PrP: J&V - Next Steps

[Ram]

“What? No!” Ram growled at the very suggestion of hurting mortals for being taken in by the Fetch. “We’re not trying to make it suffer. We’re eliminating it as a threat. Destroying one of the Gentry’s tools. And if we can do it without causing the wife and kids any distress so much the better.” Even if it meant up ending his own life to do it. Damn thing.

“But yeah, why? I’d rather not try to bring her into this either.” Recruiting a mortal held risks without having it be to kill her ‘father’. “And if its for information, that can wait. Every day is another chance that it takes off with or without them; or for it to succumb to the madness that made it and… hurt them.” Again, not a risk his wanted to take.

“So, what did everyone find out? Any ideas on where to corner it? And what's important for me to know if we manage to kill it in a way that lets me take over?”

[Circe]

Well, that was enlightening. And Circe was in pajamas still, nursing a coffee of course. The Summer Fairest did not thing it was sufficient size but made due. She'd perhaps spent probably too much time locked away in her room, typing and coding.


Circe provides a folder with a typed up report to Ram. "It has some criminal contacts, at least ta get the new identity. Hmph," she rolls her shoulders as a thought comes in, "Similar ta how we get new IDs too." Probably due to the same criminal professionals doing the work for both.


Circe looks to Titania, "Yeah, that's a good question. Why that angle?" Because Titania had to be thinking weirdly to have that be effective. The kid was adopted by the Fetch, not Ram, so she should be loyal to It not the real Ram. Just as it was with her own Fetch with the mafia. White locks briefly obscure her vision as she shakes her head. Ram didn't have her issues with fighting his Fetch.


Gerrit's question of expanded targets to Ram gets a disapproving look from the Queen. Circe wasn't keen on that when they could minimize the scrutiny. And it looks like step into its shoes was not Ram's plan. Ok, good. Attack? The Summer Mantle turns up as Circe smiles at that topic.


"Well Ram, I personally have a plan ta destroy It with minimal harm ta the mundy family," she takes a seat and leans back with a proud smile, "Firefighters usually have life insurance." Her left hand rises as she starts to extend fingers to count. 1 "And charity funds when they die in the line of duty," 2, "We waste it in a burning building, Fetch leaves trash, trash burns." 3, "Insurance collected by the mortals. They suffer in ignorance, never know It was a monster, but financially they're helped."


After a pause she lowers her hand and sips her coffee. "Of course, we are committing arson. And maybe burning down a building, so investigation means we'll hafta be smart or untraceable with it. And risking getting killed in the fire but Hedgegates," Circe taps the side of her cup, "I've firepower, not powers, nor immunity ta it. Hmm," Circe smiles, "I need a hula-hoop. Test fer gate making."


Something that was a archway yet would not survive the flames. Well, that was her suggestion.

[Titania]

She shakes her head. "We're not going to hurt them. But if we're still keen on discovering what your fetch has been up to, then his family is the only way to pierce through his facade", she stretches her arms, "And before we go down that route. What exactly do you think it's going to happen once you dispose of him? His family will be hurt. You're killing one of them, regardless of how you feel about it", then Circe drops the bomb. Literally.
"Burn a building...", she pinches the bridge of her nose. Burning buildings hit a bit too close home. It was their second? Or third?
"Let's think of something a bit less... obtrusive?", she lets out, "Besides, wasn't this family created after Ram had been taken? I mean, did you ever knew his wife and children?"

[Gerrit]

Did.. did Ram and Circe think that Gerrit was actually suggesting they make the Fetch suffer by getting to its daughter? Gerrit was about to object when the conversation moved on. Ideas were thrown around, suggestions were made. But did any of the women notice the Render's final remark?

"So did I understand you correctly? You want to take its place, reclaim your old life?" That's what Ram just said, wasn't it? Gerrit wasn't projecting here.. was he? "Well that eliminates arson or any obvious death of the Fetch. We'd need to dispose of it secretly.. that way the family wouldn't suffer if we do it correctly, but you'd still be left without any knowledge of their shared past." Which would make gathering more intel the way to go, but Ram's assessment matched what Gerrit felt during his observation: the Fetch was getting restless, they probably didn't have the luxury of time.

