Who the hell studies cannibalism?

Danny
(Awareness)

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Danny
*Danny was absorbed and for once it wasn't music filling his head, no he was going through notes, reading cross references and then going through the library using key words to build his search on. Firstly cannibalism, the cause of, the cults of, the reasons for.

That was the first step of looking for information, when he'd done that he went through the books again using more key words encouraged by this first search. He'd started with using music to help him concentrate, he'd even brought a writing pad doing this old school and college like. Something he'd not done for a couple of years, but he knew how to conduct a search, and with the entire of the day devoted to this, he finally sat up and groaned softly then got up to walk about barefooted. Moving to the french windows with something pre rolled, the door open and lit up. The day was cooling down but it was still warm enough for him to be able to step out side and have  quite little smoke.*

Kalen Holliday
[How awake are we?]

Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Kalen Holliday
[And how distracted by Resonance are we?]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )

Kalen Holliday
Kalen comes wandering outside a few minutes later, drinking a cup of coffee.  It has hazelnut syrup and cream and sugar and whipped cream because Kalen and coffee have this bizarrely variable relationship.  He at least looks like he's gotten some sleep recently, though there are still shadows under his eyes.

"Hey," He says quietly.

Danny
Hey... *He took the smoke down into his lungs and held it there, then let it out slowly into the air.* Just taking a break, but I'm onto something.  Okay... Cannibals, the history the whole lot, there's like fuckloads of em out there.  I mean all historical references cite back thousands of years to as recent as rumours of brazillian tribes still practising it today. So it's  big search.

Kalen Holliday
"Yes.  Cannibalism is a pretty broad topic."

Danny
Right so... Loads of cultures all chomping on eachother, some as funeral rites, some as victors over conquered people, some as offerings to the gods of their land.  Either way, it's all pretty dark. One commonly held assumption is that you can gain a person's strength by eating their flesh, though the details will differ as far as just precisely how this works. The heart is commonly mentioned as having a lot of significance, and some believe that it is the primary source of strength. While there is universal agreement that some Mesoamerican people practiced human sacrifice, there is a lack of scholarly consensus as to whether cannibalism was widespread in pre-Columbian America the Aztec economy would not support feeding them as slaves and the columns of prisoners were "marching meat". They did their whole blood alter thing, devouring hearts and other parts of the body to allow the dead guys spirit to kind of add some strength to the consumer.  So that's the history, but if we follow some of those facts and use them to bring up another keyword search you come to other thoughts and practises.

*He sets the smokable down in an ashtray then comes back into the library takes a book that's very old, he's been handling it with extreme paranoia. then hands it to Kalen.* Read this... *he taps on the page lightly he's pointing at.*

Danny
I know it's about theoretically dead magic... Before you go telling me I'm in the wrong tree or something.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen takes the book gently and scans over the page.  "You'd be amazed ow not dead magic can be...."

Danny
Yeah so... here's the theory, some dude stumbles across it by accident, or has been introduced to it.  From the sketches I saw by Lucy, these dudes are not mexican, or hispanic.  But if you read on, on the next page there's a footnote about curing the addiction. But addicts rarely want fixing.

Kalen Holliday
"That certainly sounds like some of what's been described.  If they're working with Aztec rites, it might be worth looking into what objects of power the Aztec used for battle.  Specifically, if they had them, the tools of good sorcery.

"And curing the addiction...well.  If we can save them we should.  But, addicts also need to want help, usually.  This is likely no different."

Danny
Yeah exactly.. and so.. that's all I got, I don't know if it gives you anything more to go on, I can keep on looking if you want? *he shrugs again.*

Kalen Holliday
"We may not get much more.  Not here, anyway. This is specialized.  We might actually be better asking a normal professor of history or anthropology if they know about this specific ritual.  It may be that there are records somewhere.

"I still have yet to hear back from the people I asked, so they may yet find us something.  We should update Ginger.  It is possible that Trent or Eleanor will have colleagues at the university they could ask, or that someone knows of someone who can help.  But this...we should see if this is in line with what Sera and the others have seen."

Danny
Well there's that other line. *He takes the book and reads out.* The physical boons last for a full 24 hours, but there are unpleasant side effects. The first is that those who participate in the ritual gain entropic resonance from it, and can be susceptible to Quiet.

