Start of #Mage buffer: Sun Aug 30 08:29:09 2009 [17:52:12] * Now talking in #Mage [17:52:46] * Dmitrii (senranda@bas1-unionville55-1177733668.dsl.bell.ca) has joined #Mage [18:01:41] * EriA (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 180 seconds) [18:02:51] * Once upon a time in Boston, two weeks after the beginning of the start of the fall semester, something terrible happened. But that's happening somewhere else. It's just after evening classes have finished, and the night's humidity has settled in. As students pack up, and building custodians get ready to lock up, the day's only really starting for many in the city. [18:04:22] * EriA (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) has joined #Mage [18:07:17] * As the student body begins to funnel into the subways, the streets oddly clear from cars, you hear a police siren in the distance. [18:07:23] [Session start] [18:08:33] * Lily looks around. [18:09:27] * Dmitrii was absently reading a small pocket novel he had started last week. He glanced around, curious as to why there'd be a police siren in the area. [18:09:42] * EriA (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 180 seconds) [18:12:43] * Lily and Dmitrii see a pair of police cruisers heading through an intersection down the street, heading towards Harvard Square [18:14:23] * Lily frowns, and hopes it's nothing serious. She starts heading home. [18:17:34] * Cheeseball (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) has joined #Mage [18:18:09] * Dmitrii is kind of curious, but only watches the police cruisers go down the street and listening to the siren while heading his own way. [18:18:40] * Cheeseball perks her ears from where she's sitting unobtrusively on a bench, reading a book. [18:18:45] (( Gah, sorry. )) [18:18:48] * Cheeseball is now known as EriA [18:19:08] * EriA perks her ears from where she's sitting unobtrusively on a bench, reading a book. [18:21:18] * Meanwhile, at Emerson, Natalya and Rose's last classes are getting out. Rose stretches, getting her unfolding herself from her chair, and begins shoving her notebooks and textbook into a messenger bag. "Hey, Natalya, if you're not busy, want to lend a hand? Lily and I are still unpacking, soooo." [18:22:45] Sure, no problem. I don't have anything going on tonight. [18:22:54] * RoseW (CHBoucher@dsl2-161.gsinet.net) has joined #Mage [18:26:40] * RoseW nods, and heads out of the lecture hall, navigating down a narrow flight of stairs in one of the delapidated buildings that Emerson's bought for classes. She's a short, plain asian girl with a pair of cat's-eye glasses and shoulder-length hair. She's dressed without much style, seemingly in the same way that fremen intentionally walk without rythm. [18:29:43] * As Lily makes her way home, she hears another siren, this time the quicker, more shrill sound of an ambulance in response. Eri sees it pass her, and take a sharp corner as it responds to its call [18:31:09] * EriA glances over the top of her open paperback, then - after a few seconds - stands up and stretches slowly. She wanders toward Harvard Square at a casual pace, blending in with others walking in the same direction on the street. [18:31:38] * Natalya lets Rose lead the way. [18:35:36] * Lily and Dmitrii make their way home without incident, and soon after, Rose and Natalya arrive at Lily's apartment, a top floor unit in what appears to have been a converted factory in Kendall Square. As Eri moves with the crowd, she finds Harvard Square's been blocked off with a police cordon. Officers are standing near the blocked streets, trying to shield the square from the public eye [18:36:34] * Lily arrives at the apartment. It's a small, but clean and tidy place. Or at tidy as it can be with boxes lying around. "Hey Rose." [18:39:05] Hi Rose. I heard sirens on the way here, what's going on? [18:41:05] Oh, hi. [18:41:07] * Dmitrii gets home and turns on the radio while he hangs up his coat and puts away his books and material. He heads to the small kitchen he has to grab a slice of bread to munch on. [18:45:02] * EriA tries to sneak a peek past the barricade. [18:45:27] * RoseW hangs up her jacket and wraps an arm around Lily's shoulder in passing. "Hey, babe. How was nerd school?" [18:47:28] * Lily smiles. "It was okay. Just more lectures about science that doesn't have any real practical use. Not