Argentus looked around the deck.  "Jitters, Niri, could you make some hot chocolate and take it to the kids and visit with them?  Polt please help them but don't let the kids see you unless you can look friendly."

He turned to Grey.  "Can you get me communications with MIB before this all goes south, Grey?  If they've got the last of the kids clear, we can try to contact Talion to call the big mess off."

 Jitters went with Niri to the Café and began to make chocolate as Argentus spoke with Grey. "'Kay!"

 A few minutes pass before Grey pops back up. "You're on speaker."

 "Hello?"

 It was Ghost's voice.

Prometheus cursed, loudly when he remembered that Atlas had gone offline, "When this is over, I am getting a hacking den, or taking over one already established. Hijacking some Satalites would be REALLY helpful right now."

Moving back to the room, he grabbed the unconscious child, and begins to carry them to the Infirmary. On the way he stops by his own room and grabs Charlotte. Smiling down at the dog, he said, "Come on girl...we have some children to cheer up."

Walking to the Infirmary, he stepped into the room, and grabbed all 3 of his Tennis balls, before throwing them, and commanding, "Speak!"

Thus, the Children's first introduction to the dog, was her running into the room, barking happily as she chased the Tennis balls.

Prometheus on the other hand, looked over the children, seeing if anyone was particularly injured. After a moment he said, "Do we have all the children? I know ours got out, and yours seem to Sal, albeit with minor injuries. Do you know if we have the MIB's safe?
This message was last edited by the player at 05:13, Sun 08 Dec 2019.

OOC: there are 10 in the infirmary, 9 in the hold, and the one with you. Sal's in the infirmary with the children and Argentus is in the Hold on a call.

"Ghost, you guys have your ten yet?  Or do you need some help?"  Argentus asked over Grey's connection.

"We have our ten. Do you have the rest?"

 When Argentus confirms that they do, indeed have the remaining twenty, Ghost replies. "Good. I'll get in contact with Agent Johnson and we'll establish contact. Hopefully, Talion will do something about the solar flare now."

 With that, she hangs up, leaving the group with only the sounds of the storm outside.


 The children hesitate when shown the dog, but quickly relax around her, playing with her and petting her as the tension begins to melt. Of course, there are other things to worry about, such as them being wet, mildly injured (minor cuts from glass in addition to signs that they had been mistreated during their captivity), and hungry, thirsty, and tired.

 Jitters and Niri worked on the coffee but, without the Kaiju system, he was far to small to serve anything.

Prometheus, now the kids are slightly more chearful, focuses on getting the most injured ones the medical attention they need. In his initial Haste, he clearly achieves little, but after calming down and focusing on the task at hand...

Rather then Mistral running off without any way to help or communicate with her.

...he achieves better results. Although he does have to convince a child or two that YES he does need to look at them again.

Charlotte however is suddenly finding herself with to many children to lick for her single tongue. Still, she tries valiantly to make sure they are all aware how much she likes them.

OOC:
04:00, Today: Promethius rolled 2 successes using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 4,6,10(+9),2,6.

03:59, Today: Promethius failed (no successes) using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 3,4,2,7,3.  Int + medicine.


There is a third roll, but that wasn't intentional, as such I am ignoring it.

 The children slowly begin to smile and laugh again. The younger ones are easier to cheer up. The teenagers are considerably more difficult. The oldest of the group, an 18 year old, stares off into the distance. He had been the one Atlas had shown claiming that Talion had abandoned them.

Argentus stepped in to help finish making the cocoa and taking to the kids.

As he considered the storm at the building, and what was shaking the SS Grey, Argentus found himself agreeing with the Garou perspective on Talion.  Not that he let any of that show on his face as he visited with the kids.

Sal provided any assistance necessary moving the unconscious children from the hold and finding them blankets, food and water.

 It didn't take too long before the other children had awakened, requiring attention just as the previous ones had. Food, drink, medical, and cheering up.

 However, with most of their needs met, they could finally relax... so they did, drifting off to sleep, leaving only the oldest boy silent in the corner.

This....this was not his job.

He was not a social person, what socializing he did have was manipulation, and frankly he didn't like kids. And if Charlotte hadn't cheered they boy up, what hope did he have.

Lonely Mage....surely you can't be worse at this then me? Little help?

Unsurprisingly, the silence continued. He didn't know what to expect really, he hadn't heard her, or even had any proof of her existence except Sal's recording. He wouldn't even begin to know how to ask for her help. Besides, she sounded a little insane.


Did spirits get tired perhaps? How hard was it to take over a body. Questions for another time.

His attention turned to Sal, and then very quickly to Argent. A Vampire would probably not be the best choice, but Argent had seemed like a friendly person.

