Party

[cusm: This place put here as one way for characters to be introduced and get to know eachother. Its a good place to try out NPCs, or introduce latecoming players. Feel free to link off side conversations, experiment with interactions in the wiki format where it won't affect the story much, and have fun.]

In a pile by the entrance are some sticky "my name is" tags and a marker, for those so inclined. The sound of a House beat pounds from within, and it looks like someone has strung up strands of christmas lights all around with duct tape. A small bar has been erected just within with a cooler, a few bottles of vodka, and a big tank of Gatorade. Jugs of water lay about illuminated with glowsticks inside them, sheding both a lamp like effect and allowing people to find refreshment. A number of people are hanging out in groups outside, chatting and smoking. Some are dancing inside, some sitting against the inside walls, and some rustling about in nearby bushes. The night is young, but the party has definitely started.

The part of the tunnel nearest the DJ is lit solely by ultraviolet, giving everything an otherworldly feel as you can only see the dancers while clothing, UV items and face paint and the odd glo stick.

A kid with orange hair is skateboarding through the, as yet sparse, crowd. He's wearing dark colours so is hard to see, but his orange/yellow trainers glare out of the UV. He's holding an open cardboard box, and offering the Contents to anybody who'll take it. They appear to be [UltravioletRosaries], they look very strange hovering around to the tribal beat.

A trio of travellers break out some fire poi, fire staff and devil sticks and start to play, immediately attracting a crowd of partygoers as they flip and spin, leaving trails of fire in the air like strange temporary glyphs.

In an alcove of the tunnel a young lady in a white dress reads Tarot for bartered goods, eerily lit by glowsticks and nightlights. Sibyl reads the future. She finishes a reading for a pretty girl in flying goggles with black dreadlocks, then looks around at the party smiling.

Koyne enters, wearing bulky sunglasses, jeans and a black muscle shirt, doing a strange modification of the Electric Slide, with FD in tow.

"Pretty sure Nail will be here somewhere," Koyne shouts over the din as he draws a Black Power fist on his "My name is..." sticker and slaps it in place over his diaphram.

"Hopefully he'll want to talk outside. This is doing my head right in." FD winces at the UV light and pushes his lennon-style sunglasses closer to his eyes. "First order of business: I move that we start our search by the bar."

"Yeah, okay. I want to see what kind of drugs we can find here..."

A small woman in glasses wanders in, stopping by the sticker table to scribble on a label and affix it dead-center on her chest, below the glowing power symbol on her black shirt. The label reads Tara. She slinks against a wall, feet tapping with the beat, watching the DJ booth. Horser, eh? She couldn't have guessed her yearly trip to London to renew old connections with Board friends would bring her here, but he and FD had convinced her to show. Stay in the corner, she thought. Wait. Watch. Maybe when FD showed up she'd get the courage to speak to people -- always best when there's someone you've met before. She reached out her mind through the music... yes, he was on his way. Not much longer to wait.

Horser steps out from behind the DJ booth, where he's been hanging out for awhile while the party warms up. He's wearing a loose orange tie-died t-shirt with a phoenix emblazoned on the front, which glows with blue flames in the UV. He's stuck one of those "my name is" stickers on his ass pocket, with the internet address of the board on it. He mingles out into the dance area, and starts funking out to the beat. He moves around, chatting with people hanging around, occasionally making discrete exchanges from his pocket.

Koyne spots the sticker as he passes and taps him on the shoulder.

"Hey, I'm Koyne, and this is FD. Who're you?"

Horser blinks a moment, then places the names. "Oh hey, right on. I'm Horser. Good to finally put some faces to names, eh?" He warmly extends a hand in greeting. "You guys been here long?"

FD shakes hands enthusiastically and a trifle too hard, although whether from nervousness or macho posturing is not immediately apparent. "Nah, we just got here. Good to meet you, man." Jerking his head in the direction of the bar, he continues "I'm just about to give Dionysus his due, y'want anything?"

"Horser! It's great to meet you. We haven't interacted much, but I always enjoy reading your stuff. Funny, you look nothing like I expected."

