Seven(?) against the Convergence

[Alberich]

"Dezzy and Anfi gonna be ok? Guess they're not good at the dangerous stuff... hope they're ok."

"So do I," said Tim to the kobold. "But if not it'll be up to us to get them out of it." And receive the usual ingratitude.

When it came to trying to keep the girls out of danger, this alien cat creature was the only person whose thinking he understood. He didn't really know her but he'd seen her in battle, more than once, and she felt like someone he could rely on. A good ally. Someone to stay on good terms with. (Cute, too...but large enough, and womanly enough, that any kind of petting was quite out of bounds.)

* * *

Anfisa was half-torn by Desiree's proposal, thinking that meeting a contact at an inn would be a little more subtle...but there was something to be said for the Approach Direct. In addition to her sneaky-deniable seduction skills and mighty magic, that Therese seemed to have powerful intuition about spies. If they waited around 'til she showed up, she'd probably guess who was doing what and ruin the whole thing, or tease it out of Desiree before they got their passports.

She kept quiet, stood close, and looked sweet, alluring, and trusting, wearing the mien of a poor orphan girl whose one hope in the world was that the nice guardsman would take pity on her and her fellow waif and save them from destitution and shame. And who could give awesome oral if he did. She waited for him to answer their requests.

[Graybeard]

"Perhaps we could wait inside, if that wouldn't be a bother."

"I'm afraid that will not be possible, Miss," the night guard said, irritation beginning to show in his face and voice. "The consulate is closed until morning. I am going to have to ask you to --"

And then he saw the card, and there was a glint of magic in the air.

"Oh, Weave," he gulped, and the color drained away from his face. Then: "Excuse me a moment." He extracted a crystal ball from behind the desk and pressed some studs on its base.

"Someone will be here momentarily to -- help you, ladies," he said, and he turned to look out a window toward the main building. A door was opening there, in a flare of magic. Momentarily a wheelchair rolled through the door, bearing a woman wearing the usual Homeland Security outfit.

Meanwhile, the janitor sidled over to Anfisa. "Nowhere to eat inside, ma'am," he said softly, almost whispering in the liquid Rinkaiel accent. "Place down the street might still be open, though. You'll need this to get in." With webbed fingers, he handed her another business card, this one apparently non-magical.

-------------

Sister Rose's eyes met Layla's for a moment, and understanding passed between them. I wonder if she's capable of mind-speech, Rose thought, then decided against it. "And am I to understand that sometimes when they don't confine their business to Tsuiraku-town, it causes -- problems?"

The carriage passed a side street and paused momentarily. The three Tsuirakuans could be seen at the end of the block to their left, heading generally the same direction as the carriage. She's shadowing them, Rose thought. And doing a good, professional job of it. This young woman isn't just a winemaker, I'd bet on that.

As soon as the Tsuirakuans passed out of sight, the carriage got moving again. "That would be a fair statement," Layla said. "There are ways of checking on those problems, if you happen to be able to travel underground."

Now where did that come from? Rose thought, no longer completely able to keep a straight face. "Funny you should say that," she said with a nod toward Argus. "As it happens, we --"

And then Tamina interrupted with her question about Anfisa and Desiree, and Rose's sentence tailed off with a groan and a facepalm.

[Alberich]

Anfisa was beginning to think the Tsuirakuans, for all their wealth and power, needed to hire her for some lessons in secrecy. Surely Captain Kitaura had sent a message ahead, so they'd be expecting them? And know that their companions might be around so that they'd need some subtlety? Then why have the woman in the distinctive uniform wheeled out to meet them? They might as well wave banners embroidered with the words, "Be Suspicious"...and what dummy would have no rendezvous available except the lit-up consulate anyway? Even if they had to open a late-night tavern themselves and run it at a loss that would be better.

She was no mistress of spycraft, though she'd been mistress to a few crafty spies, but she was quite sure she could improve on this operation.

"Nowhere to eat inside, ma'am. Place down the street might still be open, though. You'll need this to get in."

"You're so sweet," she said to the web-fingered liquid-accented man...

[OOC: An immigrant from Innsmouth no doubt.]

..."thank you." She looked the card over appreciatively, as if she'd just been given an emerald bracelet. She asked a couple of questions about this exclusive establishiment, looking the janitor trustingly in the eyes, and hanging on his answers as if they were the most important words in the world. But doubtless in a moment they'd be swept up by the woman in the wheelchair.