Kalen Holliday
"Yeah.  Quiet is not good.  But...our priority is stopping them.  For whatever reason they became involved in this, and this is not at all the kind of magic that is easy to justify.

"I don't want to kill anyone we don't have to.  But...I doubt this will be bloodless."

Danny
Why can't we track them through that whole entropic thing? Kind of like, looking for the ripples in the pond, you find the spot in the middle? *He looks at Kalen.*

Kalen Holliday
"We don't have to.  We already know where they live."

Danny
Uh.... that was unexpected. *He blinked in surprise.* So, why was I rummaging in old books all day again?

Kalen Holliday
"Because knowing where they are is different from knowing what they are.  Also, because I only just found out we know."

Danny
Oh well... that's a start . *He sounds suprised.* Okay, so, is there a guy in charge?

Kalen Holliday
"No.  Welcome to Denver.  Here we just hivemind.  Or behave like a herd of cats, depending on the day."

Danny
*That got a stare and he blinked again not long after.* So we've all got to work together then.. I actually meant their guy in charge though.

Kalen Holliday
"Oh.  Yes.  They seem to, but we don't know much about that yet.  It's one reason for the research."

Danny
Well, perhaps he's the reason for them doing this in the first place, in which case, maybe he's the one swaying the others to do it? He's not stupid, why go out and take your own body when you can get some other dude to do it? *he sets the book down again.* What do you think as a work in progress?

Kalen Holliday
"I think we don't have enough information.  We don't know what the group taking bodies is doing.  I've asked Serafine, and I'm waiting on a response, but until I have details, we can't evaluate our theories."

Danny
Right... *he nods and sighs softly.* Well, at least we got somewhere.  I can keep digging if you want? What I want to know is where they got this supposedly dead ritual in the first place.  Not without stumbling over a book somewhere... or a guy with a psychopathic thought process?

Danny
(brb)

Kalen Holliday
"This is the kind of thing we can't really know now.  False assumptions are more dangerous than a lack of knowledge.  You need to learn that until you have enough information, you need to be comfortable not knowing.  It need not prevent you from acting, but knowing...it is good.  But you won't always know what happened, sometimes even after everything is over."

Danny
*He frowned at those words, his lips forming a line.* I guess you're not going to tell me what happens at the end, is there a reason why?

Kalen Holliday
"I don't know what happens at the end."

Danny
UH huh... *He nods finally.* Right. Okay.  Well tell me if you want more research done? I'll do what i can?

Kalen Holliday
"Star...I don't know.  Maybe we'll find more information.  Maybe we'll go in blind.  But I don't know what's happening, not with any certainty.  We could be dealing with a Mage.  We could be dealing with a possession.  For all we know the leader is the physical manifestation of an Aztec god.  That last one isn't likely.  But I don't know how this ends at all."

Danny
*His eyebrows shot up at that.* Some Aztec god? Like, for real?  Shit.... *His shoulders relax from their surprised stance and he moves to set the book back neatly where he'd left it on the desk, then sat down.* Well. I've written it all down.  *he nods to the pad.* That's all I could find.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen's hands settle on Danny's shoulders.  "You did good.  Okay.  This is good.  We know now this sounds like this ritual.  Having the ritual would be best, to understand how to undo it, but if this is right we might be able to help some of the people trapped in this.  I don't know to what end, you can't just let them go.  But...we have options.  Options are good.  It is, at least theoretically, possible they were compelled."

Danny
*There the frown was again.* I've done that....  I didn't realise I was doing it at the time, that night at the gig...  They were so vibrant, I could feel all of them so I decided to throw them a loop... and well, I just started singing Born this way by Gaga.... and.... I swear I didn't mean to.. I swear I didn't do it on purpose.  *he pauses.* It was like they were just extentions, we were linked.  Ripples from back to the front and side to side.   They were just... all there, all of them. Mine.  It was like I was being  made a part of something bigger.  The crowd though, they really did do everything I said. specially those at the front.

Kalen Holliday
Kalen sighs and starts to rub Danny's shoulders.  "Look.  It's okay.  You didn't know what you were doing.  Don't worry.  You couldn't have known."

Danny
Yeah, but I need to remember not to push things. Right? *He leans back into Kalens hands and closes his eyes.* What about you? You ever wandered in someones mind unwittingly?