"Its the Goatee, isn's it?" Horser scratches his chin in emphasis. "That never seems to come through. And hey, just grab me some gatorade, thanks. Booze is something I have to *just* do, or not. I don't like to mix it." He turns back to Koyne. "New York, right? I liked your article on the history of the Masonic lodges. Interesting stuff, especially with how much overlap there is with the occult societies of the time. Its good to know someone who can keep all the dates straight with this sort of thing. I'm from Pittsburgh, myself. I had some leave time stored up from work, so I'm taking a bit of a holiday. Never been to the UK, or anywhere east of the Atlantic for that matter."

"Much the same here, really." FD says, returning with cups in hand and offering one to Horser. "Felt a need to walk untrodden ground for a while, so when I found out Koyne was headed overseas I jumped at the chance to tag along. Liking the place so far, although I feel a bit bowed under the weight of history."

"Yea, its not bad," Horser nods. "Bit of a run down feel, but I think that comes with the massive age of the place, which is cool. Allows for a lot of the mystic to creep around in that 'old city' sort of way. Definitely a different vibe than back home, though. Totally different power formats for electronics, too, which is a bit of a pain if you've brought any toys with you, but workable. Where're you guys staying? I've been crashing with Ash for the past couple of nights, who'se skating around here somewhere..."

"We're staying at a hotel. Slightly fleabag, but discreet. So, uh... have you scoped out the pharmacological situation at this party? I'm interested in a little elementary chemistry."

Horser digs out a beat tin of Altoids with much of its decal worn off, revealing the bright tin beneath. Inside are a number of the expected white mints, though they seem slightly discolored, as if they were wet. On the inside of the lid is a dragon decal that looks like it was taken from the Mortal Combat emblem. There are also several small pills rattling about within.

"Altoid?" he offers. He gives Koyne a meaningful smile. "They're curiously strong."

"Mind the pills though, I haven't had a chance to test them yet. Scores from what's running about the party tonight so far. I was just looking for a place to go do that. I like to keep tabs on what people are passing off as E at these things, cause you never know sometimes and kids will take just about anything."

Horser finds a comfy spot to sit down and run some [pill tests] on his finds.

"I'll stick with booze, this evening. I just need a lubricated voice tonight, not a burning need to hug everyone." FD sips his drink and grins, a cheshire half moon reflecting the black lights above the shadow of black t-shirt and jeans. "Spotted Nail yet, have we?"

A quiet voice pops up from behind FD. "Hey sexy, I see you've grown your hair back out since I saw you last. It suits you." FD blinks and runs a hand through his mop of curls self-consciously before turning to see Tara with a large shot glass in hand, held out in offering. "'s Chartreuse; I had to get some. Tradition." She stares at him expectantly as he beams at her in pleasant surprise before sipping it. FD smiles in recognition as she offers around the green fire to anyone else who'd accept. Her standard opening ceremony complete, she introduces herself briefly to the others in the circle, noting that she'd never have expected Horser's goatee. She otherwise blends back into the background, silent.

Sibyl approaches the small group, smiling at Horser. She gets close enough to be heard over the music and leans in to speak to FD and Koyne. "Hi there, are you the guys looking for Nail? He's just outside, but he won't come in- follow me." She turns and picks her way through the crowd toward the area outside, smiling over her shoulder occasionally to check they are alright.

Horser arches an eyebrow in curiosity, and nods in reply.

"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up. Gotta find that /dealer."

Outside the House beat is reduced to a bearable volume, and Nail stands off to one side smoking a cigarette, watching the people playing with fire. Sibyl walks up to him and touches him on the shoulder, and the smile that breaks acroos his moody face as he turns to her shows his feelings. He pecks Sibyl on the cheek and she turns and goes back into the event, waving goodbye to them.

"Hi!" Nail says to Koyne and offers his hand to FD and Tara. "Nail, pleased to meet you. Sorry to drag you out but I can't handle that noise, I'm a Bob Dylan man myself."