Gerrit shared with the group, specifically Ram, what he'd gathered during the last few weeks. "In short: as far as I know there isn't really a great time where its isolated and an easy target. If you wanted to take its place we need to.. deal with it without anybody noticing anything. Afterwards.." Gerrit shrugged. "You'll have to feign amnesia? I don't know, they'd have to believe that there is a reason for you not remembering anything that has happened during the time you were gone. Maybe we could be staging a fall or some other sort of head-injury?" By now he was just spit-balling. Just getting rid of the Fetch was certainly the more manageable part of the whole operation.

[Ram]

So, he’d probably have to find out who those criminals were on top of learning how to be a firefighter and having a family. No problem.

And since it seemed there was some confusion, he clarified.

“First priority is to take it down. If we can manage it, I’ll step into its life. I don’t want to put a family through that kind of lose. Even if I don’t know them.” He had enough guilt and trauma over the things that had happened in Arcadia without adding to the pile.“And yeah, I’d love to have more information would be great. A year long schedule with a second year to confirm would be amazing.

"But I’m not willing to let a tool of the Fairies wondering around because I’m scared I might not know something. I’ll just have to learn fast.”

Ram considered Circe’s plan. He couldn’t say he liked it, criminality not withstanding. “We’d be in an environment we couldn’t control, that could hurt us. There’s the rest of the firefighters to consider that could get hurt even stumble across us. And I’d still rather not put the family through that can of kind lose, except as a contingency.”

“But,” he added“We could reverse it, staged an accident that drew away the rest of the crew and left him alone at the station. That might work better and be less risky. Set a fire in some far field away from heavy population, while he’s on phone duty. Firefighter’s have phone duty right?” He looked to Titania since she had been the one volunteering, she probably knew how that plan would work best schedulewise. "Kill it at the station, and then pretend I fell down the stairs," God that sounded cliché "Or the fire pole." Only slightly better. "Work any tech magic needed for cameras. Titania's already a volunteer. She finds me. Calls the ambulance. Bing bang boom. Destroyed fetch and cleanish step into a new life." He took a deep breath at how easy it was to say, knowing how hard it meant his life was going to become.

[Circe]

"Most bank fer the mundies' insurance bucks," was her cheerful response to Titania's pinching her nose. Fun! "Props on the infiltration work BT dubs."


Circe considers Ram's new plan. Well, she'd made her suggestion and it seems it was too criminal. "Well, it was a plan made Dew ta climbing the all nighter hacking Mountain. Not a surgical strike."


But at least it gave Ram an idea. Though Circe had her own thoughts on that. As for phone duty, that'd probably be a thing. Circe eyes Titania at mention of the fire pole, as she pictured what Titania would try to replicate with such a thing. To be fair, Circe would do it too.


She sips her coffee. "If we're doing a few months of surveillance," Circe looks to Ram, "I can work inta their security network without problem. Make a backdoor inta it, doubt they have VHS still." Which was the only way it'd be a problem. "Given enough time, I can probably make a power failure happen, so ya have a trip down the fire pole in the dark. But Ram, this does mean ya are gonna need ta cram the facts fer a while. Deep cover spy kinda shit. Also," she taps the side of her mug, "Ya'll be under a LOT of scrutiny by the mundies fer yer, ahem, recovery time." Circe Could see that being trouble, "Hafta set up dead drops or some spy shit. Alternative option," Circe points towards her door, "We work with Ram ta learn if ya can like, eat its memories through Dreams." Circe drinks her coffee.

After all, why do hard work when cheating was an option? Cheating is way more fun.

[Titania]

She's left wondering - mouth agape - whether these people were joking, brainstorming, or just had all the common sense smacked out of them. The grey hoodies thing partially confirmed her suspicion, but better check again.
She looks at Gerrit, expecting a bit of support.
"So. The plan involves killing the fetch within the firestation and replace him with Ram, who likely looks 30 year younger, has trouble adjusting to mundane life", she looks at him, "No offense", she says sweetly, "destroys anything he touches, which is gonna be problematic with his job. To boot he'll have to improvise living life with a family he barely knows. And although I have faith in him, amnesia is one tough thing to fake", she rolls her head back, staring at the ceiling.
"Do you really want to live with this family? I mean, the fetch stole your life. But these are people you've never met before. Technically they're his family", she sighs.
"Besides,how old is your fetch? Sixty? In 10 years you'll have a lot of explaining to do. People are not blind"

[Xadun]

Small point of clarification that will be known to anyone that has observed the Fetch at length - there is not an instantly noticeable difference in ages between the Fetch and Ram's ages (over the mask), thought the Fetch is a little greyer in the hair.