* * *

Tim hadn't seen the relevance of any of this "Oshima" business. They were starting to sound like the Eisenfaust on a smaller scale, like a Tsuiraku-town Eisenfaust in tension with these Seeadlers. He hadn't had Rose's intuition that this young woman knew something about Therese. (And he hadn't been there when Therese and Mordan took the underground train, so he hadn't caught the reference.)

He saw Rose's facepalm but did not understand it. When the girls had gone off with a strange, heathen wizard to Parts Unknown in Port Lorrel, she'd seemed entirely unconcerned. Now they were at least talking to some kind of uniformed officials in front of a safe, well-lit building where no one was likely to try a kidnap. And now Rose was upset! The way Tim saw it, with a tiny bit of luck they'd have a secure place to wait where the others wouldn't have to watch out for those two while they went looking for Therese. At least, if they could be trusted to sit still for a few hours. Which they probably couldn't.

[Jack Rothwell]

"Why you groaning Rose?" Tamina inquired during the lull in conversation. "Pains? Aches? Sick stomach? Hangover? Got the healing magics. Could help you." She held up a suddenly glowing hand to demonstrate.

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose just sighed. "Thank you, Tamina, but I just -- miss Desiree and Anfisa. Do you know where they went this time, and why?"

[Jack Rothwell]

"Said they were going to an inn a short while 'go. Umm... went that way." The kobold pointed a claw in the direction the lovers had headed in.

[Alberich]

"They were heading toward that well-lit compound Ace pointed out before," said Tim. "Talking about wanting directions to an inn, and licenses to practice an immoral trade." He might've stopped there but something prompted him to go on.

"That promise you made," he asked Rose, "Does it seem to you you've been given the duties of a parent, without any of the authority? This is getting absurd."

[Graybeard]

"Do you ever feel you've been given the duties of a parent, without any of the authority? This is getting absurd."

"All the time," Sister Rose agreed, smiling softly despite her exasperation. "Don't you? You're a priest, after all."

She was going to say more, but the carriage was passing another side street, and the trio of Tsuirakuans could be seen at the end of the next block. These people are really good, she thought. Better than some of the recon people I had in Special Ops. Just what are they? This question too went unanswered for the moment, because her attention was drawn to the curious building the three were approaching, with an even more curious object out front. "What's that?" she asked Layla.

Layla nodded grimly. "I thought so," she said. "Temple of the Divine Dwarf. A weird religious cult, it's been making inroads in Tsuiraku too, I was --" She broke off and looked at Argus. I know where I've seen him before. "You've been there, haven't you? In Kiyoka --" She broke off again, realizing that she really shouldn't have tipped her hand like that.

--------------

The woman in the wheelchair introduced herself as Yoneko. "Let me see that, please," she said, taking the business card from the two travelers; her upper body worked just fine, although an observer could see that her legs were atrophied (or at least could have guessed it, since they were concealed by the Homeland Security uniform). Her reaction once she looked at it was much the same as the guard's. "Oh, Weave." However, she went a step further, and magic flared from her hands ... and she repeated the oath.

"This is -- most interesting," she said after a moment. "Thank you. I believe we can be of service to you. The next airship for Tsuiraku does not leave until morning, but by then Nansinu papers will be prepared."

[Alberich]

"All the time. Don't you? You're a priest, after all."

"Among our own," said Tim quietly, "we have the authority." He might've expanded on that point - but then Rose started asking about the strange temple.


* * *

"Oh, Weave."

Anfisa supposed she'd have to get used to strange oaths wherever she went. Well, if in Farrel they called it "sewing," maybe in Tsuiraku they called it "weaving." As far as she was concerned, you could call the melody whatever you liked. Just so long as, when the time came, you played it sweetly and on the right instruments.

"This is -- most interesting. Thank you. I believe we can be of service to you. The next airship for Tsuiraku does not leave until morning, but by then Nansinu papers will be prepared."

Good. Kitaura had sent a message ahead. (The thought that he might have magically encrypted it on the card, this did not occur to her.)

"Oh, wonderful!" said Anfisa. "Where should we wait?" She'd feel easier if they could transact the rest of their business indoors, and didn't really want to spend the wee hours standing alone on the side of the street just looking pretty. People might get the wrong idea...about her price, anyway.

[Jack Rothwell]

"Temple of the Divine Dwarf. A weird religious cult, it's been making inroads in Tsuiraku too, I was --"

"What are dwi-" The kobold's brow furrowed. She tried again, muttering at a level just below that of the current conversation. "De-wa... dwor... der-war... dwaa-ahh... do-woff.. <bugger it>, never mind."