David has a hand under his chin as he contemplates the avenue of exit. Had any of his family ever walked through tunnels? It seemed like a good way to sneak around.

"We need to travel to do it. Changing the image of your surroundings to something else, though I don't think anyone has done it in a cave before.
I'd say set up an exit around 200 yards from the safe room. But then again, if you shadow walked into a collapsing tunnel, well..." David trailed off as he imagined walking into a cave in during the rush. "Besides, our allies need an exit so they aren't cornered when they are in the safe room."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:56, Wed 24 July 2019.

Janessa listens and nods. "Sounds about right. Maybe make access to the tunnel a little harder by putting in a password to unlock the door?" She asks David. She then turns to Ralph. "Oh by the way Ralph, I might have a way to get you a meet and greet with the Governor. Plus access to the local Air Force base." She says as they head back to the house. Janessa suddenly stops and shields her eyes, looking towards the gravel road leading to her place. Off in the distance a red truck is leaving a cloud of dust in its wake. "Whelp, there's Momma. Should be here in about 15 is she's going slow like Mike says she's supposed to, but more likely we got 10 minutes."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:16, Thu 25 July 2019.

David sees Janessa's line of sight and sees the red truck. She will likely hate the changes the panic rooms will cause."So we need to be on our best behaviour to give a good impression." David says with a look at Ralph, hoping he gets that David didn't want any controversy while making connections.

David turns back to Janessa as he realises something important. "Which reminds me, Janessa. I don't exactly keep my head in the papers so, do you know anything about the Governor? His demeanor, his family life, something I can win him over with."

"Governor Gordon? Well he grew up in a ranch. He's a big outdoors guy. He's I his second marriage, first wife died in auto accident. He's got 4 kids, 2 each. He was the state treasurer before the election. He's only been Governor for six months." She thinks a moment. "He and the mayor had a thing last month. Upset some people."

"Family man, responsible. But being newly in the post, he might have people waiting for him to stumble." David said, contemplating over what he now knows. As a former treasurer, Gordon might know how any future gold and such could be converted into other currency. But the possible PMC was the big concern at this stage.
But how he could win him over still eluded David, even if they had one thing in common at least.
"Thanks, it helps, I think." David said as he trailed off.

Roll perception
On success see text below.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
On success
Janessa could see something going on with David's left hand. He was rubbing the base of his ring finger with his thumb absent-mindedly. At the base of the finger, there was a band of skin marked from a previous ring.

---

09:28, Today: Janessa McCoy rolled 10 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 3,6.  Perception .

Janessa watches David’s hand for a moment.  She walks over and places her hand on his left arm. She looks from his face, to his hand and then back to his face. “David, I’m sorry for your loss.” Janessa says sincerely while she looks sad, vulnerable, and uncertain. “Normally I’d give you a hug, but I’m not sure that would be ok. At least I can offer to be there if you need to talk, or vent. I am a pretty good listener.” She takes her hand off his arm and starts nibbling her lip, worried she might have overstepped.

David was a little frozen from the contact, unsure how he had revealed even more about his past without saying anything.
Whelp, if he considered it practice, he could learn from it. Material for whenever he came across more Amberites, Courts, or any other politically minded persons.

"Thanks, but I should be better then to blub up over her, we haven't got the time for that at this moment.
But, if you  want to take anything from me, know that we can't save everyone we want to." No use crying over Moira, she was long, long gone.

With his attuned ears, David could start to hear the vehicle in the distance. Time was starting to trickle by now. "Look at that, your mother is getting here fairly quickly. Think the welcome mat will calm the wrath?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:04, Sat 27 July 2019.

Janessa nods and sighs. "Fair enough. Offer stands for talking about her or anything. It's what family does for family." She glances off to the distance. "Death is a cruel witch with a capital B." After a moment she looks at the road. "I hope so. She's had a chance to calm down, but then she's also had a chance to stew. Hopefully she'll be ok." She walks towards the front porch. "Kinda wish Alec and Jack were here. Get the whole meet and greet over with." She looks at David. "Oh, if she stares at you, don't worry about it."