yet, anyway." [18:47:37] * Eri is able to make out enough to know that something happened here that probably shouldn't have happened. The pavement is stained a dark red, the spilled blood already starting to congeal. Does one body even have that much blood? You get a brief flash of bone and raw, red flesh, before a police officer notices and moves in front of her. [18:48:33] * Natalya smiles a bit awkwardly, feeling kind of like a third wheel. [18:49:16] * RoseW turns. "Oh, hey, sorry. Um." She points to a pile of boxes. "If you can start unpacking, I'll make dinner and get right on helping you, alright?" [18:50:32] * EriA 's eyes widen for a moment at the sight of blood, and she takes a deep breath. [18:53:03] Hey, no worries. [18:53:12] * From Dmitrii's radio, a disc jockey with a harsh, cigarette-roughened voice is reading from what sounds like a prepared script, maybe something just off the wire. "-just coming in, Harvard Square's been blocked off to all through traffic, as the police are conducting an investigation. No details yet, but stay tuned as the situation develops, and stay tuned for fourty-five minutes of continuous rock, right after these messages!" [18:53:13] * Natalya gets to helping unpack. [18:54:47] * Cheeseball (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) has joined #Mage [18:55:31] * EriA (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 180 seconds) [18:55:34] * Cheeseball is now known as EriA2 [18:56:03] * Dmitrii pauses in mid-bite and decides to see if he can get a view of Harvard Square from his appartment window. Maybe one of them will have a good view of it... [18:57:06] * EriA2 is now known as EriA [18:59:53] * EriA2 (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) has joined #Mage [19:00:26] * EriA (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 180 seconds) [19:02:38] * Dmitrii can get a glimpse of the square out of one of his windows. Blood is spread across the ground, radially, forming what appear to be broad, moth-like wings on the ground, at least in design. The details of the body are hard to make out from the angle you can get [19:03:18] * EriA2 (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 180 seconds) [19:03:56] * RoseW is busying herself over a frying pan, cooking up some rice. "Hey, hot stuff, mind turning on the TV? As long as we're working, might as well get some noise on in here." [19:04:35] * EriA (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) has joined #Mage [19:04:51] Sure. I need to unwind anyway. [19:05:01] * Lily goes over to the TV and flips it on, setting her stuff down [19:06:57] * Dmitrii is a bit curious now, he tries to get a good angle by giving himself mage-sight and opening a window in hopes of finding a better angle. [19:09:44] * EriA2 (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) has joined #Mage [19:10:12] * EriA (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 180 seconds) [19:13:02] * EriA2 (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 180 seconds) [19:13:42] * EriA2 (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) has joined #Mage [19:17:52] * EriA2 (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 180 seconds) [19:17:55] * EriA (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) has joined #Mage [19:20:08] * EriA focuses her energy as she takes another deep breath, and inside her pockets, she moves her fingers in the series of learned signals. [19:20:45] * EriA approaches the cop in front of her and flashes him a smile. "Sorry I'm late. Mind if I take a look?" [19:21:34] * Dmitrii bangs his hands on the railing as he starts to cast the spell, and curses in pain. After blowing on it a few times, he attempts to cast the rote again. [19:21:35] * The cop looks at her, clearly a little confused. "Yeah, sure, go right ahead." [19:23:24] Thanks. [19:23:52] * EriA strolls in as if she has every right to be there, but she sticks to the outskirts of the scene and observes quietly. [19:24:38] * RoseW finishes cooking the fried rice, and begins pushing it into measuring cups with a spatula. On the TV, a camera crew is pushing their way through the crowd. A glimpse of blood spilled on pavement is visible, and a reporter is speaking in hushed tones. "-e see here the barricade, put up not half an hour ago. The police department has yet to issue a statement as to what's happened, but if we can