Day 173, Public Channel, Free Time

[pipers_son]

[Way too much shit has been happening lately, from Julien's call on the radio to San's disappearance to the whole uneasy mess that was the Prince's little hunting excursion. What can Joker even do? He's the Stage Manager; this is out of his jurisdiction.]

[According to Lambert and Childermass, however, he can at least do this.]

Hello, folks. This is yer Stage Manager again, with a little reminder. We are guests here. So try ta follow the rules that have been set in place, alright? This includes at dinner, and at curfew.

I know we're all real curious, half of ya probably never even been in a castle before, but it bears repeatin'-

[And he very suddenly drops his warm and thick accent, going for something that almost sounds proper and is, thus, weird as hell coming out of Joker's mouth.]

Don't break the rules or curfew.

[Aaaaaand then it's back again.]

If yer havin' any trouble with anythin' or have questions, I'm available right now. Yer free ta come find me, over in the library. Have a good night, everyone.

[And for the love of god, don't do something stupid. He knows that's a lot to ask for, but please.]

Comments

[stillwinningthehardway]

[Wow, Scout thinks. She'd like to make some sort of joking comment, like are the Nightrunners exempt because they've certainly been acting like they are, but she really can't right now, who knows who's listening in? Apparently no one's told most of the Supervisors what happened during the hunt, the big thing. Big things. She's tired.

Despite her and Syr's and Childermass's and Lambert's combined efforts to hide the scene and the women she keeps expecting someone to come out of the shadows and reveal that they know and have known all along. It could happen, it could very easily happen, it hasn't been that long and the logistics are just going to get worse. So she sounds guilty.]

Right. Run cost-benefit analyses, it's just not worth it most of the time.

[pipers_son]

[Oh, Scout. You poor soul. You don't have the lying chops for being in the Nightriders. Joker does her a favor and doesn't call her out on the raido, however- partially because it's a favor to him as well. Never know who is listening, after all.]

[Instead-]

Yeah, ya got it. Still, it's a stressful time, innit?

[stillwinningthehardway]

Absolutely. The hunt was really stressful? I mean, I got really turned around and didn't find anything.

[ah she should try to remember the context of this too. This is coming actually after free hour. ]

Which was better than more sitting around to a schedule though. Obviously. I got more exercise than I've had the chance and that was good. Uh.

[Please stop her. ]

[pipers_son]

[Scout.... Please. Joker does her a favor and does, indeed, try to stop her.]

Oh, I agree with ya. But, y'know, if it's ever too stressful for ya, I'm always free. Before breakfast, even, or any little pockets of time inbetween. Been told I'm a good listener.

[hINT HINT NUDGE NUDGE]

[stillwinningthehardway]

[Thank the stars.]

I actually have a meditative tech- [Oh, no, he's talking about speaking in private! Quick, Scout, backtrack!]

Uh, that'd be nice? I know everyone's kind of a mess right now. All this is not going as well as we could have hoped.

[pipers_son]

Yeah, but we did only get a very short amount of heads up....

Well, I'll see ya in the mornin' then, yeah?

[stillwinningthehardway]

There's things that are kinda, um, time sensitive. But yeah it'll have to wait, these aren't all that flexible situation...s.

[pipers_son]

Tell me about it. Still, we work with what we got. No other choice.

[stillwinningthehardway]

[She'll spend the intervening time coming up with the most concise ways to phrase events, and in the morning she'll pull him aside.]

Joker, you've got a... let me see your collar.

[It was probably perfect. She's going to end up messing it up while talking very quietly.]

The night servants are more changed than the day ones. They mutilate themselves trying to hide their changes. All the animals from the hunt were servants being punished. We broke the spell on one of them and are hiding her and a night servant.

[pipers_son]

[Fortunately, Joker is wise to the ways of bullshitting in order to hide more serious events, and he goes along with her tugging with a smile and a thanks... Up until she starts saying everything.]

[The smile stays put, but his eyes go hard. He knew there was something off about the hunt from how the servants acted. No bleeding wonder.]

How long do ya think ya can hide 'em?

[stillwinningthehardway]

[She looks seriously at him.]

I'm not sure. We've got a lot of talents that help, and they're cooperative. Some of it is just going to be how much food we can get to them.

[pipers_son]

[Softly, Joker clicks his tongue.]

Well- I'll try ta see what I can do on that front, alright? I'm sure I can smooth talk or sneak somethin'.

[stillwinningthehardway]

Make sure you're careful. Enough's going wrong.

[Scout has completely ruined the angle of his collar and whatever situation today's outfit has going on with it.]

The servants get around with secret passages that open up for them. The house is alive or something and moves to accommodate them. That's probably why I keep - I feel like I'm watched a lot when it looks like I'm alone.

[Before she went home after the Carnival's first brush with vampires, Scout had been fourteen-to-fifteen and still intense, sometimes, but completely and totally willing to talk about the Jedi and how amazing they were. She doesn't do that anymore. She'd never bragged about her powers, but she'd mentioned them a time or two; she doesn't really do that, either.]

[pipers_son]

Don't worry, I'm good at sleight of hand.

[But they've spent too much time like this, and he has a lot to chew on- that last part especially. So he pats her shoulder, squeezing it slightly, and starts to go.]

We'll talk later tonight, yeah?

[stillwinningthehardway]

[Scout swallows and squares her shoulders, lifting her chin. The situation with the servants is honestly upsetting to her and it shows, though she's got enough self-control to wall it up when she has to.]

Right. Too much to just talk about in a couple minutes in the hallway. Watch your back, Joker.