Leaving the edit program to loading the video, he initiates a data search to determine what their options are to get from here to home.

The stone still in his hand, he holds it out again towards Argent so they both can touch it to initiate the change. "You gotta see this."

As his vision snaps to the house, he reflexively bends his knees to lower his center of gravity; A benefit of martial arts training. Seeing the fire trucks, he opens another pan window sucking in video feeds from the security cameras he set up in the house. "Might not need to water those plants...."

As the results from his matrix search begin to spool in, Papa stops as his paranoia kicks up. He activates his scan program and begins to map all wireless signals in their area using the two drones to triangulate and pinpoint the source locations.

Papa

Pulling up the video feeds from the cameras around the house, you see the inside of the house is covered in dirty dishes, towels and laundry are cast about. Switching to the external cameras, you see the firetrucks are focussed on a small fire on the side of the house. It appears that a trash can may have caught fire and caused some residual damage.

Rene and Etain are out front, sitting on the porch wrapped in blankets with a fireman standing over them shaking his head.

Back on the hill, you find two nodes spread several kilometers apart, a good distance from you.

D'zan flies back down circling the head of Papa his voice clear and excited.

"One of the things we're seeking is west and south into the city. I can sense the others but there are much further distant. And what do you mean he might not need to water the plants?"

"Yes, um, why might I not need to water the plants?"

If they burned the house down, are you going to be mad at me for saying it? asks Quauhtli somewhat hesitantly, because I did not actually think they would do it. I mean, I did not think Etain even knew how to use an oven... Oh dear...

As Argent notices the tiny drones out hovering in various locations, and seeing the flow of data uploading to Papa's PiTO profile, a request to piggy-back on the newly created network ping's Papa Smurf's awareness from the shifter's commlink. He takes a deep breath, looking around with a broad smile on his face.

"Can you taste the smog, boys and girls? It's good to be home. So, look, as a general question...how're we getting home? I uh...I don't know if I've got enough for an air cab from here. Any thoughts? Besides...," he gives D'zan a glance, "...besides going through the metaplanes again."

Argent

The network recognizes the Access ID of your commlink and automatically meshes to provide a connection to the public matrix, though not the private network of communications.

//Welcome back!
//It has been 3 days, 17 hours, 19 minutes since your last connection.
//You have 273 new subscriber requests.
//Would you like to add all?

All
You hear a distant rumbling of a diesel engine, and a moment later a stripped down old dune buggy comes rolling over the top of the hill. The headlights are in your eyes, and make it difficult to see. It stops with a splash of dirt and loose rocks fifty meters away and a figure jumps out. He steps into the light and you see a NAN boy maybe sixteen.

"Neh he ma ha ih des ee... Umm, I mean... The wise woman said there'd be strangers near the cave. Do you need a ride to town?"

He has the accent of the anasazi boys who grow up out in the desert and come to town on weekends.

Papa says, tilting his head while looking off to the distance, "I take that back, the plants most assuredly need watering after all. I thought that was getting taken of- " he turns to look at Uetz. "I was wrong."

At the sound of an approaching engine, Papa fears some sort of security or police forces. He is visibly relieved to see a local. "Ho Chummer! If a wise woman sent you, we're the guys."

"That's good," Uetz replies to Papa, "as I gave Etain and Rene explicit instructions not to do so. The last time I left my plants in their care, I ended up finding my Dahlias in the trash and their pots replanted with Deepweed."

"Haha," he laughs in relief, "so...why did you say that I did not need to water the plants in the first place?"

Turning his attention to the boy, he nods gratefully. "I believe I speak for us all when I say that we would appreciate a ride back home."

Papa looks back at Uetz, "I thought the firemen might have watered them, but I was mistaken... And the dishes could use a good hosing down as well."

"Oh dear," Uetz says when he hears about the dishes, "I hope this is not 'Earth Day' all over again..."

"I swear to all the little gods and goddesses if my place went up in smoke I am going to find out exactly how ouch fresh organs go for on the black market." D'zan flies towards the vehicle and rests on the roof - cross-legged and smiling.

"HOME!"

Papa

That same warm breeze blows through your mind as numbers fill your head. Between 4,000 and 70,000 depending on quality and donor. Possibly more if a rare phenotype.

All

The young boy seems to take the generally positive vibe from your crew well and jumps back into the buggy. The front seats are sized for humans, but the back seat is a wide bench that could fit a troll without much problem. Once everyone climbs in, he begins rolling down the hill. After a few seconds, he pops the clutch and the engine revs to life. "Starter's busted, but I'm the only one my age in the tribe who knows how to drive."

You drive down the hill, across a park, and out into LA traffic. Without a matrix connection, its easy to guess it's around two in the morning. That's the only time traffic is light enough to not require gridguide and partner to lay down cover fire while you change lanes. The boy asks for directions as he drives, turning wherever you say to.

By the time you get across town, the firetrucks are gone, but the scent of smoke is still there.

Papa snickers. I think I like this. He recalls his drones and climbs into the buggy before answering D'zan. "Could fetch as much as 70k . What can you tell me about the donor?"

Argent's mouth turns down in a rueful mue when as he listens to Papa. "Firetrucks? Again?"

As the car pulls up to the scene, he tosses the boy a handful of Horizon scrip. "Consider it a tip!" he says with a wink, clambering out of the vehicle to review the damage to the place most of them had come to call home.

"Two eco-hippies with the collective IQ of a turnip." D'zan replies with acid dripping from his voice as he flies from the vehicle and makes his way to the access point in the ceiling that leads to his room to see the damage done.

"Don't let him bother you - he's just feeling the irritation of being back here in the mundane world again. He'll be alright in a bit." Leo smiles reassuringly at Uetz. "We should see if your friends are alright - I suspect we have have been gone for far longer than it seemed. Time does strange things in the metaplanes and we moved between two locations, increasing the odds we have lost time here." He flies after his companion to their rooms.

Saturday -- July 16, 2072
All
The young boy gives a wave and drives off, with a pocket full of scrip.

Surveying the house, it looks like a go-gang, two sororities and a frat house all had a three day long party in your living room. Clothes, dishes, and fast food cartons are everywhere. The kitchen looks the same, with two pony kegs tipped over and a puddle forming beneath them. Outside, you can see one of the trash cans appears to have caught fire. There is superficial damage to the house itself--singed roof supports and smoke stains along the stucco.

D'zan
Your private area seems to have been saved from the walking tornado of mess in the public part of the house. Smoke from the fire seeped in, and there is the smell of garbage and human waste lit on fire, mixed with the chemical scent of fire suppression systems.

In the living room

Rene and Etain are sitting wrapped in the floor rug. The dryad is weeping, and a rash seems to have broken out across her cheek and neck. She looks up with accusing eyes at Uetz, from beneath the troll's comforting arm.

"Where have you been? It's been, like, four days. We didn't know what had happened. Rene's new band came over, and the music was good so I like, didn't worry. And then...then, your girlfriend came over and said that you were moving in with her, and that we had to leave. I thought we were going to be able to stay with you. I thought we mattered to you....do you really wish that we were dead? That's like what she said, that....that you hated Rene's music!"

Argent groans as he surveys the damage, and he's just about to cast an accusing eye over at Uetz when the dryad starts in with the wailing. With an arched brow, he leaves the young druid...er, whatever he called himself, and headed into the kitchen and the rest of the house, wading through the collected trash and debris strewn around the room.

If even one of my suits are ruined...

"Thank you," Uetz says to Leo gratefully. "I am sure that once Etain has a chance to say that she is sorry they will feel better. That is usually what happens with everyone else. It is a dryad thing, I guess."

Looking over the damage to the house, Uetz breathes a quick prayer of thanks to the Feathered Serpent for sparing the house from another "Earth Day" disaster.

I should have suspected that they would have failed to burn the house down, quips Quauhtli, as they have a tendency to fail at almost everything. Still...I will never again mention the possibility again, just in case doing so tempts fate...

When he gets inside, Uetz starts taking mental notes of all of the damage. He resigns himself to the bitter fact that he will have to help with the clean-up, but he intends to have Etain and Rene do their fair share of work as well. When he sees his two friends wrapped up in a dirty floor rug, he feels a strange mix of humor and concern at their sorry appearance. Before he can say or do anything, Etain starts speaking.

Girlfriend??? Uetz and Quauhtli mentally say to each other the moment Etain finishes.

You are not keeping secrets from me, are you? asks Quauhtli

I did not think that was even possible, replies Uetz, but I should probably deal with the first things first. Let me try to heal and comfort them and then figure out what is going on.