Kalen Holliday
"No.  But...that is not something I can do."  He sighs.  "And yes.  You should not compel people, under most circumstances.  Awakening though...can be messy."

Danny
Yeah it was.... *He nodded.* I've avoided singing that, playing it... *he shakes his head.* I don't want it to happen again.  I want people to like my music for what it is, or hate it just the same.  What did you find? *He frowns an notices the shadows, then reaches up to stroke the shadow under Kalens eye.* You look like you didn't quite get the right amount of sleep.

Kalen Holliday
"Well.  Your magic is part of you.  It is arguably part of everything you do.  That doesn't mean what you do is any less.  Just that there are things you can manage other people can't.  It isn't...so different really from any other difference in innate ability."

Kalen smiles.  "I never do.  Don't worry about it."

Danny
*He leaned his head back though looking up at Kalen.* So, what now?  I mean, does this mean that I could help unspell them or whatever it is that happened? Un-Sith them?

Kalen Holliday
Kalen's phone chirps and he glances at it.  And then frowns.  And then sighs.  "Fucking Tytalans.  I might know who the head of this is after all."  He sighs and starts typing another message to Ginger.  "And I might know what some of this is about.  Are you familiar with the concept of Jhor?"

Danny
Uh......... *There was a shake of his head.* Jhor?

Kalen Holliday
"Yeah.  Okay.  That'll be an explanation.  Hold on.  This puzzle just got a lot less full of holes and I need to let like five people know right fucking now."  Tap-tap-tap-tappity-tap.

Danny
*Standing up and nodding, Danny merely began to put the books away that he'd gotten out over the course of the day.  Letting Kalen do what he needed to do.*

Grace
[Awareness!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Grace
The first thing they'll notice (if they don't already sense the presence of Grace, the way the universe warps around her) is a series of thumps and bumps from car doors slamming, and maybe from their vantage point outside, they'll even hear the rustle of her noisy entrance into the Chantry.

She's usually a lot more subtle than that. But usually, she's not carrying three large vampire pi atas and a plastic sack of (gummy) hearts. They get dumped on the couch in the living room, because someone is here. She didn't think he was going to be here just yet...

She slips off over toward the french doors, slides it open. "Hey. What's up?"

Kalen Holliday
After a moment Kalen stops typing.  "Okay.  Ginger is updated.  Now we'll have a delightful new round of people disliking the Order, probably.  But...things they need to know."  Kalen sighs.  "Jhor is...a certain kind of...energy.  It's...sort of like a death Resonance that can linger on a Mage.  And it leads to pretty disturbing kinds of Quiet.  I only know a little, actually, about it."

"Oh.  I think probably another Hermetic has brought a mess to Denver.  You know how we are.  Some of us are cool.  Some of us can't be bothered to not fuck up the world."

Danny
*He slowly turned and looked at Kalen from where he was putting a book back.* So, this guy came in like Jessie James and is leaving death and destruction in his wake? Why? I thought we were supposed to help mankind?

Grace
Kalen says that Ginger is updated, and Grace's face goes to 'thinking mode' for a split second before her hand goes to her pocket to retrieve her phone.

"Ohh, shit," she says, reading the messages. "Who the hell even 'researches' cannibalistic rituals? Maybe I should have a talk with Adam, Mr. 'Technology is like sacrificing babies'," Grace says, then takes a deep breath. "No. No. That would be bad."

"Look. Okay, I have no room to talk, really. I mean, Virtual Adepts made another universe that started eating our own, remora-like. And while it wasn't their fault exactly, they did make the thing. And one of them probably had romantic zombie-survivalist notions, and look where that got us all, right? Sometimes people are just individually fucked up. I get that."

Kalen Holliday
"Yeah.  And...honestly...it isn't as though other Mages don't turn out badly.  But...right after Lucia Montanari and Lucy asking me if I was just another power-mad Hermetic?  I almost wish I'd hidden it.  Almost."

He sighs and glances back to Danny.  "Awakening happens to people.  They are, by virtue of being human, flawed.  Not all of us do good.  Which is how you get Nephandi.  And a jost of other problematic things, including, most likely, this one."

Danny
*Grace says, who would research cannibalistic rituals and then glances uneasily at Kalen before clearing his throat.* I uh left something outside.. I'll uh... be outside. Smoking.