just zoom in, I think it speaks for itself." [19:25:35] * As the camera begins to zoom in, a policeman steps in frame, blown to giant size, his uniform out of focus. He begins to yell at the reporter, and as he approaches the cameraman, it switches to the newsroom [19:26:52] Oh geez. [19:27:40] * Natalya stares. "That would explain the sirens." [19:28:37] * EriA (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 180 seconds) [19:30:52] * Natalya has turned her full attention to the news, unpacking apparently forgotten. [19:31:22] * The thing Eri notices most clearly is a corpse, its hands tied to one of the waist-level fences on the sidewalk around the square. The blood forms a pattern on the pavement, two wide arcs, and the ribcage is snapped open, swinging out like a cemetary gate. It's a middle-aged man, wearing a light jacket. Oddly, there's no blood on his clothing [19:31:59] Ugh. I dunno if I wanna see this stuff. [19:33:35] * As Dmitrii begins to read the auras of the square below him, he notices the scene of the crime is heavy with mystic resonance. [19:35:03] * In the newsroom, the anchors are talking about the developing story, unwilling, or unable, to return to their cameraman at the scene of the crime [19:36:23] Oh come ON! Go back to the scene! [19:40:10] Hey Rose, got anything new to read? [19:41:39] * Dmitrii glances at the place for a moment before going back into the appartment and grabbing his phone to call his uncle. [19:43:56] Oh, well, I'm still working on my new project. Unless you mean something else, in which case I dropped by Million Year Picnic and got a couple of books about elve and stuff yesterday. [19:44:27] * Dmitri's uncle picks up. "Dumdurang speaking." [19:45:33] * Lily nods. "That might be cool. I'll wait til you're done, though." [19:45:51] Oh hey Uncle Stan! Are you listening to the news? [19:47:21] * "Watching it, yeah." [19:47:48] * Natalya goes over to the window to see if she can see anything of the scene from here. [19:48:16] I got a better view from my place, and it's definately made up by someone that I don't know. [19:49:26] * Natalya is able to make out the blood on the pavement, and can barely see the body. [19:51:09] * He whistles low. "That's not good. It happened, what, nine?" [19:52:22] * RoseW walks over to the couch and puts the three measuring cups of fried rice on a low coffee table, a plastic spoon sticking out of each one. [19:52:38] Oh, thanks. [19:53:13] We should get some proper chopsticks once this stuff's all unpacked. I don't think I'm buying wood ones again. [19:53:30] * Dmitrii glances at his watch and said, "I'm not sure when, but whoever did this was doing it in a way that I've never encountered before. And the police is already all over it..." [19:53:31] SUre, they look pretty, until one snaps open and the entire thing's filled with a chewy mildew-y center. [19:55:21] * Natalya stares in horror as well as interest. "You guys...you have to come over here and see this. ...maybe not when you're eating, though." [19:56:52] * Stan makes a noise of concern. "And it's right by your apartment? Keep your head down, kid. Hopefully Shadow Chorus'll be around to clean this up and find out who did it before long, but you never know." [19:57:50] It's close enough. I'm not sure who did this, but whoever it was really knows how to make a lot of blood. [20:00:41] Rose looks up, and wanders over to the window. She swears in Chinese. [20:01:19] Hey, uh, Lily, I think you might want to see this. I haven't seen anything this fucked up since I was a kid. [20:01:46] * Lily goes to take a look. [20:03:29] I haven't seen anything this fucked up since, well, ever. [20:03:38] * Lily sees the same thing. It's gruesome, certainly, but the physical distance makes it slightly less so even than when it was on TV. [20:03:48] Oh geez. [20:03:50] * Lily looks away. [20:03:54] It was right outside? [20:04:12] Rose shrugs. "You've only been doing this a couple weeks, you've got time." [20:04:45] Got time for what? [20:05:31] For Nat to see more weird shit, I meant. [20:05:53] * Natalya grabs her backpack, digging her camera out. "I probably can't get a good shot, but..." [20:06:37] Used to be, you couldn't go three months in Chinatown without someone getting an arm popped off, or turned into caveman or hit by lightning [20:07:16] * RoseW thinks, and says something in Chinese. "I