2020-10-10: So Tell Me About...

So Tell Me About...
Vic and Evie talk about Ed over deep dish pizza and drinks
IC Date	October 10th, 2020
IC Time	early evening
Players	Evie and Vic peripherally Ed)
Location	Evie's Place
Theme Song	Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings"

<Phone> (Text to Evie) So. Tell me about Ed.

<Phone> (Text from Evie) ...oddly direct and rather broad. Any specific thing you're interested in knowing?

<Phone> (Text to Evie) She mentioned knowing you. I'm now curious.

<Phone> (Text from Evie) Come on over? Best I explain in person. Also whatcha want for dinner? I'll order in or cook or something.

<Phone> (Text to Evie) I'm good with anything pretty much. Shoot me some directions?

---

Evie decided to order in - Chicago-style deep-dish pizza with pepperoni, sausage, and bacon. Enough for two, easily, and maybe a third should there be even more company. Delivery got here about a couple minutes ago, and the pizza is still very much piping hot. Heck, Vic might even cross paths with the delivery guy!

---

After getting the directions, Vic catches the bus to Evie's after a quick run to the corner store where she picks up six packs Guinness, IBC Cream Soda and IBC Root Beer. After the bus ride as she's heading to the house she does cross paths with the pizza guy and stands off to the side so that when he departs and Evie starts to close the door she turns into the field of vision and says, "Hey there," and, lifting the bag from the store from which glass rattling can be heard, adds, "I brought drinks!"

---

One person out, another person in. Evie opens the door again before it fully closes, ushering Vic in and freeing her hands of the burdensom weight of the cream soda. "Oh man this is gonna be awesome. Deep-dish deliciousness, nectar of the gods, and beer. Hurry up and get in so we can chow down!" Yes. The meetup is because food. Not uncomfortable questions or anything, no, those lead-in texts weren't /really/ important. Nawwwww.

---

Vic is smiling as she walks in and then /deep dish/. "Ah," she says and asks, "We're having quiches are we?" She smiles again and says, "Brought sodas an Guinness, hope you are good with those choices."

---

Evie contorts her face at the obviously blind and/or insane Vic. "Okay, I know our universes have their differences, but at what point did the divergence result in pizzas becoming mislabeled? Or do I need to keep the draft imports away from you?"

---

"Pizza is pizza. Deep dish or 'Chicago Style' isn't.... its quiche," Vic says and then explains, "Pizza is a flat bread dish. I'm not saying its a problem but IMNSHO," the word is pronounced like inn-show if inn had an m in it, "Calling it a pizza is just plain wrong."

---

Evie pinches the bridge of her nose, sighs, and with her free hand shifts the Guinness to the far end of the coffee table. Far away from Vic. "It has the ingredients of a pizza, it's shaped like a pizza, literally the only difference is the toppings are piled on higher. Besides, what kind of quiche are you eating that has tomato sauce in it? Gimme a break..." Okay, maybe the topic of Ed /will/ slip through the cracks. Bonus odds should this duo find themselves disagreeing on pineapple as a topping.

---

"Fine," Vic says in mock exasperation, "Its a pie. And don't say pizza-pie... pizza is a flat bread!" She grins and then, after setting down the bag of drinks, she says, "So, how did you meet Ed?" as she starts putting bottles into Evie's fridge.

---

Evie opens her mouth to object, but doesn't seem to think it's worth the effort. "Pie's fine. Oooooh, we should have pineapple pie sometime! That sounds delicious." Disagreement trap, set. Except... Vic asked about Ed. Dangit. Wouldn't be a problem if the text weren't so pointed. "Ed and I ran into each other at a coffee shop, talked a bit, she ended up helping me reformat Bobbi's laptop - I swear she is worse than the stereotypical grandmother around those things. But, yeah, Ed's pretty savvy around computers. Doesn't come off as a techno-mage, but I think she'd do alright running around the Digital Web. Heck, I held up fine in a corrupted sector even."

---

Vic hrms and nods. "I didn't get a techno-mage vibe off of her either," the Techno-Mage in the room says, "But... I'm getting something off her." She then says, "I met her after dredging the dark web for an ID forger," and asks, "What's your choice on drinks?" followed immediately by, "What's your impression of her?"

---

Evie had already laid claim to the cream soda, and was halfway through her first bottle already. "I give you one guess." She mimes a toast to Vic to make that guess much easier. "Hmm... my impression of Ed. Well, she's apparently related to werewolves somehow without actually /being/ one, yet she's pretty damn friendly for having that connection. I personally... hm. Actually, hold that thought." She holds up a finger to interrupt herself, then taps her head. "You able to do a virus scan on the human brain, by chance? I wanna confirm my trust is coming from me and not outside influence."

---

Vic laughs and grabs a Guinness to start off. "Reeeeealiiiy," she says at the information provided. "I was looking at how much of a night-owl she is and .... well, she bugged out when I even /suggested/ deeper truths to discuss," is explained before she takes a gulp of the dark, ruby red ale. "I sure can," she says about the mental virus scan, "Both conceptually or biological even... /now/." She pauses for another sip and adds, "Had y'asked me a few days ago I'd've had to say it was beyond me." Another sip and she asks, "Shall we?" as she sets her messenger bag down and sits down on Evie's couch.