*Turning to Kalen when he spoke as well he listened.* Right, so this guy was sick and this just gave him a means to an end? So, uh... Yeah, I'm going to go wrap my head around this and smoke, you uh.. want some you know where I'll be.

*With that he vanished out through the door and when he was outside again he picked up the smokable he had left, relit it and began to smoke, enjoying the fragrance and the subsequent peace that came with it. Despite feeling more than a little worried, he'd not used his computer at all in the searches, he'd done it old fashioned and it was making him pace, as he looked back he could begin to understand why Kalen was so reserved.*

Grace
"Oh. Did I say something..." Grace says, and sighs. Any time someone just leaves abruptly like that, she thinks it's her own doing. Maybe Danny researches cannibalistic rituals?

In an attempt at stopping them perhaps?

"I said something wrong didn't I?"

Kalen Holliday
"Danny's been researching cannibalistic rituals, since...you know...cannibals.  And we may even have a way to stop these people's addiction and therefore their feeding in a way other than killing them.  I mean.  They also are kind of murderers and all, so I don't know how we'll handle it.  But...it means we have the option."

Serafíne
(Awareness and whatall.)

Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 8 ) Re-rolls: 2

Danny
*He was outside smoking.. staring out into the space around them around the house.  Just taking that puff on it, then holding it in his lungs before he exhaled it gently.* Bloody Cannibals, that is some fucked up shit. *he muttered to himself quietly.*

Elijah
What does Elijah do in his spare time?

Does Elijah even have spare time?

The answer is no, no he does not have spare time. All he has is whatever it is that he is doing at this particular juncture and he manages to balance his work, his social life, and the abundance of homework from various teachers and his mentor only by staying up entirely too late and drinking entirely too much coffee and then sleeping in and then starting the cycle of staying up/going to sleep/doing entirely too much and repeating. Thus far, it seems to be working for him, and his draems have skewed towards the bizarre.

Overall, not an unwelcome thing.

So, this is where he enters the scene, pulls up on a beat up motor cycle and takes off his helmet and exhales long and deep and- "Jeezus, it's actually nice out tonight."

He says to no one in particular. Perhaps the sky. He's been conversing with it a lot recently.

Grace
Grace screws up her face (at the wall) and then slides the door open again. "Danny. I'm sorry. I didn't mean you. I meant, how does one start studying rituals like that only to start doing them? I mean, studying vampires so you can kill them is a whole lot different than studying vampires so you can become one, right?"

She seems to be studying the sky herself, but bites at her lip. No, maybe... Maybe he just wants to be alone?

"I'll uh. You go smoke. Right."

Grace
[For the newcomers, there is a pile of vampire pinatas and gummy hearts on the couch in the living room. Enjoy.]

Danny
*He turned when Grace spoke to him, then even blushed at her words.* No, seriously Grace. I know why you said it and trust me. All the while I had to damned well keep thinking to myself, this is just research. Trust me. I've got no intention of uh... eating anyone.

Did Kalen tell you what got found? I'll be back in in a minute, unless you want some? *he even held it out for her.*

Kalen Holliday
"He hasn't been at this long.  This whole cannibals and danger thing...it's a bit new to him."  He settles into a chair.

"I don't think he'll hold it against you.  He's just unsettled by all this.  I'm not sure how he made it into a Tradition with so little training, but I guess I joined the tradition with insane amounts of training.  I got all the training.  From all the people."

Danny
Did Grace follow Danny to talk to him?

Grace
Yes.

Kalen Holliday
[*L*  I thought she was still in the library.  Reading fail.]

Grace
[I thought the situation was entirely different! Argh. It might be my reading fail. I didn't realize a library was involved.]

Serafíne
This is how she is.  Attuned, see.  Sometimes you think she's high and she's not just high or maybe not even high, simply aware of all the many layers of creation, and they way the strangest things bend them, like waves of light around the curve of -

well, fuck it.  See, Sera doesn't give a damn about science.  Doesn't understand it, doesn't know it, doesn't believe it it.  Fuck cells and quantum mechanics: she doesn't need them.  And so, for her, in the very small pocket of her reality, they do not exist.

Right now, what does exist is her forehead against the cool glass of the passenger's window, the rumble of the engine, the blur of the countryside.  Dan in the driver's seat and oh, here they are.  She smiles.

