(TKTM) A Fustercluck 'Cause of Peeps Online

[Star]

"Huh. That's them?"

He turned, weaving slightly back and forth like a willow branch to get a view. Dang. Hopefully they weren't coming out to meet friends they'd called. Watched as Elle started talking to a kid. She was good with kids. Who knew? File that away. He nodded slightly at Nous and focused on the kid, memorizing his face.

All dialed in like that, he jumped slightly as something pinged off of the hood.

Oh, man. Seriously? That's not right. Not in the middle of A Thing, yo.

"Cool. Ummm. Yeah. I'll handle it. No worries."

Seriously, he was a little worried. Taking Freudiomancy out of their bag of tricks hurt, but, it wouldn't be the first time he'd rolled without. Like that time with the giraffe and the hula hoops. Who knew a giraffe could go that long without water? He reached over and gave Mandy's hand a little squeeze, then popped back out of the car.

He took a few steps to clear his view of the car, then knelt to 'Tie A Shoe' as he took a look around to make sure The Cops weren't coming out to meet More Cops. On the way down into the squat, he shot Lycus a Serious Look and shook his head slightly. Because Not Cool.

  1 suxx on PER

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-08-03 15:11:15		Cut rolls 5 to PER check (Wits + Com) (10 Again)		4, 6, 6, 10, 1, 7		1 success

[Jhet]

"He wishes he was Mulder. Why, you the guy from upstairs he was supposed to talk to like an adult?"

Yeah, she got to know things too. At least that way they're on equal footing. She is a little disappointed that Shaniqua takes off, but with the 5-0 out here, she can't blame the kid. There always tends to be a bad relationship between citizens and police in low income areas. Perhaps because they're under-serviced by a police force that spends more time dealing with rich people's complaints about stupid shit. Or something like that.

"So yeah, why? You decide that maybe you'd rather talk with someone more reasonable? I mean, it's not that unusual that what we're trying to do is keep people like Tommy here safe, but Mulder there doesn't really do a good job of talking to people sometimes."

She runs with the name. It's accurate enough for what they're going to need to be for the time being. Mulder is actually probably better at dealing with people, but hey, work with what you've been given.

"To do that we need to find the guy acting like Iron Man. And to do that, we need a description of him. And for you guys to not talk about it. Not that hard really and we at the Bureau would certainly appreciate it. And no, not that Bureau¹, but a different one that we can't talk about."

She's lying out of her teeth about the Bureau thing, but hey, they're the ones with the X-Files references. Maybe they won't second guess it too much.

*

  Manip+Subterfuge+Spec+EL (9-again): aka didn't fail this time.

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-08-05 11:59:06		Nous rolls 7 to Manip+Subterfuge+Spec+Exceptional Luck (9 Again)		6, 6, 4, 7, 3, 7, 9, 4		1 success

[Snarlequin]

Autolycus responds to Cut's head shake with a shrug. Pretty sure the only person in this situation who's opinion he really cared about what his own, Cut wasn't the one with a hole in his memories. The Guardians could suck it up and sweet talk a Moros into buffing the scratch out of the paint job.

  Perception fail

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-08-06 03:12:17		Autolycus rolls 6 to Wits + Composure (10 Again)		6, 6, 3, 1, 5, 4		failure

[Zodiac]

Mandy remained seated in the car, watching from her spot. Without her Imposter in place, the two weren't liable to recognize her again anyway, but that didn't mean she couldn't be of some assistance anyway. So it wouldn't be quite as potent as the spell she'd cast on Leah earlier that day, but she was hoping, at least, that Nous had the common sense to handle these people out in the open a little more easily than she had indoors.

With the airconditioner on in the car - an idea that had just struck her, she used the sound of the fans to drown out her chanting in High Speech as she targetted the police officers. The kid she was less worried about, especially if the adults seemed to go along with it, and so it was an air of trust that she eventually wove around Leah and David. Trust was definitely not a thing they had in spades, and she supposed every little bit would help...

