This morning, I tried coffee for the ... first time? I don't know anymore. While I was trying to decide whether it was wonderful or awful, Koda asked me if she could try to help me figure out what's messed up in my head

The party divided into groups. One, apparently, was set on "fixing" me (I don't feel broken, other than the fact that I can't remember anything. They don't agree, I think... they're calling me Meleia when I'm not supposed to be listening.) Jonathan said that apparently I look like a mage and still sparkle like A'leia did.

Koda tried to play with my head:

She says there is a Mindshield with fake mind outside--the wall is made of horn with "Melody" on top

Koda asked Kianna if she could undo the spell, and me if I wanted it to be undone. Of course I said no, and Kianna isn't admitting to anything. Tristain thought he could make the shield fade with his magic, but It didn't. He tried to static my mind, but was pushed back out with the same kind of force you'd expect from someone who didn't want their mind invaded.

After serious questioning, Kianna admitted that she had done *something*...
*"It was a ritual to give someone a name"--Kianna*
After confessing (and realizing that now she neither had her friend nor A'leia), Koda convinced her to try to figure out what was really going on inside my head. *Kianna and Koda go into "full communion" and became "Batelope" * *"Sort of a fluttering of antlers" -Tristain*

The batelope was pushing around in my head, and punched a hole. I flipped out and swung at Kianna, then at Tristain, trying to get them out of my head. They got both my arms, but by then there were no more people in my head so I stopped fighting.

In the meantime, Tom and his group were securing the building. After Koda and Kianna and Tristain's failed attempt to invade my mind, we all went to the conference room to listen to Tom's presentation * Do not walk on the roof * Intercom signals with special signals to indicate situations * Training in lethal and non-lethal weapons * You will have with you at all times: gas mask or (type of) goggles and nose filters

People went off to talk about things and do things and stuff. I asked Barton to take me to my apartment. I come back with my stuff, including my address book. I took my stuff to my room, and started reading and playing with my knife. Tristain came in and talked to me and said, *Hey, it's not a bad idea if you come with us to talk to the threadweaver.* This didn't make much sense. I'm useless in negotiations because I don't even remember the people we're negotiating with. Hell, if I hadn't woken up here, I would have barely known these people (except Kianna of course. She's my friend.)

I asked A' for a book, and he gave me some historical novels *Space, Chesapeake, Tale of Two Cities, War and Peace* A' talked to me about nothing in particular, and about why they wanted me to go--"Melody and especially A'leia used to be really good at negotiation and getting information from people." "Something is maintaining the shield in your head. It's not Kianna, and it's probably not you because you wouldn't remember *how*, or at least I don't think so. We suspect that a third party was poking at your head at the same time Kianna says it looks thread-related, which leads to the third-party theory" I suggested that maybe I cast cacophany on myself really well.