Noticing that no one seemed to be moving Prometheus walked over to the child and sat down, "Hey Kid. How are you feeling?"

It wasn't much, but frankly it was either that or offer the child a drink. And Prometheus was fairly sure he shouldn't be getting Talion's kids drunk.

In a sudden flash of supernal smoke, Mistral appeared in the chilly cavern hallow deep below the Aiguilles Rouges range in the French alps, and immediately collapsed to the stony floor.  She was soaked to the bone with clothing and skin lacerated by flying glass and debris, and now lay shivering and exhausted, her gasps coming out in clouds in the chilly subterranean air.  She’d only narrowly escaped the destruction of Times Square with her life, and she had failed.  The enemy mage has bested her, fooled her into murdering an innocent, and now was in the wind.  Perhaps the gargantuan leviathan spirit of Talion’s rage would find and destroy him, or perhaps she’d just called down annihilation on Manhattan for no good end.

Yet, the children were safe, and that was all that really mattered.  Mistral had to remember that.  She would go back to the S.S. Grey to check on the children and the others soon... but not just yet.

 The young boy looked up wearily and nodded. "I honestly didn't think our dad would come for us. I just... I didn't think we were going to make it out of there."

After seeing to the smaller children, Sal noticed Promethius awkwardly trying to cheer up the teenager. He stood back and pretended to look busy (a skill everyone in every military needed to master, and had served him well in the business world, as well,) but was ready to throw the nervous mage a lifeline if necessary.

"Yeah, not your best moment." Prometheus said with an understanding nod, "And telling the other kids probably isn't helping your conscience. I'd offer you a drink to help with that, but I don't have an idea where the booze is on this ship."

Taking a moment to figure out how to comfort the teenager he said, "I can't ask you to blindly trust adults, to be honest. You're late teens, early 20s right? Cynicism is part of that."

He signed, "Look, Talion thinks you all have a bright and important future ahead of you. Honestly if that comes to pass is up to you. And a part of that is knowing sometimes their ain't no one else to do something. You fucked up with that doubt...

But acknowledging that sometimes you won't have anyone to help you...that's wisdom most wouldn't have at your age. You just gotta use it constructively. We got lucky here, but take this moment to learn. What could you have done differently?"

Mistral sat up at the shore of the hallow pool and closed her eyes, letting the frigid silence of this deep place calm and re-center her, as it always did.  The chill bit through her wet clothing like an icy knife, but it felt good in a way.  The cold was a sure reminder that she was alive, and it felt something like penance as well.  She had needed that.  Mistral arose, shivering violently, and went to the further end of the cavern, where she extended a hand to a blank slab and rasped, “Ouvrir.”  The large, rectangular portal unfurled before her in a wash of glowing mist, and she strode through and back into her cabin on the S.S. Grey, half a world away.

It was some hours after the others arrived before Mistral appeared in the infirmary.  She’d shed her wet hooded jacket and changed into a sleeveless undershirt, but still wore the same pants as on the mission, which now looked as if they’d been through a thresher.  Her hair was wet and bedraggled, cheeks flushed from cold and bearing a number of superficial scratches.  Mistral went straight to a sink and washed a few of the larger scratches, then applied a topical disinfectant ointment.  As she finished this she noticed the children.  She didn’t recognize most of them and figured they must have been brought in by Team Unsubtle.  She did recognize one, however.

Mistral approached the young girl whom the enemy mage had driven to the roof at muffin-gunpoint, then extracted via a surprise trapdoor portal.  The young magess paused for an awkward few moments, then said, “Bonsoir, petite mademoiselle.  I am glad to see you safe...  How are you feeling?”

 The boy hung his head, listening to what Promethius had to say. When he had finished, the boy nodded, still not looking at anyone. "Yeah... I think I'm going to need to talk to Riley when he wakes up."


 The little girl beamed when she saw you and ran up, hugging your legs. "You saved me!"

Sal thought Promethius handled things pretty well with the young man. When the little girl exclaimed Mistral's return, he said, "Good to see you made it back, Mistral. You should let Promethius take a look at those scrapes. We've still no word from Noah. Has he made contact with you?" The barest hint of concern could be picked up, by those who were looking for it.

Prometheus offered the young adult a smile, "You'll do good. I mean it. That your first thought now is about someone else, about apologizing, is a good sign."

With that he relaxed, trying hard not to think about Mistral and Noah.

Especially Noah, I swear to Christ if he ends up non-existent...


Prometheus was caught in his own thoughts, he didn't notice Mistral arrive until Sal made a comment. Looking up at her he said, "You get him?"

Mistral was taken aback by the little girl’s sudden hug about her legs.  She drew up and went very still at first, as if the girl were a pouncing wild animal that might lose interest if she didn’t move.  Then she relaxed by degrees, letting out a breath and putting a tentative hand on the girl’s back.  Saved her?  Yes... she supposed she had done that.  Despite herself, a slight smile tugged at the corners of Mistral’s mouth, and she lowered herself to a nearby bench and looked at the girl again.  After a time she said, “He saved you, too.  You and your siblings.”  She indicated Prometheus, who was otherwise occupied on the other side of the infirmary, but appeared to just take notice of her arrival.  To the girl she asked, “What is your name?  Je m’appelle Mistral...  My name is Mistral, I mean.  Pardon, I’ve a habit to slip into Française in speech...”

When Sal approached Mistral inclined her head to him and replied, “Likewise, Monsieur Sal.”  She shook her head, “These scrapes are nothing.  I was fortunate only to be grazed, considering the cyclone of broken glass in which I found myself.”  Upon being asked about Noah she nodded once and said, “He is in low orbit above the storms.  I believe he will return when it suits him.”

To Prometheus she paused and shook her head and mostly succeeded in keeping the frustration off her face as she replied, “Non.  The enemy sorcier falsified his sympathy entirely and is now in the wind, sans trace.  The trail ended at a resonance of a kind not known to the Pentacle.  I was forced to extract just before Times Square was obliterated.”

 "You're French? That's so cool! Have you seen the Eiffel Tower? I wanna go see it some day. My name's Jenny."

As Mistral discribed events to everyone, Prometheus very rapidly turned white...then slightly green.

"Thats...."


Shaking his head to clear his mind, he said in a voice filled with false cheer, "Mistral, Argent, Sal...can I talk to you a moment outside the room." It wasn't subtle in the slightlest, BUT this was definitely not a discussion he wanted around the children when he had just got them all happy.

Once they were all out of the room, he said, "So just to clarify...one of the most heavily recorded and streamed places on earth was just destroyed by magic... in what is likely the largest breach of the Veil...ever?"

Looking more directly at Mistral, he said, "So... as an Arrow you probably have a better timeline then me. I'm guessing the Guardians and Arrow will probably respond by now, likely with several Mind, Space, Spirit and Matter Masters to disguise this as a bombing. If Noah is lucky, he is gone before they arrive. If he is slightly less lucky, they will think him a Spirit and Banish him. If he is unlucky they will obliterate him without figuring out what he is.

The New York Hierarch, the most political powerful mage in North America, will probably find out shortly thereafter, and searching for someone to blame, give the Guardians and Arrow free reign to track the responsible down. The Concillium will likely support this. The only Resonance on scene is yours, yes? Can a Space Master trace it here? Or can you be identified by it?

And that's ignoring the responses from the Seers, Archmasters, Vampires, MIB and Hunters."

Swallowing, he said "So...do we have a plan?

Mistral couldn’t help but crack a smile at Jenny’s buoyant cheer.  She nodded to the girl in confirmation and said, “Enchantée, Jenny.  I have visited la tour Eiffel often, but... not for a long time.  It is even larger in truth than pictures make it seem.  We... I, used to travel to Paris late in the year, to visit—”  She gulped and paused, looking away, then added faintly, “The lights on Champs-Élysées at that time of year...  They are magnifique.”  Mistral would say no more, but then Prometheus arrived to pull her away, rescuing her from any further responses.

She listened to his concerns, but shook her head and clarified, “Perhaps I was premature in saying Times Square was obliterated, for visibility was low and I did not see it, nor did any camera.  I assumed, for it sounded like the world’s ending, and I cannot imagine any edifice of mankind withstanding the reality-rending storm I witnessed there.  To the Sleepers appeared as une tornade sévère.”  Mistral squinted, peering thoughtfully into the middle distance as she recalled what she’d seen.  She then said, “We needn’t worry of any résonance being traced from there.  Résonance and matter itself were... disassembled.  Melted before my eyes, broken down and consumed in the same way that Grey does.  I thought it strange, however...  The things I saw consumed in this way were primarily rubbish and graffiti.  It felt like a cleansing, in a way.”

She looked back to Prometheus and said, “In the wake of this cataclysm, I expect that the Heirarch and the Concilium will have far greater concerns than a rogue Space sorcière.  This was Arcanum on a scale not seen since the fall of Atlantis.  No small, lone cabal could possibly have done this, and they would be fools to think so.  I do not doubt they know of Talion’s power, and his rage over what was done to his own.”  She shrugged and added, “The ship is warded, so if the Guardians or the Arrow decide to pay a visit, I will know it in advance.  If it comes to that, we will address their concerns one way or another.”