However, there would be noticeable marks of wear-and-tear from 30 years of life - scars, burns, anything under the clothing, and so on.

We can gloss over this, since the point being noticed stepping into the Fetch's hole is still a valid point - just wanted to make that clear and I realized I never mentioned it in the write-ups.

[Gerrit]

Good, at least they were on the same page now concerning the goal of the whole operation. He met Titania's look, but couldn't hold it all that long - the way she looked made him consider agreeing with her, even if really didn't want to. Because it was not a group decision. Instead he clenched his jaw and looked at the table. "It is not our place to decide how Ram is approaching this. The way I see it we're here to help him achieve what he wants in the best way possible." And maybe stand by to prevent any bigger spills or security breaches - but that was beside the point. He looked at his Roommate openly, pushing away the bitter taste of jealousy in the process. "If you want to try taking back that life then we need to work on the how - you're not here to talk about whether you should, right?." Maybe this was getting a bit too personal, maybe Gerrit really projected his own wish into the operation. That's probably why he was pushing the Render to give a statement that left no room for deniability. Maybe he needed to tone it down a bit.

He refocused for a beat and as he continued Gerrit addressed the whole room again. "The superficial differences aren't that big - a bit of dye can probably do all the work here, right? Of course not having the memories of the last years is difficult, but following that logic nobody should ever try to get back their life and that's just not something I believe. If things get too complicated then we'll still be able to help, Ram will still be able to pull out and disappear again." He was getting heated again. Darn it. He didn't like being like this: the subject matter hit a bit too close to home, but that was not Ram's fault.

He jerkily got up and paced a few steps back and forth, just to keep his blood from boiling. "So yes, maybe that accident while most of his colleagues are away seems like the best idea so far." Was it a great idea? No, but he wanted to keep the discussion moving, get it away from the 'should's and 'should not's.

[Circe]

What was Titania on about? Circe had seen the thing's files and it was the same as as Ram. Lucky that. "Uh, they kinda look like twins Star Girl. That's why they get called evil twins. Not like mine that's a scarred bean pole," the last part she is unable to stop herself from growling out. Though a good point from Titania, how good of an actor was Ram? "Right," she agrees with Gerrit when he says it is Ram's decision. Circe nods in approval as Gerrit points out the how method. Which the Summer Queen had technically already suggested. I mean, could Ram just absorb the memories of the Fetch? The gunbunny smurfette hums in thought. Tactics, barter, and action were her forte, not research.


Alternatively, there was the Spy method. Learn everything you could, replace, and succeed. "Medical records," passes by blue lips. After a pause she adds, "I doubt Titania got a look at It naked. Firemen probably get scars with their work. Hard ta explain sudden loss of scars without major surgery," Circe shakes her head, "And no hacker is THAT good ta fake the physical medical files. Or doctors' memories."


Gerrit's other objections are valid as is the need for an escape plan. Extraction, like a spy getting caught. "So, we are got 2 plans," she holds up two fingers. Middle goes down to one. "Spy school. Ram crams everything we can dig up about It until the operation is ready. Extraction plan in case his cover blows. Dead drops or acting boosters from the market too." Then she raises her middle finger so two or up, "Or we see about Wyrd options of literally taking back the life it stole from Ram. Powers or the new goblin market might have a something."


The elf's black and red eyes narrow in thought. She was not a master of the mystic like Rhodes, but she could give it a shot. Though it'd be easier doing it as actual research. But for right now, Circe was trying to recall if it was even a possible thing.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-07-13 14:35:30	Circe rolls 5 to Int + Occult -1 no research -2 obscure (10 Again, WillPower)	8, 5, 7, 10, 5, 5	2 successes