Dave, acknowledging the fact that magic only seems to givith him things so that it may immediately takith them away or fuckith him over with them, once again, tries to get more spells, because he finds it highly unlikely that he'll get out of here without some serious magic happening. Lighting another match, he observes the flame with his clown.
[Dave's mind roll: 4+2]
And once again he tumbles through a massive mindscape, hovering above a vast plain. There is no vegetation as far as the eye can see, and no water is present, either. Dave tries to breathe in, but finds that there is no air. His clown honks its nose sadly, and his pig begins to flip out as it realizes that it can't take in any oxygen. All is dust around Dave, and the atmosphere ripples as he observes it. The world is silent.
Dave looks around, and sees a nearby mountain - there appears to be a cave atop it, and light is emanating from it. With a single thought, Dave finds himself at the entrance, and ventures in despite the pig's attempts to do its own thing. And, once inside, he finds... nothing at all. For some reason, he is struck by a sense of profundity, which slowly begins to fade as he returns to the world of dentures.
1. Happy Smut Barrier
2. Pigeon Barrier
3. Sabotage Angel
Still interesting! Take whatever you like!
* * * * *
Eta lets Lois continue her rest - she obviously lacks the necessary mettle to live on five hours of sleep or less like most responsible adults do, and easing her into the cold, harsh reality of everyday life is probably best. After fixing up an improvised breakfast (a process made slightly difficult by the fact that of what she brought here, about three quarters by mass are carrots) for both herself right now and for her friend to eat later, she sits down by the TV and begins to watch some muted news. It takes her a moment to realize that she's still on Channel 97 and that the guy cosplaying as Sam Elliott on what is probably their resident news show doesn't seem to be a big fan of captions or quality pictures, and she promptly changes the channel to something more informative. The national news seem altogether less distressing than feared, and no pictures of Eta seem to be available there. Guess counter-terrorism technology has a ways to go before overnight perpetrator identification and capture.
Eta reflects that it would be funny if a special forces team busted down her door just as she thought that. Fortunately, it appears that life, while funny, does not appear to feel like being an asshole to her this fine morning. It is a bit funny to see the caption "DOWNTOWN DINGO DETONATION SAFELY AVERTED" beneath the vivid image of trucks carefully driving several miniature thylacine pillars down the streets of the city as the sun begins the arduous process of rising.
Ah well, no time to dally! Eta quickly gets dressed, writes Lois a note with instructions about breakfast and information on her absence, then heads out of the hotel. There seems to be a different guy at the reception desk, but he pays Eta no mind as she leaves.
Outside the hotel, the streets are pretty quiet, cold and dark, just as an early bird like Eta likes them.
* * * * *
Halesey quickly scoops up whatever cash he can, somewhat miffed at the way all of it seems to be sprayed with some kind of orange crap, and, after stuffing whatever he reasonably can into his jacket pockets, runs off, quickly popping into a grocery store on the way to the bar and buying some loose onions to get one of those cool reusable bags. Hopefully his buddy will have something promising lined up!
* * * * *
Larry, currently in the process of waiting for his buddy, scopes out the population of the bar, and quickly determines that there is nobody of interest here - bunch of old, drunken farts, that's all. Seems like attendance has bottomed out at this hour, pretty much.
But Larry, savvy fellow that he is, immediately thinks back to the layout of the surrounding neighborhood, and remembers that there are at least three secluded alleys in the area that he could get some action in, or even provide some should the mood strike him. These thoughts keep him occupied until Halesey, all dressed up and with places to go, shows up at the bar, looking a bit tired out, no doubt from all that running he seems to do.
* * * * *
John, after agreeing to a date with Mr. Lee's friend, tries to load up on new spells before his departure.
[John's mind roll: 4+1]
With an atypical sense of urgency, he catches a whole bunch of spheres like nobody's business and quickly makes a selection.
1. River of Thundering Soup
2. Fragment Cocaine
3. Inspire Cassowary
Well, at least nothing went wrong. Pick a spell.
Making his choice, he pedals on back to Mills High, and stops only when he has reached the friendly sight of the Git Ur Things secondhand clothing warehouse, the best friend of fashion-conscious people with absolutely no money since 1989. John wonders where the person he's supposed to meet might be, and whether he knows who John is. He'd assume so - after all, Mr. Lee didn't tell John what this person looked like or anything. Outside the store in the rather sparsely populated parking lot there appears to be a man in a suit checking out a closed hot dog stand, a middle-aged lady messing around with her car engine, a muscular, shirtless man covered in tattoos sitting on a bench and relaxing, and a fellow in a laborer's shade playing a koto right next to the entrance.