David shrugged. "I guess I won't worry about that now. Plus, someone had to go, let if be those two. We were going to need extra people eventually. We can't be everywhere at once." Something David was glad he learned to make the most of things when he returned to the other shadows. "Let's hope they get people that can be devoted, I'm sure that experienced pair already know of shadows that worship us."

David felt like he needed to give Janessa something so she wasn't left out. "You would have liked her, if you could coax her out of her shell." David said, trailing off as he recalled her gentle smile.

Janessa goes quite and still when he talks about 'her' again. She smiles softly. "Shy huh? I've always been more of an open book person, once I decided to trust you." She sighs. "I would have liked that. Having more family than just my younger half brothers." Janessa shrugs. "I hope they're successful too, but that 'worship us' thing is a little weird. Though if there's shadows with talking wolves, or that are completely empty then yeah it makes sense." She sits in a chair on the front porch and thinks a moment. "I bet there's even shadows where our favorite books or movies or t.v. shows are actually happening. Think I could go visit Middle Earth or Narnia?" She asks with a chuckle. She turns her attention to the road. The red truck close enough now that she could see that it only held one occupant.

Michelle drove faster than her husband would have been happy with. The entire ride was spent 1) hoping her daughter would still be there. 2) Alternating between wanting to yell at Janessa and blaming herself. As she came over a hill she saw Janessa walking with two men, a blonde man and chubby balding man. Must be the cousins. She thinks as she crests the final hill. She huffs slightly as she slows down. "No sense in sprayin the area with gravel."

David did think it would be odd for them to be worshiped in other worlds, but it wouldn't be the oddest thing around. Plus, it would mean David could believe in their loyalty against others, he could exchange in more than one kind of "currency".

David sees her line of sight change, and glances at the advancing vehicle as it avoided spraying gravel around. "I'm sure you could, but I think the phrase "never meet your heroes" might be quite literal here." David said with a chuckle to hide that he himself held that thought.   Imagining finding out your hero finds you quite intolerable. Mortifying.

Plus he wasn't sure any of those places would have things that obeyed rules set elsewhere.

Janessa blinks a few times. "You're probably right about that. Going and meeting your hero only to find out they ain't so heroic in person would suck." She continues to watch her Mom approach, absentmindedly rubbing a spot on her left thigh.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:23, Fri 02 Aug 2019.

David saw what might be disappointment and thought to course correct. "But it might be good. We have eternity now. Plus, I do have some ideas myself, previously unwritten." David said, as he turned back to part of the extended family he would prefer not to have issues with.

Michelle pulls up in front of the house and kills the engine. She looks at the men through the dust covered windshield. She sighs as she unbuckles. “Here goes nothin.” She whispers as she opens the door. She climbs out and hops out. It’s clear to David that Janessa got her height from her father. Michelle waves at the group and pulls a large bag and soft sided cooler out of the back seat. She starts towards the group.

Janessa watches her mom park and climb out. She returns the wave , but doesn’t move to help her mom. As Michelle heads towards the front porch Janessa speaks. “Hi Mama.” Janessa stands and walks to the porch steps. She leans against the post and watches her mother.

David was left a little unsure, the interaction between mother and daughter only added to the feeling. David considered helping Janessa's mother, but he suspected that would be taken as a slap to one's pride.

David decided to not make a big thing of the situation and just be polite. "Good evening." David said, the most polite greeting he could use without being overly presumptuous.

Michelle turns to look at David when he speaks. She falters a moment, almost dropping the bag before re-gripping it. Her mouth opens and shuts without saying anything. She looks at Janessa and then back to David, clearing her throat. "Good evening. You must be one of the you Nessa spoke of." Her voice is soft with a small trace of a Midwestern accent. Michelle sets the bags down on the porch and extends her hand. "Michelle McCoy. Nice to meet you."

Janessa watches her Mother's reaction to David. She nods, a sad look on her face, when her Mom looks to her. Janessa grabs the bag and cooler and sets them further on the porch, making room for her Mom.

David saw the hand and took the opportunity, shaking it. "David Miller, and you too." He said, it was only slightly a lie. The only reason for it being the anger he overheard. The anger which was, abated? Set aside.