"Hermanita," Uetz says apologetically, "I am sorry for being gone so long. I followed my friends through a strange rift into the metaplanes. What has been days for you has only been a few hours for me, and if I could have come back sooner then I would have done so. However, it looks like you are hurt. Let me tend to that rash, and then we will discuss how you and Rene are going to help me clean up this mess.

"As for this 'girlfriend,'" he continues as he searches his pocket for his power focus, "I can assure you that I have not found a novia during my time here. Can you tell me anything about her? What did she look like?"

Argent

There are several dirty handprints on your door, and what your nose tells you is saliva from someone licking the keypad. Otherwise, it appears that the basic lock you put on the door was sufficient to keep the neanderthals at bay. Within your room, the air is stale and laced with smoke and chemicals from the fire, but there are no signs of any other damage.

Uetz

The dryad looks up at you with her large blue eyes, still glistening with tears.

"She was pretty, prettier than me. Long dark hair and eyes, with perfect skin. She wore a little locket around her neck that had a picture of you and her inside it. How could she have that if you aren't dating?"

Rene looks at you and shakes his head. "Man, I know you miss home. A smoking hot chica comes along, it's a guy thing, I get that, but to throw us out on our ass... It's just cold. I thought you were different from the other scum, but looks like the 'life' finally got to you. Now you're thinking you're a cold hard killer, all pro, and everything. But I think you're a dick. Maybe we should go, and just leave you to live your little life with your new chica and these guys who are more important than us."

With the last comment, Rene sweeps his hand to gesture at Papa and the rest of the team, who have retreated to their rooms.

"I certainly do not have a girlfriend. Locket? Pictures of me and her? And who is saying that you are getting kicked out?" Uetz crinkles his brow in frustration, gently touching Etain's rash while casting a heal spell. He starts to feel frustrated that he finds himself on the defensive, thinking that he is the one who should be getting mad based on what Etain and Rene had done to the house. If anyone should be making accusations here, it's me he thinks to himself.

Shhh, this is a good thing! They just offered to leave! How often will that happen? Quauhtli says, halfway sarcastic and halfway sincere.

Uetz ignores her for the time being, pinching the bridge of his nose as the tell-tale sinus pains of a headache begin to set in. All of this junk in the air is making it even harder for me to think. After taking a moment to compose himself, Uetz starts talking again.

"Okay, clearly there is a mistake here. I mean, anyone can shop a photo on the Matrix nowadays. Did she leave a--- Sabeis que---I mean, you know what? Let us get back to the main issue here. You are both welcome to stay here as long as you like so long as you help me clean this unholy mess up. As long as there is junk in the air, there is no way I am going to be able to think clearly enough to figure all of this out. Once we finish cleaning up, then we are going to talk about this supposed 'girlfriend' of mine."

"Wow. This place looks worse than...." He stops and focuses for a moment. realizing he's mostly talking to him, he continues anyway. "..than anyplace I've ever seen." As he walks through, he begins searching the historic security video to catalog the party go'ers. D'zan would probably pay for such a list....

When Rene gives his little speech, ending in the flamboyant wave, Papa just cocks his head to the side and continues to watch the exchange. He focuses his search on the details given by Etain.

Uetz

The spell sinks into Etain's flesh but does not change the redness. Seeing you care, the two finally seem to hear the words that you are saying. Rene stands up, leaving the dryad under the rug, and begrudgingly heads into the kitchen to get some trash bags. He comes back with a handful of trash bags and several red plastic cups of beer.

"May as well drink it, it's starting to get warm and isn't any good then." He puts the cups in front of you, Papa and Etain. Slowly, with the air of someone who would rather be doing anything but this, he begins putting trash into the bags.

Papa

Scanning through the footage, you see that for the first few hours, both of the "children" seemed to not even notice that any thing was out of place. Then, they began walking around the house shouting and realized they were alone. Shortly, a group of people arrived with improvised musical instruments--trashcans, large rusted saws and what looks to have once been the radiator of a car, strung with cords.

The band practiced for several hours, then more people showed up, then more people...Somewhere leading into the twenty-four hour mark, alcohol began flowing freely rather than just from hip flasks. The party continued until about six hours ago, when a woman walked in. As soon as she came in, all eyes were immediately on her and conversations stopped. She is beautiful as described, wearing a very tight short black dress and stilleto heels. The woman appears to be hispanic or Aztlaner, with long black hair pulled back. There is a golden locket around her neck.