From the correct angle, it is more than a little bit sad.

--

Sera rocks up behind Elijah who is talking to the sky and she slips an arm through his own.  She is a little bit aching and a little bit tired and why the hell would Elijah know that?

She's always warm.  Tips her temple against the prominence of his shoulder and says, with a sideways smile, "C'mon, other folks are downstairs in the library."

Pays no attention to the pinatas and the gummy hearts except with - maybe - a kind of squeezing of her own.  Makes a stop in the kitchen for a beer and a bottle of tequila, though, before starting down the stairs to the library.  The bones of the house creaking not because she weighs so much, but because she's all stompy in her Doc's tonight.  Plus there's Elijah.

She's dragging him along.

(Apologies, my posts from here on will be shorter since it is early to be for me tonight.  :D)

Grace
[Anyway, Grace is not going to just let him go like that.]

Danny
The only thing I know for sure is Danny is outside smoking -something-

Kalen Holliday
[Whatever.  They can leave Kalen in the library.  He doesn't even care.]

Danny
(Danny is outside smoking. Just for clarify.)

Danny
:-P

Elijah
[Do I feel things? Per+aware]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8) ( success x 3 )

Elijah
And he is dragged, dragged we say! Inward and outward to people- yes, to people. He didn't care where they people were, so long as there were, in fact, people. He liked people, he had his arm in Sera's and there's a smile on his face- something familiar, something warm. He doesn't know that she seems sad, doesn't know yet, but he's content to be in Sera's presence and content to feel that visceral enthralling Sera-ness nearby.

"Bonjour! Nous avons apport  tequila," well, less we. More Sera.

Serafíne
(Hey, I didn't mean to ignore Danny, just given the posts I assumed that he was outside the library (which is downstairs from the main living area / down an open-out slope I think) rather than outside the garage where they'd pull up.  But if I'm wrong let's say that Sera with her massive awareness roll got an "I need time alone now will go back inside in five when this smoke is done," vibe from Danny and just gave him a chin up and wave/nod of invitation to follow them back inside and downstairs when he was up to it.  Cool?)

Danny
(Post around me for a bit.)

Serafíne
There's such a rigamarole to get into the library.  Sometimes Sera is so wasted she cannot manage the handprint, or remember the point of it, or keeps setting her wineglass down on the expensive electronics.  Today she does manage a handprint on the palm reader and whatever the fuck else the thing asks to usher her into the library.

"I have no idea what the fuck he just said," says Seraf ne.  "Except for tequila.  Tequila.  That part's true.  Hey."

Kalen Holliday
Kalen smiles when Serafine appears, and it is perhaps a distracted smile but it is still real.  "Tequila is the true part.  Got you.  How are you?"

And there, behind her, is Elijah.  Elijah gets a wave.

Elijah
Elijah kind of lives with Kalen, who gets a wave and a smile and he goes about what he was actually going to do- which was setting out book upon book upon notebook upon notebook and pens and- jesus Elijah looks like he prepared for the office supply apocalypse. Half of his notes are in French.

"Nous avons apport  tequila, means we brought tequila. The tequila part should always be true, because tequila? Is amazing."

Serafíne
Sera looks fine.  Refined somehow - thinner or sharper and bleeding through those edges the way she always does, but also somehow present, immediate, so very in-her-skin and she favors Kalen with a smile of her own, which is not full but also not at all distracted, edged perhaps but -

"They killed five young mages."  Sera, of course, lived through it all.  Carries it in her body, as one always does with death.  Kalen knows part of that already, but the details she has not shared on Ginger.  "One of them caught Zoe with a hook in her back.  She only survived because one of her friends sacrificed himself for her, and she has that something that makes it hard to remember her.  That ability to fade from notice.

"She landed safely though.  On a coast, near an ocean.  I got a text.

"Have you learned anything else?"

Somewhere in the middle of all that Sera finds a library table.  Sprawls across it, as you do.

Grace
Danny lets her shut the door. Apparently it is one of those 'must be left alone' things. And thus...

"Fucking foot in fucking mouth," Grace mutters, once the door is shut, once he can't hear. This was supposed to be a fun day, she thinks, looking at the pile of tissue paper and candy on the couch.

Can't have any of those, no sir. Gotta have cannibals eating people. Or vampires doing the same. Or universes eating universes. Or whatever it is. Everything eats its own in this world, apparently.