mean, apeman." [20:07:19] * Dmitrii describes what he could see to Stan through the phone, promising to visit later so they could talk about it more. [20:07:57] Geez. Well, you've been seeing this stuff longer than I have... [20:08:22] * Natalya looks up from her camera and stares at Rose. "You're kidding, right?" [20:08:37] * "Alright, watch yourself, kid. I'll see what I can do." [20:10:18] * RoseW shakes her head. "Nah. Dunno why, but every couple months some wizard would come down to Chinatown and start doing his Punisher things on the gangbangers down in the Combat Zone. Kinda wonder why they did it there and not anywhere else." [20:11:12] * Natalya shudders, and tries to get a shot again. [20:11:54] * Natalya is able to zoom in and get a shot of the body [20:15:06] * Natalya takes a couple shots, finally lowering her camera. "What the hell do you think could do something like this, anyway?" [20:16:51] * Cheeseball (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) has joined #Mage [20:17:17] * Cheeseball is now known as EriA [20:17:27] I don't know... a tank? [20:21:27] * EriA goes pale and swallows, hard, before looking away. [20:23:06] * EriA mutters to the cop supervising her, "Pretty gruesome. What do you figure could do that to a guy?" [20:24:23] * The cop shrugs, clearly put off by it. "Can't say. I've seen some pretty bad things on the beat, but usually... If a guy's ripped open like this, usually he has some blood on him." [20:24:41] Yeah, that's what I was thinking. [20:25:31] * EriA forces herself to study the body again for any magical clues. [20:31:02] * Natalya frowns, looking away. She returns to her backpack and grabs a notebook, writing down some quick notes. "Seriously, though. Had to be...well, it has to be something magical, right?" [20:37:59] ... yeah, deifnitely. [20:38:20] Time-space is compressed. [20:40:46] * Natalya blinks, turning slowly to Lily. "...say what?" [20:41:44] * EriA blinks in surprise at something close to the body. [20:41:52] Time is compressed. Whatever happened here took place in fast-forward. [20:42:12] Or that's how it'd look to anyone outside the area, anyway. [20:46:31] * Natalya frowns. "I can't make any sense of this at all." [20:48:42] It's like... you know how everyhting underwater is slower? [20:49:08] Imagine like... there was, for a short amount of time, a spot where everyhitng was faster instead. [20:49:31] No, I think I get that part...sort of. [20:49:53] It's...well, I just can't understand a connection between that and how the guy is torn open. [20:50:43] ...do you guys wanna go down to see if we can get a closer look? Maybe you can, I dunno, sense something more if we get nearer? [20:53:20] It's crawling with cops. I guess it's worth a shot, but still. [20:53:24] * EriA thanks the cop, excuses herself from the scene, and fades back into the crowd of onlookers. [20:58:33] You really want to go down there? [20:59:52] * Natalya nods. "I can't stand just sitting and watching up here. Maybe we can find someone who got a closer look. Who isn't a cop." [21:00:25] * EriA calls up her mentor on her cellphone. [21:00:40] Right. Let's head down and hope luck's on our side, then... eugh. [21:00:56] * RoseW waves. "Good luck. I'm gonna see if I can find our blankets and stuff. It might be a cold night if the humidity breaks." [21:02:33] * Eri's master picks up. "Simmonds." [21:04:26] Hey, if you don't want to, Lily, it's cool. I can go myself, I mean there's plenty of cops around, it can't still be dangerous. [21:04:36] * EriA says into the phone, as quietly as she can manage while still being audible, "Hey, it's me. I don't know if you're seeing any of this on the news, but there's a ripped open guy in the middle of Harvard Square, and I think maybe magic was involved." [21:05:39] I'll go. [21:05:47] You just gotta get me some ice cream after. [21:06:49] * You can hear Simmonds frowning over the phone. "Are you calling from your cellular?" [21:07:44] * EriA replies, "Yeah." [21:08:38] Heh, okay. A deal's a deal. [21:09:09] Right, let's go. [21:09:10] Later, Rose. Sorry we didn't get more done. [21:10:46] * RoseW smiles and laughs. "Hey, no problem. A wizard finishes unpacking her goddamn apartment exactly when she intends to, apparently." [21:10:51] Alright, take care, Rose. [21:12:13] * "From now on, if you're gonna call me about this, use someone else's phone. Or a