller buildings, perhaps those were dorms for the employees? What kind of museum needs three buildings to house its employees though?

Still, it seemed pointless to Georgio to approach the dark museum, it was definitely closed, and the director would be in one of the adjacent buildings. Georgio couldn't hazard a guess to know which building the curator was staying in, so he decided to walk over to the closest lighted building. From there he could probably be pointed in the right direction.


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## Chaos (Aug 24, 2010)

*Barafu, Warehouse 17*

Barafu quietly got out of the car and motioned for Gabe to do the same. "Anything weird on the scans, Anna, and immediately contact us. This are still sorcerers we're dealing with, however harmless you may think them" He held some healthy respect for sorcerers, after almost being killed once by a prepared spell. Gabe got out of the car behind him. Barafu slowly peered around the corner. One of the guards just rounded one corner of the warehouse, coming at the side with the eastern door. Perfect.

"Close your eyes, Gabe. What I'm about to do is not totally legal" Barafu said while he unholstered his gun. It was a modded handgun with silencer. Nothing better then a silencer when upholding law, Barafu thought, and he grinned quietly. One quick-step brought him in clear view of the sentry, and one finger moved dropped the guy cold in it's steps. The sentry died wondering what that plopping sound was, Barafu mused. 

He ran towards the building, again motioning Gabe to come with him. When the cop arrived, he whispered a few instructions. "I'm going to bust that lock there and move in. If you don't hear anything, grab the body and follow me, then close the door. I will be waiting inside" He moved to the door and tried the handle. The door didn't budge. No surprises there. He put the gun a few inches away from the lock and with a last look to Gabe, pulled the trigger, unleashing the pop of death once again and slowly opened the door.


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## Azure Flame Fright (Aug 26, 2010)

The nearest building Georgio moved to was small, in fact, it probably wasn't proper to call it a building at all. It was barely the size of a room. Still, it probably meant Georgio wouldn't need to deal with more than one person. Which was a good thing, it would speed the process up. 

Georgio knocked on the door, and after a short delay, a dark skinned man opened the door to greet him.

"Bit late for visitors, isn't it? Or are you here on some official business?" The man replied with a friendly smile.

"It's not exactly official business, but Mr. Nimes sent me over to meet with the Museum's Curator. It took a little longer to get here though. If it really is too late though, it can wait until tomorrow, I hadn't meant to arrive here so late." Georgio was feigning his politeness, he had no intention of waiting until tomorrow and trying to make his way back here. The sooner he could get a more complete idea of everything, the better.

"Oh? Well it must be important then, if the man funding the excavation sent you over personally. The Curator's probably still in the Museum. Hold on, I've got a keycard." Well, that was easy. Georgio lucked out with his excuse and it looked like he'd be able to get his way easily. After some minor preparations, the dark skinned man was ready to lead Georgio into the Museum. 

A simple swipe of the man's keycard was all they needed to get into the Museum. As soon as Georgio entered, he noticed a light, glowing from a higher floor. There was no way someone could have noticed the light from outside, it was not nearly bright enough. It must have been a flashlight or some other device the Curator used to see his way around in the dark.

"There you go. Feel free to let yourself out when your business is done." With that said, the man exits the museum and closes the door behind him.

With that, Georgio made his way up to the next floor. The curator is obviously there and there's nothing else in this Museum worth seeking. He'd hoped that this man, would be able to translate the strange language his letter was written in. After all, Zory said that this man was almost as knowledgeable as Mr. Nimes.

However, once Georgio got to the next floor, there was no one there. The light was coming from a desk lamp, but there was no one at the desk. There were books, and a very old looking computer system. It was impossible to see what was displayed on its screen, so Georgio moved closer, in order to get a better look at the computer.


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