As she talks, most of the people immediately find somewhere else to be, until it is only Rene and Etain in the room. She talks to them, opening the locket and then leaves. Both of them sit unmoving for almost an hour, and then go outside. A few minutes later, the flickering lights of flames begin and they come running inside and grab household objects and cleaners to start throwing at the fire. It is obvious they are grabbing large containers of liquid, but never seem to go for the sink or a hose.

Uetz grabs a bag and a red cup. He offers the cup to Etain.

"I am sorry, but it looks like it is that kind of rash again. My magic can do nothing. Oye, tomala. Drink this and try to calm down a bit, as that should at least keep it from getting worse. After we finish cleaning and talk, I will take you to the drug store to get some lotion to treat it. Depending on the condition of my plants, we can try putting aloe on it in the meantime. I have some pruning shears in my room. If you cut off a leaf, I will apply it for you."

He grabs one cup for himself and chugs down the near-tepid beer, now realizing how thirsty he had been after not having anything to drink for hours. A moment later, he also remembers that beer is not the best thing to drink on an empty stomach. However, he ignores the rumbling of his digestive system and chucks the empty cup in the bag. He joins Rene in picking up trash.

"It looks like you had one hell of a party," he says in an attempt to lighten the mood, "and I am sorry I missed the new band. Do you have a name for it yet?"

As the video races by at high speed in an AR window, Papa gulps down the beer. He heads in for another about the time he reaches the party in the footage. A second beer and he stops in the middle of the kitchen. "Oh hell"

Papa paused both his game of Rambo XVII: Dragon Hunter and both P2.0 feeds he was tracking in order to focus on the woman and her locket. He captures and enhances a still of the locket and begins a web search while he finishes watching her interact with the duo. He makes his way back to Etain and Rene to determine if a bit of scrutiny with his new vision will provide him any insight.

D'zan flies down from the loft area of the apartment to look at the general chaos that engulfed their home. He sees the others checking their things and looking around. A open look of disgust passes across his face at the sigh of Etain and Rene. He flies towards Papa looking for that unfocused stare that usually means the troll is lost in AR or VR again.

"Do you have any video or pictures of the party goers? If so I would love a hard copy so I can go tell them how much I appreciated their enthusiasm in my spare time. How long before you think we're going to head out to start the job?"

The last part he broadcasts to the room including the other runners in the question as Leo glides his way to where Etain is with a look of sincere compassion on his face at the effects of the environment are having on her. He looks to Uetz while speaking.

"The sooner we right the flat the better - she is responding to the area around her and I am fairly confident if we clean all this up her skin will clear up as well."

"I was hoping that the rash was just something from the party, but it looks like it is the downside of being a dryad," Uetz says to Leo. "I think the three of us can take care of cleaning the house if you have something else to do. Feel free to help, though."

He heads in from the back of the house, feeling a little more civilized now that he was dressed in real, clean clothes again. He catches the last bit of Uetz's statement, and snorts in response.

"Your friends, your party, your mess. I'm just glad they didn't do any permanent damage." He clears a pile of plastic cups off of one of the chairs nearby, inspects it again just in case, and then flops down.

"Alright, nobody's going to have a good place to live if we don't get this job taken care of, so why not leaving the cleaning to your friends, since they're not going to pick up a gun and come on the run with us, and help us figure out what we're doing next? D'zan, you said you had a location on whatever it is we're hunting first? Can you give us a distance, too?"

He pulls up a Greater LA map into public A.R. space as D'zan responds, swiveling and rotating to try and give them an idea of what's in the indicated direction.

D'zan flies over to Argent resting on the top of his head. Leo begins to clean up the mess as plans are discussed.

"I felt it pulling to the west and south into the city - I could smell old leather and musty parchment. I think if we get closer I can get a better fix exactly where."

Papa

There is nothing of interest coming up when you search Locket. Facial recognition doesn't show anything in the top PITO feeds. Thinking on her, as you focus your mind on to the other consciousness, this is the agent, the seeker of the Endless.

All

After a few minutes of the cleaning, Rene and Etain look to have it under control and begin working in the kitchen to give you the illusion of privacy.

