mayfield_logs | because we can't have nice things ever

Who: Caesar and Garviel, then Caesar, Millie, Sealand, and so on.
What: ITP: Caesar can't resist getting in one last 'I told you so' before dying again, Garviel has to keep talking to people just before they get axed, and Mayfield traumatizes even more children; so same old, same old.
Where: 2237 Stevens garage and later outside the Goldberg St. house.
When: Sometime during the 25th, well after Virginia's injuries.
Warnings: Blood and death.

[Caesar would have been more than content to remain home much earlier today, to avoid the phones seething with either anger or repetitive calls for calm and whatever foolishness might come out of it all. At least, he'd been content, before some inexplicable force tore Virginia's arm off and threw her violently through a window. Whatever that had been, it had been enough to waken some cold anger in even someone as prone to being level-headed as he was. If there had ever been someone he could rely on to watch his back, who had been doing that since he got dumped in this little slice of hell, it had been her, and there wasn't any way he could get back at the real culprit of her suffering...

But he did happen to know someone else who could at least share in the blame, even if only a little, and that's what brings Caesar to stop at the driveway of 2237 Stevens Road. The slog through the snow and winter chill has, at least, calmed him down enough that he doesn't go storming up to the house like an idiot, but it's not like he'd thought of any other approach before actually getting here. Without that...

Huh. Now what?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

None. Excellent. I see we really pulled ahead with that amazing display of machismo. [And he's so casual in his sarcasm here, like this is just another normal conversation.] Yeah, I noticed that part. Things happening to people all over again. Like when Virginia was wrecked suddenly, out of nowhere, in the midst of defending what you've done.

But, oh no, I'm sure you're already feeling the weight of everything else that's happened, so don't worry, I would never think to pile that onto you with the rest.

[ Garviel looks at Caesar coldly, his craggy expression like a sheer mountain face. The sort of one that you either smash to pieces on, or die when you fall off. ] You weren't there the last time.

And it was -precisely- the same. The placement, the sensation of power. Oh, and before you think to ask it, it was blocking methods of examination both sorcerous AND technological. I have power output readings and a few things I'd require a techpriest to analyze but I am fairly sure they're all busy dying.

[ There is a momentary flash of pain when he mentions Virginia. They weren't close, but Garviel had always respected her abilities, and he tended to default to being fond of anyone he'd shared a battle with. ]

She understood why.

I was there the last time. [Though not inside, the same as this time. He isn't without the intel from the last incursion, however.] And I don't care if she understood why, like hell she deserved what she got!

[It's with that little outburst that he walks straight up to Garviel, right up into his personal space, and points an accusing finger at him.]

You! You did this! You didn't do it for the town's sake at all! You-- [As if he's unaware what prompted a part of that charge into the dairy. The Mayor and Smith badmouthing the resistance, the loss of this man's... whatever he was. Big angel leader guy.

But now Caesar's making it personal, that thought alone making him withdraw from near Garviel immediately.] ...damn it... this isn't going to change anything. You really couldn't get any readings off of it?

I do not recall seeing you during that undertaking. [ It is said without accusation, almost mildly. However, he looks like a wolf at bay when Caesar walks up to him, pointing the finger. He stands, pointedly not clenching his fists, and sets down his brush very slowly. There is a moment of tension broken as Caesar withdraws, at which point Garviel nods and sits back down ] And no one deserves what is happening now. But remember, none of us would be here if not for the foul masters of this place. There was a chance to at least free the souls of the lost, and I cannot say I would not take the gamble again, given the same circumstances.

As for the machine I had Arf examine it magically, and she could sense herself being damped. Having already suspected a more conventional type of trap, I used my helm, which has various sensors. I have a log of the undertaking, start to finish. We generally keep them for combat intel. But the data beyond rough interpretation will require the services of people who may already be dead.

Or destroy them. Who knows. [Caesar's still wary of the entire 'vat full of souls' theory. He recalls Susan mentioning something that had cast doubt on it, though that was so long ago, he won't bring it up here. That particular arguement wouldn't matter much right now, in any case.] Have you tried tracking Ruri down yet? If anyone has the resources to fiddle with those sensors...

[But they can't know if she's alive still, either. He sighs and finds something, anything, to sit down on, or maybe just slump against.]

What would your rough interpretation from them tell us?

If she's alive, I shall speak to her. [ He shrugs his shoulders. ]

High energy and thermal outputs, that much I could ascertain. Hot to the touch as well, even through my gauntlets. I don't quite know how even a functional machine could produce that much heat without a cooling system nearby.

Maybe it doesn't have a cooling system at all and that's why it started malfunctioning in the first place.

[Caesar hasn't the faintest idea on how machines work, but if people are saying a heated machine needs a cooling system, he can connect the dots there at least.]

How did you get through the barrier to touch it at all?

I know Nina was able to shoot through it...

[And that's that. He'd come here to pick a fight, but that didn't even make it past the initial attempt!]

because we can't have nice things ever

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject