Distraction and Observation (Manifesto)

[Tan Li]

LI was more than happy to follow along and when Nhysa was situated in her new perch he wrapped himself behind her and nestled up against her ear. "I think, that is for me to know and you to find out when we retreat to our own darkness tonight." He would follow her wherever her path lead as long as it lead back home to either of their beds.

[Edwin]

Eddie allowed Rhi to attend to her business, agreeing to stick around to make sure she was okay both before and after her business. It was an easy enough gig, and once again good practice. Rhi went into a private booth to accomplish whatever business would happen in a place like this. It made Eddie curious as to what it was she did. What kind of business was done in a club such as this?

Eddie kept an eye on her booth, keeping close enough to be in earshot in case Rhi should need him. He understood why she would be on edge. Someone did try to drug her. Under normal circumstances, Eddie would guess the drug was an attempt to take advantage of her, and that would likely be the end of it. The mystery lady, who still remained in her high vantage point, hadn't seemed to make any more moves against her. She seemed a lot more interested in her movie star boyfriend.

Eddie took another look at Rhi's booth and noticed a darkness surrounding it. He couldn't see into the booth anymore. The hair on his neck stood, and briefly his eyes went to the mystery lady, but he had no clue if it was her or not. With channeler's around, this could be part of what they could do. For all he knew, it could be someone in the booth obscuring their view from prying eyes. Still, Eddie couldn't dismiss the possibly of danger. Until he had more information, he had little he could do but prepare. His primary concern was Rhi, and if there was some supernatural magic thing going on, he would be best suited to respond to it near Rhi. In response, he moved closer to Rhi's booth.

[Legione Sumus]

Omar Tarek

Women in positions such as Bode's representative were an oddity in Egypt where most of the country followed the faith of Islam.  Their tenants could be strict regarding such things. Even though Omar was a Muslim, he understood people would have different values.  The woman in front of him may have been scorned by many in Egypt, especially in public, but here - things were what they were.

Omar's apathy for the whole situation melted when the artifact itself was brought out, replaced by curiosity. It was a unique piece for sure. "A Piece of m'Antinomian"  was what is what advertised.  Still the artifact was almost a work of art in itself. Omar leaned in slightly as Lucian began to work with the puzzle box and eventually unlocked it, revealing a silver tube.

There was organic matter inside - and it was a receptacle of knowledge. The advertisement said that it held the secrets of would-be gods. Lucian authenticated that it was indeed what Bode had said it was. Curious.

When Lucian turned towards him, Omar did have questions. He wasn't sure they fell in the purview of what Lucian was paid to do or not, but he felt he should ask, just in case. "You say it should be performed by the items owner? Does it have some sort of tamper prevention device that would be a danger to my employer? Does the device somehow know who "owns" it?" Omar knew, as did Giovanni, that the piece itself was stolen. This would be a potential concern to any buyer. "And how would one, access the knowledge inside?"

[Nesrin Aziz]

Nesrin continued to watch the rep for his reaction as Lucien examined the Key. She was relieved to see some stir of curiosity in his stoic demeanor, not because it meant good things for her prospects, but because it brought some humanity to the stone of his expression. She’d seen dead-eyed men do terrible things without so much as a blink. And no one fishing around the dark web for godhood paraphernalia was likely to be charting high on the morality scale. Even Nesrin’s ability to coerce, should the defense prove necessary tonight, had its limitations – she could only work with something that already existed. If he was truly as unfeeling as he seemed, she might not be able to protect herself from him. And she still had to get safely out of the club.

It stirred her nerves. It also made her thankful for Eddie.

She listened to the Archivist’s reading as though he only revealed the truth she already knew. But the auction description had been almost entirely to incite a reaction and attract a certain type of bidder  – in reality all she really knew about the Key was that the Emissary wanted it back badly enough that Zigzag had been scared for both of them. What was shared she filed away with interest – intending it to be her first payment to Wicked. Knowledge sounded enticing. The idea of organic matter not so much, not after what Zigzag had said about hosts.

As the Jackal’s man posed his questions, Nesrin’s brows rose. She was layered in confidence like it was armour. Between them Lucien paused naturally, his gaze lifting from the Key to ascertain whether he should answer. She ought to refuse. The Key was what she implied it was – that was what mattered, at least so far as the auction went. All Nesrin needed was to push the interest into a bidding war, and Jackal wasn’t currently the front runner – but with a whet appetite he’d fight for it. She needed to work quickly, and not risk the Archivist revealing something that might ruin the Key’s mystique. Or worse yet make it an untenable investment.

Problem was she wasn’t in this for her bank balance. She was in this for whatever opportunity she could grasp. And right now the heat felt more like thrill than real danger, even with the attempted spike on her drink. In the moment she found her own curiosity the more powerful motivator – she wanted to hear what the Archivist might know, even if she might regret the Jackal’s representative hearing it too.

“Do you have an answer?” she asked.

The Archivist smiled. He still held the tube in his hands, and he peered down at it through his spectacles as he spoke.

“With the amount of time we have, I can only read back so far,” he explained. “I can tell you that since the item was removed from its predecessor, it has not been opened. In my professional opinion it would seem unlikely it is without failsafes. However, I can read nothing that would confirm for you either way what those might be, or even if they exist. Every instance it has been opened, so far as I can read back, has been without incident – the mechanism for this is as I showed you. The sensors here, see? It is because of the matter inside that I will not recommend opening it for the purposes of demonstration. I could not tell you how the knowledge is accessed, just that there is a transference involved. Something is removed, and something else returned in its place. It's possible, therefore, that the piece will only have one use in it. Outside of the m’Antinomian, at least, its secrets may well be unique, and singular.”