Papa quickly assembles and sends a report to the team including a snippet of video of the woman enthralling Rene and Etain. He titles her: The Agent, Seeker of the Endless. Like having my own private matrix of the mojo.

"Check your comlinks. Seems the opposition is already in play. Somebody should also make sure that the party team isn't somehow enspelled."

He finds his way to the troll sized recliner in the living room, clears a spot and sits.

Uetz shrugs off Argent.

"The three of us can handle cleaning things up. However, I need to make sure that my friends are all right. I will be but a moment. Just spend that time on 'Pitter Patter,' or whatever it is you call that online site."

He follows Etain and Rene into the kitchen with trashbags filled with garbage. He sets it down on the ground before checking with them.

"I have to go back out there and hopefully clear all of this up. Can you take care of the rest of the mess? I am going back to my room to pick up my comlink just in case we leave. Hopefully, I will not myself walking into any more metaplanes."

With that, he runs up stairs and grabs his comlink. He spots his gun sitting out on his desk along with filled clips, and he decides to pocket it along with two spare clips full of ammunition. Seeing his aloe vera plant on the way out, he gently prunes off one of the thick, succulent leaves and then heads back downstairs. Once back in the kitchen, he carefully applies the sap onto Etain's rash.

"This should at least make it feel a bit better until it finally goes away," he says to her. He then walks into the living room just in time to join in the conversation.

"I could call forth Xipil, Mistress of the Fire, to scour this place for astral signatures," he offers just before performing his own assensing scan of the house.

Uetz

Looking around the astral space, there are no visible astral signatures. You can taste the chaos and disorder in your mouth like smoke from a razed acre of the jungle. With the commlink in hand, you can see the timestamps from the images that Papa sent out. All but the most powerful of magics would have faded over the time, since the woman was here.

D'zan flies above Argent and taps him on his head with his feet.

"Make with the talkies - give me something that I can look at so I can help you poor souls."

Leo flies by carrying debris to the trashcan in the kitchen pauses to interject a comment.

"I could attempt a divination but if this is the entity the oracle spoke of we should tread carefully."

Papa reviews the video... Ok, let's see what there is to- Look Boobies!

Argent grumbles at the pitter patter of little feet. "One of these days you've got to join the 21st century here. Pappa," he tries to snap the troll out of his mammary-induced revery. "Can you project something? I keep forgetting to get one of those 'I-can't-bother-to-get-some-custom-made-goggles' projectors for our tiny friends here."

He pores over the video as arrangements are made or not, as Papa's gear allows. "Look, based on the area D'zan's indicating, there's not a lot of options for real books that smell. Or visa versa. So, we're talking either Downtown or Santa Monica here."

He pulls up maps of the relevant areas, overlaying what he's able to provide in information over top, filling AR with the mashup of tourist locations and shadowrunner notes.

"I may be able to tap Naiomi for more relevant information if we have a specific question."

Papa
Scanning through the footage, you notice that a group of people all went into the kitchen and didn't come out for about an hour. Pulling up the kitchen footage, you see two very drunk woman dancing on the countertop. Etain has her clothes on, but is gyrating her hips in a series of fast thrusts and slow sways. The other woman, one of the band's groupies or friends perhaps, doesn't have the same inhibitions. She has several augmentations, including an ability to contort in remarkable ways.

Uetz
You watch the scene which Papa flagged, the party is going in full swing. You see the crowd all melts away as the woman enters. As she speaks, the guests all suddenly realize they should be somewhere else. You have the gut reaction of animals in the jungle fleeing from a large predator. She is beautiful as described, wearing a very tight short black dress and stilleto heels. The woman appears to be hispanic or Aztlaner, with long black hair pulled back. There is a golden locket around her neck which she shows to the both of them, but it isn't in the view of the camera. As she is bent over to show Rene and Etain the locket, you see a quick flutter of wind which blows their hair back--a telltale sign of some kind of magic being used.

Argent
Watching the scene, you are stricken by similarities of the woman and the image of Locket which was seared into your mind. Her height and build are the same, just the skin tone and facial structure are different--nothing that an adept couldn't change. Upon seeing the locket around her neck, you are almost certain it is her. Rewatching her entrance, you see that as soon as she walks in many of the faces get a little skittish. You've known people who had similar reaction with animals, and whatever she said seems to have shaken the last bit of resolve out of the band and friends.