---

Evie reaches out to stop Vic from claiming a Guinness, but she's a couple seconds too late. Great, now Vic's gonna call a television an 'electronic painting' or something equally dumb. "Ugh... you sure you wanna do it drunk? I mean you're mislabeling food as it is." Still, Evie readies herself for the requested scan, sorting out certain thoughts and memories to be more readily accessible than others.

---

Vic says, "A quarter of a beer isn't going to get me drunk, Evie," laughing at the thought even. "I've been to college. I'm not as much of a light weight as I look. Lets do a mind and brain scan on you!" she sets down the bottle and starts to pull things out of her bag.

---

Evie rolls her eyes and lays down on the couch all psychiatrist-visit style so Vic can do her scan thingy totally sober she swears.

---

Vic pulls out her antique medical mirror on a headband and puts it on, turning the mirror down so that she is looking though the hole in the center, and pulls out her smartphone. On the phone she activates her music app and starts playing Barber's Adagio for Strings.

Vic then says, "Total honesty, this one I'm making up as I go along," and begins speaking 'words of power' ("Infection. Brain. Virus. Psyche. Twisted. Soul. Detection. Sense. Eradication. Cleansing.") repeating the pattern of words thrice as she brings forth the spheres of Data, Life, and Mind to scan her friend's brain and thoughts for an intruder.

---

"Uhhhh. Vic? Ya maybe want me to help you smooth that over?" Evie squints at her impromptu shrink chanting all weirdly. "There's no way you're not getting snapback with a Sleeper around." But then, sensing the analysis is underway, she assumes the being-analyzed position and lets Vic work her magick.

---

Vic shushes Evie for a moment while she looks her over though the mirror and then, a moment later, says, "Nothing shows up. I would not be able to see if you had a spirit riding you however." She flips the mirror up and says, "I don't have to do it this way, just these are my personal Foci, makes it easier. I could just as easily have had a different piece of music playing... one with words... and a different medical device. Just this is what I have right now." She pauses and adds, "I'm on a tight budget."

---

Evie lets out a huge sigh of relief when Vic's results come back negative. "Okay. Thought maybe Ed would've done... er. Can not-werewolves who are related to werewolves do weird mind warping? I honestly don't know." She stays laying down, drifting off in thought for a while. Mmm. That is a good daydreaming. La de dee, la de daa.... wha--oh, OH! The conversation! Right. Ahem. "--oh, right. So, anyway, Ed's cool. And yeah, the night owl thing had me wondering too, but she's a big fan of spicy food. Like, people food that gets digested. So that's out."

---

"Werewolves... I don't know," Vic says. She then asks, almost as a non-sequitur, "Have you ever seen her during the day?" hinting at the suspicion that is niggling at her mind.

---

Evie actually has to pause to think about this. "Hmmm.... I haven't seen her /physically/, but I did get a text from her right around dawn. Maybe a bit before? If that helps any." She whines just a bit. "What exactly are you trying to get at?"

---

Vic sighs and says, "I... I don't know, Evie," and then she pauses and occpies herself by putting the medical mirror away. She lets the eight minute long piece of music stop before she speaks again. "She seems nice, if prone to fleeing in some circumstances," is stated before she asks, "How well do you know her... and how well do you trust her?" She quickly adds, "I'm not saying not to, just want your opinion."

---

Evie sits up and looks Vic directly in the eye. "I know her rather well, and as of about twenty minutes ago I trust her fully. She has a lot of trust in me as well." She peers right into Vic's soul - metaphorically, anyway - judging. Silently. Then she asks, "Waaaaait. You thinking she's a vampire? Bobbi had the same suspicion. Knowing Bobbi though, she's just looking for an excuse to strike out at any fanged fiend she can. For the hell of it. Dunno if she much cares about collateral damage." There's an annoyed huff before her next question. "So then that leads to, what do /you/ think of vampires?"

---

Vic looks shocked at Evie's description of Bobbi. She's speechless for a few moments and then clears her thoughts by shaking her head. When she finally speaks she sounds like she is being careful with her word choice. "I think that any thing that looks like a person needs to be treated as a person first," she says. "And any person can be a monster, so..." She pauses and adds, "That said, anything that /requires/ blood is going to tend towards the fiendish behavior and have to work very hard to not truly become a monster."

---

Evie straightens up, positioning herself to look as judging and stern as possible as she contemplates Vic's words. Finally, she just exhales, a mix of frustrated and relieved somehow coming together in the same expression. "I know. I know. You make a few good points. But I think your first is the most important one; if you treat someone like a monster from the start, you're guaranteeing a monster no matter what." She then shakes her head vigorously and slaps herself a couple times in a show of knocking herself off that train of thought. "Blah. Sorry. Down the rabbit hole I went. But seriously, that video in the basement played out like propaganda and I got distracted. I, uh... you gonna eat your quiche?" She gestures to the definitely-not-quiche for Vic to eat. "That's quite enough heavy thinking for me tonight."

---

Vic nods and enjoys the meal and company with light discussion for while.

---

Early in the next morning, Vic's phone beeps indicating a text message

When Vic looks at the phone, in blue light suppression mode, it informs her it is 04:42:20 PDT on Sunday, October 11th, 2020, the temperature is 19.4 C (67.0 F) and that Sunrise is two hours away.

<Phone> (Text from Ed) Hey. Evie sent me a message. Said she'd talked with you and expressed the need to order a terribly unhealthy pizza.

<Phone> (Text to Ed) eh wat ed oh kt yesh oh kt l8r

<Phone> (Text from Ed) If you want to talk... Just let me know when/where. I reserve the right to veto.