Had being polite disarmed her? He would like that to be the case, but he didn't need eyes in the back of his head to know things were simmering.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:15, Wed 07 Aug 2019.

Michelle steps onto the porch, takes one of the four chairs on the porch and fixes her eyes on Janessa. "Before we really get into this discussion I want you to keep one thing in mind. That yes maybe I should have told you about everything, but your father insisted that it was safer for you if he wasn't here and that you didn't know." She sighs. "So, how long were you gone? I mean for you."

Janessa takes the bags and sets them just inside the door. She grabs a chair closest to David, hoping his presence was enough to keep her red headed temper in check. She was surprised by her Mom's calm demeanor. ~Maybe David threw her off more than I thought it would. I'll definitely have to explain to him. He'd appreciate the honesty I think~ Janessa clears her throat before she speaks. "A couple months. He was training me, mainly conjuring but some fighting." She shifts. "So... uhm. I have questions, obviously, I just don't know where to start." She thinks a moment. "Ok, let's get these ones out of the way. Where you ever going to tell me about my father? Why keep it a secret if he wasn't around?"

David had found one of the chairs and plonked himself down, making sure Ralph's chair was next to him, and distant enough from the McCoys to separate him from that conversation.
David had no need to interject, and nothing to do so with. So he kept to himself, acknowledging that he would have something similar with his father.
Hopefully both of the parents who raised him knew about his true origins, hopefully no deception or nefarious magic was involved. Otherwise, his desire to not be left in the dark could tear the family in two. His sister almost certainly didn't know, so that would be a painful revelation.

Honestly, besides his family, David lamented that he couldn't tell the one person who would have supported such a shift in a man's history. Heck, by walking through shadows, he could have made her bucket list a lot longer, and much more fantastical.
Rubbing that finger of his again under the table, David knew she was on his mind again. How is it that lost loved ones come to fade like mist through your fingers, only to have their memory lash down like a hailstorm?

Michelle thinks a moment. "Fair enough. 1) Maybe in my will. Your father made it seem like it was life and death. 2) He wouldn't say. You've spent time with him. You should know that if he don't wanna give the information, he won't. He did say if it was ever safe enough for you to know, he'd let me know." She shakes her head and looks back at Janessa. "What exactly happened here Friday night? I got your voicemail and raced over. You were gone by then, and there was....blood on the back porch, which I cleaned by the way. Not to mention the weeds around one of your rose bushes look like it had been set on fire and one of your Apple trees smelled of gas."

Janessa nods. “Fair enough. He’s kinda paranoid about giving information.” She looks off to the side and her eyes go distant as she watches the wind blow the tall grass. “I was finishing my wine while star gazing. I noticed something odd by my roses and went to check. Someone set some of the weeds on fire. I extinguished it only to be attacked by a man wearing a gray hat and raincoat carrying two swords. I managed to avoid him. The second guy however caught me on the left arm with one of his swords. I climbed the apple tree to get away. It worked except for the cut to my right leg. They didn’t make a noise, not a peep. One tried to climb the tree after me, I stomped his hand. That’s when I noticed that the swords grew out of the back of their hands.” She sighs and keeps watching the grass. "When they realized they couldn’t get to me, they decided to set the tree on fire. Thus the gas. I jumped out of the tree, hoping to hightail it back to house and grab one of the guns. Only I landed wrong and twisted my ankle. I threw my knife at the one that came after me. It didn’t do much but give him a moments pause.” Janessa shivers and shakes her head trying to dispel the thoughts of how close she had come to dying. “Suddenly there was a strange red headed man with a sword who knew my name.” Janessa turns her head and refocuses on her mom. “He killed them, easily. After convincing me he really was my dad, he insisted I go with him. For training and protection. It really didn’t take much to get me to agree. Especially when I learned that I wasn't the only one of ‘my generation’ that was attacked. Apparently Dad either sent someone or came back himself to clean up the bodies. ” Janessa makes air quotes when she says my generation.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:28, Mon 12 Aug 2019.