FD shakes hands enthusiastically, nodding at Nail. "I completely understand, m'man. Conversations done at a shouting level are wearing, particularly when the UV's already doing a number on my head." Nail smiles "Also the fire twirlers are cool." He takes a drag on his cigarette and continues to FD "I'm told you have some information on the book I'm looking for- if it's the one I want I'll be chuffed, I've been looking for it for months. Charon's Journey, first edition, Sydney Manning- if you can get the hand annotated copy I'll give you my firstborn." He eyes FD intensely, who is not sure if he's joking... "Now, about payment- I don't have much money, but I can offer you my services or some top quality blotter acid I happen to have- if you're into that sort of thing a sheet of Hoffmans will keep you going for a while, or else I know people who know people (if you know what I mean). What do you think is a fair trade?"

"Well, that's a bit of a tricksy area, y'see." FD says, glancing at Koyne. "We have the book... the annotated copy, even... but we don't exactly have it for sale."

"Our... mutual contact authorized a loan of the book to us from an organization we do some work for. He's expecting us to stay with it, and he's expecting it back. So if you need the book as some means to an end, well, we can do business. If you're just completing a collection, well..." FD spreads his hands and shrugs.

"No, I'm not a collector" Nail smiles "all I want are the words. If you're willing to let me have a good long look, that's actually better- I can pick your brains, I'm not much of a scholar myself. It's in Elizabethan English with a whole slew of number squares and magick codes and shit as far as I know, which I know fuck all about. If you can help me understand the parts I need that would be great. Tell you what, have the Hoffmans as a token of goodwill, I like the cut of your jib." He reaches into his satchel and pulls out a clear plastic ziplock baggie with a small sheet of paper on, covered in tiny H's."This is powerful stuff, I wouldn't recommend taking any tonight, this is the wrong environment." He hands the bag to FD, who takes it with a bemused expression and passes it off to Koyne. "I'm assuming you and Koyne will distribute it fairly, spread the love. Now, I'm not staying long as I have places to be, but let's arrange to meet tomorrow so we can go over the book. I'd also like you to meet some friends of mine, give me a call tomorrow when you're free, here's my number." he hands FD a scrap of paper with a mobile number on it, no name. Nail looks around at the party accelerating towards a full blown Event, and flicks his cigarette away. "Maybe I could stay for a swift drink, what's the kool-aid like?"

FD makes a face. "They're using Stoli, which shouldn't even call itself vodka these days, but it could be worse. Still an' all, it'll take you places." He drains his drink in a gulp and passes the scrap of paper to Koyne. "We'll contact you, but I may be a bit late if you and Koyne set up a meeting for tomorrow; I've got a bit of a mini-tour of some architectural oddities set up tomorrow. Tonight, though, I'll gladly share a drink."

"Great" Nail smiles "You twisted my arm. Let's neck some booze and meet up tomorrow. So you like architecture? My Dad was an architect, what the attraction is I just don't know. Just bricks, innit?" Nail walks with Koyne and FD to the Kool Aid bar and discusses architecture and the validity of sacred geometry with them, getting progressively more confused over the night as they quaff vodka laced drinks. In all the confusion, Koyne manages to lose the bag of acid.

Sometime later, Ash and Horser reemerge from the party, fairly carrying a couple of girls who look like they've had a bit more than they could handle. Bad pills. One of them keeps throwing up, Koyne helping to hold her hair.

• * * * *

Stars exploding across the retinal canvas of his eye, Matthew pushes himself from the table, removes his glasses, and begins a vigourous face rubbing. His eyes ache from seeing. Looking at his watch, he sees that he has almost missed the party. Looking at his pint glass, half-empty of Guiness, he resolves his mind.

"Almost missed Bloomsday, not gonna miss this."

He closes his laptop, chugs the rest of the Guiness, and runs outside, almost missing one of the last busses from his area. The Guiness persuades him to close his eyes for a time, though not sleep, and some of the ache from a bout of tech-gnosis fades away. He expects the party should finish the process of bringing him back to the land of the living, infusing him with energy.

He gets off the bus, walks into the area of town posted on the Board, and sees a group of people standing around what must be the entrance of the party. An assortment of folks are smoking and involving themselves in other sundry drinks and drugs. Waving hello, he strikes up a conversation with those at the door. Pulling out a Holmes-style pipe, he lights it and offers a puff to those around.