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Did she just....
Milo chuckled a little as his mind tried to decide if the woman's wit was amusing or aggravating. Either way there was to much at stake to not play along.
"So soon?" He smiled as the intake of air through his teeth hissed into the phone. "Well I suppose that could work. Say six o'clock?"
Eyes scanned the others. He would certainly prefer the cover of darkness to hide better given he couldn't run to save his life.
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The ogress is still frowning. Her understanding was that the meeting was planned for this morning, at dawn. Nothing here is going to plan. At least a truck stop is relatively public. Unless the Long Midnight clear it out, or have complete ownership of everything that happens in that stop, they should have some safeguards against ambush or abrupt escalation of violence.
L'aire had been sipping on the coffee when the time came up. Her brow and facial expression gave the slightly shocked with a mouthed 'tonight?' from her lips.
She hoped they weren't planning on this and that their imminent existence wasn't about to be challenged.
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As she listened, the Beast's claws froze in place before she started tapping them on the counter top. It wasn't an insight, she was just controlling her nerves to be quiet. A couple of hours? Eyes even wider then normal, Morgan checked her watch to be sure. That did give them some time to prepare, but how did they prepare? Take out the ninja lady? Find bribes? Gear up...somehow? Morgan bit her cheek to keep from blathering out her concerns. Violence would be dangerous. Oh and probably tip them off. Get her busted by the cops...somehow? That only works in movies.
Milo would hopefully finish soon before the Morgan ended up chewing her own cheek off trying to keep quiet.
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"Well that'd be just lovely. We'll see you then." There was a click as the phone cut off. Apparently the Long Midnight wasn't much for pleasantries.
Please let me know if you all want to skip ahead to 6pm or spend some time prepping for tonight. Also, feel free to PM me if I've forgotten about a thread, I didn't mean to let this sit for so long. Sorry.
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Before he could respond the phone line fell to silence, not that it mattered. These weren't friends Milo needed to be nice to, if they didn't want to talk silence was probably better for both parties.
"We have the day to prepare. The meeting place is at a truck stop, and we'll have the cover of darkness to move under." Milo started as he slipped his phone into his pocket. "We can scout now for a safe place to keep the birds near the stop. I think the safest way to get them out is a Forbiddance pledge regarding business and using the token in Sacramento. Once we have that it should be safe to hand the birds over."
Eyes scanned the other changelings. "Anything anyone would like to discuss?"
No worries Trickster!
Let's setup a plan and figure out what we want to do next IC. We can start the next scene then unless someone objects.
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Morgan stood up so that she no longer looked like a child peeking over a table's edge. She raised a hand to indicate she had a question. And she did so quickly: "So~o what of Emma? We s-still plan to gets heh-her in deal whilst trying to peh-pledge thugs out of town? Imma nay s-sure the birdies are enough...leverage, think-best-term, to get them to agree to both. Ah-anybody heh-have good ideas t-to garner more leverage to barter? Oro-or ways to weaken their leverage? C-c-cause I lack good ideas."
Bargaining was best done with strength, whether by increasing your own or weakening your foe's. And Morgan did know some methods from fiction. Very immoral and effective methods but she didn't know how to do them in real life.
"I think Morgan is right about the Birds being enough leverage. Well, I hope."
"But, as far as preparing, I've no idea what else we could do? Negotiating can be tricky of course. Do we have a plan B if that doesn't work?" The Fairest could probably aid in those talks, but as far as any sort of defense, all she could do was quickly skirt out of the way.
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"A few tanks of gas and a box of matches on a yacht," Ramona supplies, in answer to L'aire's question about a Plan B. It's deadpan, but hyperbole. "If worst comes to worst, anyway. If we can't negotiate, we have to fight, that's the nature of things. Make them leave, or slay them. The Long Midnight is a dangerous element, and it is unacceptable to have that element operating within our borders without some form of leverage or control." She'd make deals with worse people, if it came to it. Freeholds need allies, and not all those allies can be pleasant. But a criminal element that won't negotiate is no ally.
She glances aside at L'aire, "Sasha, you're the Emissary. You're the Freehold's voice. Diplomacy with an external power is your responsibility." She pauses, "I have to ask; is this how you want the Freehold to operate? Just to be clear, we are proposing to negotiate with supernatural criminals. To give them back a powerful token in the hope that they'll leave us alone." She watches L'aire with steely eyes, "There's an old saying; once you pay the Dane Geld, you'll never be rid of the Dane." She gives that thought a moment, then goes on, "Whatever you decide, remember that you represent us. I ask that you not represent us as weak. Hoshiyo's thoughts weren't about making deals or live-and-let-live, they were about power. Wanting to be feared. Wanting to fight. If those sentiments are shared at all by her boss or her comrades, we won't be solving this peacefully."
Walking away from the group, Ramona shoves on her boots and picks up her jacket. "I don't like the idea of them knowing the terrain and us not. I'd like to get a look at this diner before we have our top secret criminal negotiations in it. Entrances. Exits. Back alleys. Nearby rooftops, we know Hoshiyo uses 'em. Room lay-out. Any potential wrinkles. Plus a few escape routes from the place."
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"Um," she raised her left hand and waved it at L'Aire, "Ah-actually, sorry-bad-words, said I thought-t-t boirds would be i-i-insufficient. T-t-that s-something more t'would be needed," the toothy smile she offered was worried, "S-sorry if poor word-choice caused confusion, heh-heh."
Morgan's gaze followed Ramona as the woman prepared to do some reconnaissance. Morgan stood up and waved her hand to get the General's attention, "Uh Ramona? Meh-may I go with ye? Imma nay good at planning quickly. I nay plan an ambush, blackmail, or trick-sic cops onto baddies." She shrugged and grinned, "Bu~ut shortcuts I am good at. I can probably s-sneak onto roofs with less notice then ye, no-offense-intended. And f-finding shortcuts out of a neighborhood tis something I d-do regularly." After a pause she added, "I shall ensure they are paths a-a-all can take, not just me."
Morgan might be able to easily run up a wall to hop a barb topped fence, but the others might find it difficult. Morgan would save any difficult paths to bait the Long Midnight into chasing her down instead of chasing the rest of the group.
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