meetingtime:
Barton went to scout Then, the rest of us head over to the gazebo/bandstand There are people around who look like they might be sleeping here, and there are families heading home. The park is pretty at night. Tristain stepped up onto the bandstand, over the chain, and vanished. He came back and told us to follow him. Tristain said "Hello. Mr Threadweaver, I presume?" They made faces. Tristain began asking questions--about threadweaving, horrors, etc. They claimed total ignorance. " We're just a band. You know, oldies. 60-80 years. What's with all this mystic mumbo-jumbo stringweaving and stuff?" Tristain asked Tom to turn off the tape recorder. "So, what's with the recorders guys?" "We have a couple people back holding fort. We generally make it a policy to record things we do, you know, so we have a record." "Slight problem. Slight problem. Slight problem" says a girl He turned to us and said, "Hold on a minute" She concentrated again, and it stopped. "There's some weirdshit going on around here. There's some strange echoes from a concert about 60 years ago. Whatever you do, don't show 2001 here" Seriously, starting over, what can we do for you folks. "We're looking for information and... training, in roughly that order. Oracle's business has been mainly in training and paranormal activity and animal control. "What do you want information on?" "Horrors, scourge, the sword we have that we'd like you to look at, we've been hearing things about prophecies and dreams, information on thread magic, and more steady access to the Netherworld" "Alright, and training in what? THis isn't ... adult education class" "Work with threads, magically-enhanced deckers--sounds like adepts to me" He recap'd what people wanted. And started asking questions "Which are worth more? Air, Fire, Earth or Water" "If I wanted to sell you folks off, get a good price per head, where would I do it? Tom-"Thera" There's a name they haven't used in quite a while... Okay, do you know offhand if any of you have geasa--magical ties, obligations, etc Um... yeah. Okay, some stuff we'll give you for "old times sake" There are old prophecies--first the invii, the bug spirits, then the horrors. What else are you looking for... if you're into paranormal animal control, some of the things you might run up against Horrors == Enemy Metaplanes==Netherworlds There are places beyond the Middle Realms that you can go--places that are native to Earth, Fire, to Bat, to Tiger And if you know any hermetics they can probably take you on a grand tour of the Sephiroth You're going to have to give us something on the order of what we're offering you--or something now. He asked us and then cast a spell that required people to speak the truth. They want a permanent access point to the Netherworld, with a safe exit to somewhere in UCAS. I went over and talked into Tristain's ear "We don't have anything to offer them. We need their help. Be very specific about that." "Look... guys... we've told some of you this before. How do we know you guys are for real, aren't "The Bad Guys" or aren't just incompetent enough to just get yourselves killed ?" "We need your help. The scourge is coming..." "I'm not sure it's as close as you think it is, and I'm not sure we can help you there anyway. You folks spent time on Nantucket. You know where there Netherworld access point is, and what it looks like, and maybe the geography of the other side. How well armed are they? You've been through the mists to Tir-na-nogth. You have a ritual link to something there. If someone wants to swim through your bloodstream into Ireland, who am I to say they're f%$% insane. We heard you folks were involved in something with a startup a few months ago. Tristain mentioned Sedar-Krupp and the time-travel into the past , "Time travel is impossible" -Frank "Impossible is our middle name" -The Party "We have some threads linking us to that, a couple other interesting magical fetishes you might wish to examine. Mana-tech: we have some interesting magical experaments from Silvertech which we could sell to you or possibly give to you. "What is that?" "You're aware of the way cyber kills people? We've encountered souls bound to dead bodies cybered beyond the gills" -Tristain I slipped the red ring onto my finger, in my pocket. Tom is looking at me a lot In the next few minutes, Tristain mentioned some of the things we know about: * Seder-Krup summoning * mana-tech * Cyberzombie data and crystal spell matrixes * portal to horror-land w/salt water * pair of fetishes * method of making adepts And some things we want to know about * adept training * "How to turn back a scourge" * Information on artifacts * Prophecies and info on the Dreamers I was getting more and more nervous about the way the conversation was going, and something Frank said sealed it. "Letting adepts loose on the world now would be like the first mages. No defenses..." At that point, before anyone could say anything about me, I walked out. That meeting wasn't going anywhere... Koda tried to tackle me, so I started running. Kianna started shooting at me, and I ran towards a crowd of people. Kianna shot me 9 times and I fell down. Barton showed up, picked me up, threw me over his shoulder and ran back towards the van. A policeman shouted at Barton "Stop where you are!" and pulled a sidearm A spotlight triggered on Kianna "Miss, stop where you are." and the policemen arrested her. (You're not supposed to shoot people on Boston Common.) Barton got into the van and took off. A' got called by the police, and made the car auto-pullover. Barton jumped out and went into an old T station, vaulting the rail, and into the track-space, then into a tunnel that appears to be one of the caved-in and former T tunnels. (The orkish underground) I woke up to roaring laughter of orks and dwarves. Barton told me to act asleep so I did, and he fought off a mugger. He was very brave. We came out through what was once the Kendall Square T-station. I told him I would like him to take my letter of resignation to Tristain, and we made a deal that I would go to dinner with him and then he would carry my letter of resignation. *At the time, I was thinking (He's very charming. I'm still not going back. This is ridiculous. This ring is pretty, and I have no idea what the hell to do with all these forks)* Barton showed me what to do with all the forks and how to read the menu (in French), and even gave me a little bit of wine, but after dinner I bid him farewell and walked out. I asked someone on the street how to get to Chinatown and somehow managed to find my apartment. I changed out of the elegant dress, into normal street clothes, collected a few things, and booked, knowing that Barton couldn't be too far behind, and not ready to face him (or, worse, the rest of the party) again.