Morose, she makes her way back down to the library again, to crack the door.

Danny
*When it was finished he stubbed out the end and pocketed it when he was sure it was out, then zipped it out of sight, out of mind and made his way back to the library that was still strewn with his research notes on a table and a few more books on the nasty stuff he'd been looking into. All about cannibalism.

It was in Sera's speech that he reappeared, nodding to those gathered before he went back to where he'd been working and sat down, picking up the pencil with his left hand and moving the pad to before him.* Huh?

Kalen Holliday
"Tequila sounds pretty amazing right now," Kalen says to Elijah before he turns his attention back to Serafine.

"What I posted to Ginger like five minutes ago, which is, admittedly, only so much."  He runs a hand through his hair and then pulls out his phone, opens the picture of Victoria Drake, and holds the phone out to Serafine.

"Her name is Victoria Drake.  Hermetic, or possibly was, because this is the kind of thing that tends to get you excommunicated or quietly killed.  The Order is hunting her, and that may be what they planned.  She's suspected to be in this area, was exhibiting signs of Jhor before she vanished, evidence she had some cannibalism happening.

"Danny found an account of a ritual that grants additional speed and strength for 24 hours following cannibalism.  It notes the ritual can be addictive and also notes how the addiction can be broken.  I don't know if that changes any plans, but there is a chance they can be stopped without killing them.  They did murder people though, so...I really don't know.  I'm not even sure it will be possible to help them, under the present circumstances."

Elijah
he has his papers out, and whatever homework he was doing seems to be put to the wayside in favor of actual work. He takes notes, writes things down with names and circles and he stops and-

"But... I think we should help them. If we can help these people, I feel like we should because... I don't..." he stops, "what these people have done is horrible. We know that. But killing someone, legitimately ending someone's life so they go on to the next one should be an absolute last resort."

It bothers him. It very clearly bothers him. But he continues taking notes and making diagrams.

Serafíne
Tequila sounds pretty amazing right now.  Sera picks up her bottle and she didn't bother with shotglasses and salt and limes, so she just licks the edge of her tattooed hand to steal the salt from her skin and then tosses back a shot.

Holds out the bottle to Kalen, if he wants to take it.  Inhales, see, and goes a little bit far away, and glances at the phone.

The picture.

Shakes her head, no, before verbalizing it.

"Zoe never saw her, just the young men who attacked them.  She could feel someone inside and though she wasn't casting anything when Zoe and her friends were being attacked Zoe could feel her presence inside the house."

A brief, half-lashed glance toward Danny. "How can the addiction be broken?"

Grace
She steps in just before Danny does, and looks around a bit, listening to the conversation.

"Will they stop if the addiction is broken? I mean, someone here decided that killing and eating people was an okay thing to do to begin with, right? Who's to say they won't just do it again?"

Grace has been sighing all night it seems. She does so again, just in time to let Danny have enough space to enter the room. Well, enough space for Grace is about six feet, but you know. She just goes off to a corner without really looking at him.

"Hi Sera. Elijah. Should have said that first."

Danny
*And now he was happy.. He'd done a good job if he did say so himself, proved himself to be able to help in some small way.  Now he felt even better with that smoke, so when he resumed his seat he slouched in it a little more.*

Well you've got me there... *he shrugs apologetically at Serafinea.* Like any addiction I guess, remove the supplier and cut them off cold.  The worst part will be if they don't know they need help or do know and don't care.*He glances at Grace and smiles at her, then turns his attention back to the room.*

Kalen Holliday
"And what?  We don't have a jail for them.  They did decide to go eat people.  Unless they were compelled, which is not unreasonable but we have no idea right now.  There aren't a lot of really good solutions and the last person I tried to save we ended up killing anyway.  Saving people who are actively trying to kill you is practically impossible."

He takes the tequila from Serafine, takes a drink of it, and hands it back.  "I'm not saying we shouldn't.  I'm saying in my experience it doesn't work.  Just be ready for that.

"I'm going to contact the Order and see what they know about her and if anyone is in the area hunting her.  If anyone knows anything, and it is her, that might help.  Particularly if we go to her."

Danny
(It's nearly 3am here, I'm going to have to bail, Danny's passed on the information and now I think he's going to vegetate on a couch or something.)