All
The AR map is laid out with pinpoints for Greenstreets, Electron Skies, Jazz Nights, and a double star on Casanova. A broad stretch of Downtown is cloaked in red shading. Most of the sights are nightclubs and restaurants--Casanova is a casino, stylized in a 1920s mystique along with a smoking room library. The red shading covers all of the hot spots and is Horizon's latest civil improvement--the Automated Crime Prevention System.

In Studio City, you see UCLA tagged for a large library, and the corporate arcologies for Horizon and Aztechnology.

Uetz watches the party scene, sharing mental notes with Quauhtli as the video feed plays.

And cue the Etain happy dance, he thinks to himself when he sees her climb up on the table to dance with drunken disregard next to the other naked woman. He does not recognize her, but finds himself carnally intrigued by her talent for contortion...among other things.

Keep focused, Quauhtli says, and Uetz returns his attention to the vid.

When he sees the woman enter the video, he scrutinizes every detail about her in hope of finding an answer to his many questions. Does he know her? Have they ever met before? What are her measurements and does she have a "good twin" who is available and interested? While he comes to the conclusion that he has in fact never seen this woman before, he notices her magical aptitude and predatory mannerisms---almost like a mystical jungle cat...a jaguar.

Tezcatlipoca? he thinks to himself. The idea sticks inside of his head, drawing together other circumstantial evidence to weave together a full blown crazy conspiracy theory. Tezcatlipoca is a malevolent trickster god who sows discord, and the oracle mentioned him as a potential seeker of the book. Tezcatlipoca was the nemesis of his own deity, Quetzalcoatl, and severing Uetz from his good friends would be one way to persecute him. Finally, his other group of friends had just made deals with metaplanar denizens, like striking deals or carrying stones, and this is clearly his punishment for not speaking out against it at the time.

"Um," he says after letting his mind finish its wild train of thought, "I have never seen this woman in my life, but it looks like she is a magic user. Just look at how perfectly her hair moves when she bends over to show off the locket. Also, I have a really bad feeling about this, like Tezcatlipoca is involved in this. Remember all of those beings the Oracle listed when she mentioned the 'Book of Enoch?' He was one of them, and call me crazy, but I get the feeling he is involved somehow."

"Well, we can't rule out anything at this point. I'm pretty sure that's Locket, in one incarnation or another. It would make sense with the way the crowd reacted, and she's probably pretty much made of magic. I'd like to steer clear of UCLA if we can, unless we're all agreed that we're going to break something.

I'd say let's start with Cassanova, that kind of style is sure to draw anything that dresses like that," he motions towards Locket's stiletto heels and dress. I can swing a call with Naiomi and see if she could get us a little time to look around the arcology hard copy stores. Aztechnology I'm not so sure about...anybody know anybody that might be able to help?"

He's already pulling up a second window as he's talking, dialing up his some-times fixer's number and putting the call through.

No longer distracted by the gyrating woman, Papa turns his attention to the conversation. "Oh yea" He pulls out his com and flips open the small screen and plays the footage for the other members of the team.

D'zan pushes off Argent's head and gives the footage a once over.

Argent

The window flashes twice as the call connects and you see Naiomi's icon load in and hear her voice heavy with sleep.

"Mmm, yes, Argent? What can I do for you at....." There is the sound of fumbling objects on a nightstand, and you pick up the quiet rustle of fabric. "at three in the morning."

D'zan
You watch the feed from the screen on Papa's commlink. The small monitor is larger than your torso, and has a crisp image. The woman moves through the crowd, like the sluagh amongst goblins. Here is a being of power amongst mortals, and her presence is tangible in the shivers that run up the spines of many of the band's hanger-ons. You see her begin the speak, and can only imagine the power accompanying her words as the room quickly empties of everyone but Rene and Etain. An impossible breeze ruffles the being's hair as she bends down to show them something hidden within her necklace. The contents are hidden by the curtain of her hair, but you feel certain that magic was used in that moment.
She leaves and the two of them sit absolutely still for a few moments and then some sense of life comes back to them and you see the small fidgeting. After an hour, they rise and go outside--soon flames appear, flickering through the window.

D'zan giggles at the sight of the two demoralized eco-freaks and flies his way to hover by them as he speaks.