At first the rock that struck the car caused her to jump a little, startling her enough to prevent the spell from working functionally, but after a pointed glare in Autolycus' direction, she restarted her work and the spell took effect, weak though it was. Too much might have been worthy of disbelief depending on how suspicious they were, anyway, so it was just a hint of it... Enough of a hint for them to listen to the woman's words, she hoped.

   failure, then 1 sux

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-08-06 20:19:13		Ozymandias rolls 5 to Emotional Urging (Trust) (Mind+Gno+HS-2 targets)-1 retry (10 Again)		9, 2, 5, 7, 2		1 success
2014-08-06 20:18:49		Ozymandias rolls 6 to Emotional Urging (Trust) (Mind+Gno+HS-2 targets) (10 Again)		3, 4, 1, 7, 3, 5		failure

[Star]

He listened while Nous tried to Sell It. He didn't understand why everyone was Doing Their Own Thing. And? He'd been pretty cool about it, except now it had turned into Zoey in the car, Lycus throwing rocks, and Nous hitting pop flies. Everybody had their turn at bat. Now it was the bottom of the ninth and they needed Doug Flutie.

Him? He cleaned up messes. Because Smiley's People.

He stood and moved towards Lycus. His body language shifted subtly*, standing a little taller, longer, more purposeful strides, shoulders back, and his chin lifted out of the relaxed friendliness to meet Lycus.

"Back my play."

The words were quick, and soft. It was all there was time for as he passed Lycus and continued to Nous and The Gang. You've only got the cards you're dealt. Which was Nous' story. So, play them.

"Nice legwork."

He flashed Nous a polite smile, with just a hint of superior officer's condescension.

"Officers? My other agent just gave me the SitRep. I'm Toby Esterhase, Assistant to the Deputy SAC and liaison."

Sure, that was a fancy way of saying he was the errand boy to the second in command, but it still gave him political operational command. And, liaison to what? Don't ask, Citizen.

"Yes, I have a badge, and yes, I can show it to you, but showing it to you means you'll spend the next twenty-four hours waiting to be de-briefed, then being de-briefed, and then a risk assessment done on letting you go. It could take a week or more. More importantly? I'll have to submit at least three different reports justifying it."

He have shake of his head. Half serious, half Help Me Help You.

"None of us wants that, and we all want the same thing here. You're painting targets on yourselves, and the witness. Which is making our lives harder. Let's assume that you were being conscientious and just wanted to get the word out. Let me relieve you by letting you know that you did. We've got all the respect in the world for what you do, and what you've done, and I assure you this isn't some jurisdiction pissing match. Let's get you, and the kid, back in the dark and safe. No more online activity, we get a first hand from the witness, and we'll take it from here."

True fact: Cogs in an institutional machine respond to authority. True fact: People like to agree. True fact: People like to be made to feel important.

"Can we count on you?"

  * Body Language

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-08-06 21:16:11		Star rolls 4 to Assertive Body Language Presence + Subterfuge -1 Inappropriate clothing (10 Again)		6, 9, 4, 8		2 successes

Waiting on a post from Autolycus for Teamwork Bonus to Star's roll

[Snarlequin]

Cut passed. Autolycus heard and fell into step behind him, doing his best to maintain a neutral attitude until he could figure out what direction Cut was taking this in. Then he figures it out and he tries to adopt the attitude of a put-upon agent who's outranked by a kid for a reason.

  teamwork 1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-08-06 21:44:21		Autolycus rolls 4 to Presence + Subterfuge (10 Again)		4, 4, 9, 1		1 success

[Jhet]

"Damn it Toby, can't you at least let me finish the interview before doing that again."

She paused like she's forgetting something.

"I mean, damn it, sir."

Like she knows she's said it incorrectly, but there's no damn way she's dropping the attitude even if she's going to address him right.

He's backing up the play she was starting, so there's no offense taken here when he bulldozes in to make it look more true. He's backing her up. Like a team. Holy. Shit. She can do it too.¹

*

  Presence+Subterfuge+Spec: +1 die for teamwork

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-08-08 10:32:42		Nous rolls 7 to Presence + Subterfuge+spec (10 Again)		5, 4, 2, 8, 1, 2, 7		1 success

[Star]

  6 Successes Boom

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-08-08 13:34:33		Star rolls 13 to Manip4 + Sub4 +2 Teamwork +3 ST is awesome (10 Again)		5, 6, 10, 2, 3, 8, 9, 2, 9, 2, 2, 4, 10, 9, 6		6 successes