Danny
(thnks for the scenes!)

Elijah
"Generally, you turn to less legitimate means when conventional means of making your situation better have failed. Addiction is a big deal- and imagine if you're used to feeling powerless or weak or hurt and suddenly you're not. And you might hate what you're doing, and you might want to stop at some point, but-" he stops himself. He really stops himself and takes a long breath.

"I don't know, I just don't think... killing people does not sit well with me."

Serafíne
"We don't know that, Grace.  We can't.   Uncertainty, right?  I don't know how much room there is for that in your paradigm, but I'm not prepared to execute people because we don't know how much of their behavior is based on the corruption and influence of a much stronger mind, or how much is based on their own sickness.

"I'm not a wheel-turner.  And unless it is necessary for self-defense I don't think we should kill them - execute them.  Even if they made a choice, they can make a different one.  A new one, and anyway there are so many other options.  Psychic healing, memory removal. Jail.

"I stopped one of them before, without time to prepare.  With enough time, I could probably - divert more of them from violence.  You'd probably have to deal with her on your own, though, if I'm occupied with diverting her worshippers."

The briefest, loveliest little smile.

"Something to think about.  Let me know what you find out, okay?"

--

Just then, Dan pops his head down the stairs, and beckons Sera to come deal with something on her phone.  Which she does, passing a kiss across Kalen's brow and one on Elijah's temple, with a little ruffle of Grace's hair.

Serafíne
(I also need to sleep my darlings!  ninini! thank you for the scene!)

Grace
"There's only the principle, a law writ into the fabric of reality, that you can never know the whole of anything with certainty. I mean, in my paradigm," Grace says, lets Sera ruffle her hair. Sera's the only one who can really do that.

"Killing people doesn't sit well with me either. That's why we have to do something about these guys. And if that does mean having to kill them because they won't back down? It's going to suck for the person who has to do it. But it's better one person dies than ten."

Kalen Holliday
"I think we agree that we don't want to kill anyone we don't have to.  I am, honestly, hopeful we can avoid that.  I'm just pointing out that the last person I tried to save did not want to be saved and forced us to kill her.

"And, I do understand addiction, but they are addicted to murder.  Murder.  In order to become addicted to killing people they had to kill people.  Maybe they do want to stop.  I pointed out that there was a way to help them because I wanted to try.  Not because I wanted to go on a killing spree.

"Anyway.  I'll see you both at home.  I have some calls to make.  To see if anyone knows anything about Victoria Drake that might save her. "  Elijah gets a look that isn't precisely friendly.  "Because, in case you forgot, saving people is what I do."

Elijah
[willpower?]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 6, 6, 8) ( success x 3 )

Elijah
"I'm gonna be in late, I have homework," he says. It's all he says. It's all he brings himself to say.

But he inhales, long and deep and meditative, and exhales just the same. Exhales because exhaling is its own process and he has a lot to process. Words he could say, wants to say, but has the tact and the self-control not to say. So, instead, he is just there. Silent, back to writing. Looking over his notes of the conversation as though there might be some solution there.

Grace
So they've said their individual stances on the matter. Whatever Elijah isn't saying will go unsaid, because Grace follows after Kalen. Not to join him at 'home', but to be alone herself. "I'll see ya," is all she says on her way out the door.

Kalen's the only one who seems to understand her point that this started somewhere -- that these people didn't just accidentally stumble upon getting addicted to murder. And wherever that starting point is? It needs to go do that somewhere else. On the other side of living might be for the best.

If they can save people? That's a mighty big 'if'. How many have been saved? None of the members of Hydra made it out of their self-fashioned deathtrap alive. Lucia Montanari didn't make it. And why? Because when faced with all the chances to turn away from what they'd become, they chose to double-down on hate.

Sometimes, it's just not up to a team of super-saviors to come and save the day. It's up to each individual to save themselves. And what if they don't want to? What is everyone prepared to do?

Kalen Holliday
Kalen's expression softens, and he lingers, just for a second.  "If you ask Danny, he'll probably show you the book from the library he found.  I need to make these calls, but maybe look for some Aztec healing or purification rituals.  We'll see what we can adapt, maybe.  Maybe something with symbols from something closer to home will help."  But then he does leave.

[Thank you for scenes!]

Grace
[Yes! Sorry for all the confusion.]