"So she showed you the locket and you saw what exactly? Then you started a fire outside - why? Think carefully - how did the idea start? Did you both have the same notion before telling the other? Did you see what she did after talking to you? Did she touch anything or leave anything behind? Think!"

D'zan

As you hover over them, Rene cringes for a moment as if expecting some doom or painful mischief. He straightens after a second and says, "yeah, she showed it to us. It had Uetz and her kissing. She said they were in love and getting married--that the first thing he would do when he got back was yell at us and throw us out with the garbage."

Etain pipes in at this point, "we were just sitting there and Rene said 'not if there isn't any garbage,' and I got up and tossed the rags from the garage on the trash pile, then it just started burning. Then we realized our stuff was inside, and it would be burnt if the fire wasn't stopped. Like, without Rene's instruments we couldn't keep the band.

"I don't think she touched anything. She just talked to us, and we were sitting there. I don't really remember much, until Rene said something. Just thoughts..."

D'zan hovers closer to Etain and tries to sound less irritated than he feels.

"What thoughts exactly? Can you tell me please?" His face feels strange and distorted as he tries to look reassuring and friendly to this silly woman.

D'zan

"uhhh... Like that Uetz'd be gone, and forget us, but we could show him. We could make sure he remembered us." The dryad's voice falters, as she gropes for the words.

Rene looks at her, and dumps another glass of stale beer down the sink before tossing the cup in the trashbag. "I remember just wanting to break it all, I was supposed to...supposed to...yeah that's right."

All

There is a sudden rush of air into the kitchen, as a two meter call column of fire appears. Heat pours off the mobile conflagration, and you can see the paint beginning to peel and the cabinetry char on the edges. It twists and turns, blue-white flames trapped inside the orange-yellow flicker of the column looking around hungrily. You watch as it locks its focus on Uetz.

As the air changes, Papa smiles and initiates the smurf-atron video filter applet while he rushes towards the kitchen sink and the faucet hose with one hand, turning on the flow of water with the other. "Been enough fires 'round here."

"Locket? I have no idea what you're talking about, seeing some girl with a Locket before. Of course, that could all be part of Tezcatlipoca's trickery..."

Uetz retreats into his mind as he sifts through possible options. It is entirely possible that one of these pacts involved him, but which one...or maybe it's teh entire quest that we are being sent on? Hmm, better consider the possibility of appeasement by sacrifice. I never thought that I would have to relive the horrors of Prof. Portillo's "Human Vivisection and Sacrifice 101" again, but it might be for the best if it saves the world...now where can I acquire the appropriate obsidian knife?

His stream of consciousness is immediately and roughly redirected when the malicious pillar of fire bursts into the house.

"Pinche brujeria del diablo!" he exclaims as the unavoidable confrontation begins to unfold.

"Naiomi! I know it's early, but business never sleeps right? Opportunity knocks at all kinds of odd hours? Look, I've got this thing going on, and was wondering if there's some helpful little service I could provide in exchange for a quick look around the Horizon archology libraries...." His voice trails off as the conflagration fill the kitchen space, charring the counter-tops that they'd scrounged from that drug dealers house after he'd gotten popped, and burning the cabinets they'd paid for with part of that job out on the boat that had gone so poorly.

"Mi dios! Look, Niaomi, a bit of a thing has just popped up in the kitchen, and it's like 6 feet tall and on fire, so I'm going to have to call you back."

All
As the spirit materializes in the kitchen, you see a shamanic mask spring around Rene. Ghostly ivy tendrils wrap around him, and the air bends and distorts with raw mana.

Leo
Tendrils of energy hidden within Rene's aura flare to life as the spirit materializes. You can see a locket around his throat, the chain constricting the aura. The raging column of fire has a similar locket deep inset within the flames. More troubling are the black thorns are sprouting up from the ivy--instead of a healthy and whole plant, it feels poisoned and radiates hatred.

Papa
As Rene vanishes under the translucent ivy, you watch the ivy darken and grow long spiky thorns. There was a news article tagged in the PITO feeds that you follow of fruit trees from the jungles of South America that smelled sweet and attracted animals and metahumans to it--then strangled them. The branches of the trees had the same thorns and released a poison able to paralyze the strongest creatures.

Argent
With your hurried good-bye, Naiomi hangs up on you. As the icons fade from view, you see Etain stiffen. A ghostly locket hangs loose around her neck, though the medallion is sprouting small tendrils into her skin.