land line. Or something. Or, I don't know, get one of those Free Council upstarts to enchant your phone. If it's important at all, it's too important for an insecure line." [21:13:15] * EriA wilts visibly and audibly. "Oh. Yeah. Right. Sorry." [21:15:59] * "I just turned the news on. Interesting. No leads yet." There's a short pause. "I'll see what I can find out. If this turns out to be important, call me back from a hard line." Another pause. "Thank you." [21:16:26] Okay. Yeah. No problem. [21:16:47] * EriA clicks off her phone and stuffs it back into her backpack. [21:17:09] * Lily heads down. [21:17:11] * Natalya heads over to the crime scene. [21:18:05] * As Eri heads away from the crim scene, and the others head towards it, they pass one another. [21:22:59] * Lily blinks, and waves to Eri. "Hey." [21:24:16] * EriA turns her head as she passes, fixing Lily with a curious gaze. "Oh. Hey." She pauses and blinks, trying to decide whether she knows Lily from somewhere or not. [21:25:47] * Natalya comes to a stop. "Um. Friend of yours?" [21:26:05] * EriA finally says, "I think I've seen you somewhere before, but I totally can't remember where. Do you go to MIT?" [21:26:16] Yeah. Physics. You? [21:26:50] * EriA smiles wryly. "Don't laugh: Anthropology." [21:27:45] * EriA seems somewhat distracted. [21:29:24] Did you see the... uh... [21:29:42] * Natalya cuts in. "Did you pass by the crime scene over there?" [21:29:44] The, um, body? [21:29:49] Yeah. [21:30:22] * Lily nods... [21:30:25] What the hell happened? [21:30:59] * EriA grimaces. "Guy's body was totally ripped open. Blood everywhere, but not actually on him. Totally gross and kind of weird." [21:31:08] Eugh. [21:31:14] * EriA says that in something only slightly louder than a whisper. [21:35:52] * Natalya shivers a bit. "How'd you get close enough to get a good look? We could see a bit from the window, but cops everywhere." [21:36:23] * Natalya scowls a bit. "They cut off the news team, too." [21:36:25] * EriA is peering somewhat oddly at Lily during this entire exchange. She finally sticks out her hand to both girls. "I'm Eri, by the way." [21:36:55] * EriA shrugs vaguely. "I got lucky, that's all." [21:37:21] * EriA eyes Natalya, too, in turn. [21:38:23] * Natalya returns the handshake. "Natalya Petrov." She notices Eri's look. "Um. Something wrong?" [21:39:13] I'm Lily. [21:40:05] * EriA 's intense gaze doesn't waver. "Nah. Just something weird might be going on." She pauses and says very quietly. "You guys might know what I'm talking about." [21:40:48] It's a guy with an exploded chest. Of course something weird's going on. [21:42:00] But... [21:42:03] I might know what you mean. [21:42:07] * EriA nods. "Right." [21:42:20] What number am I thinking of? [21:43:00] * Natalya blinks at Lily. [21:46:05] * EriA narrows one eye. "e, whatever that means." [21:47:04] ... huh. Good answer. [21:48:40] Wait a second, are you, uh... [21:48:43] * Natalya trails off. [21:49:02] * EriA smiles and shrugs it off. "Lucky." [21:56:35] * Natalya eyes Lily and Eri suspiciously. [21:57:47] * EriA looks thoughtful, but otherwise impassive, until she smiles. "It's nice to meet both of you, anyway. Are you an MIT student too, Natalya?" [21:58:34] Oh, no, I'm taking journalism at Emerson. [22:00:23] Oh, cool. [22:06:01] How did you meet each other? [22:06:57] My roommate knows her. [22:07:35] * EriA nods. "Are you locals?" [22:09:41] My family's about an hour out of Boston, I'm living on campus. [22:10:14] Sort of close [22:11:35] Oh. I'm sort of new around here. Haven't really met a lot of people yet. [22:21:59] * EriA is now known as Cheeseball [22:22:12] * Dmitrii is now known as Sad_Adyen [22:22:14] * Sad_Adyen (senranda@bas1-unionville55-1177733668.dsl.bell.ca) has left #Mage [22:23:12] * Cheeseball (mahamari@adsl-75-17-58-148.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net) Quit (Quit: zZzzZzZzz.) [22:23:56] * Natalya is now known as Yon [22:27:14] * Lily is now known as Demota [04:42:19] * RoseW (CHBoucher@dsl2-161.gsinet.net) Quit (Quit: Ashamed to be involved with this lot) [05:19:47] * Charles (CHBoucher@dsl2-161.gsinet.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 180 seconds) [05:20:21] * Kentaro (CHBoucher@dsl2-161.gsinet.net) has joined #Mage [07:27:18] * Kentaro (CHBoucher@dsl2-161.gsinet.net) has left #Mage End of #Mage buffer Sun Aug 30 08:29:09 2009