Worlds on Fire - Meetings in Rio
Aug. 16th, 2006 11:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsThe Snow Valley team meet with Stephen Strange in Rio and find out it's business as usual: little information, potential danger and lots of booze. Plans are made.
"Well, at least dey didn't call it de Kon-Tiki or something." Remy expressed the thoughts of the entire team as they looked at the beach bar that Strange had specified. His e-mail asking for help had hit Snow Valley yesterday, leaving them only able to cobble together a few people to find out what he really needed. The bar was surrounded by grass fringe, half full of drunken tourists of the lower level ilk. The sounds of bad karaoke carried over the littered sand, the station tucked somewhere in the dark interior.
"There are no words," Sofia finally managed, after several attempts at a reply. If her tone hadn't betrayed her, the small wrinkle of her nose, dropping her sunglasses low enough that she could peer over them, momentarily blinded by the plethora of neon. "Heavy on the vodka, maybe. Otherwise."
Wanda sighed heavily and covered her eyes with one hand. "I do not know him," she said, sounding rather embarrassed. "I really do not. Well, I suppose we should be glad that it doesn't smell." She peeked out through her fingers as someone stumbled past her to get sick in the bushes. "Never mind. We're encouraged to drink on the job, yes? Because that's the only way I'll actually step foot in there...it has neon glowing beer glasses."
"I dunno, I kind of like it." Amanda grinned from under the rather large sunglasses she was wearing. "Got a kind of an atmosphere. Points to Strange for picking it." She ignored the disgusted looks from her older companions and leaned back in her chair, looking every inch the young British tourist - sunglasses against the glare, tiny little t-shirt from the airport and a pair of cargo shorts. As her gaze flickered over the other patrons, her eyebrows suddenly shot up at the sight of Stephen Strange, one time Columbia professor and eternal stuffed shirt (in Amanda's opinion), wandering over with a fruity drink in one hand and the world's tackiest t-shirt.
"So sorry to keep you waiting," he said as he reached their table. "I trust the flight went smoothly?"
Remy looked at him, looked at the team, and reached for Emma's credit card. "Until we found out where it ends." He flipped it across the bar, dropping it directly in front of the bartender. ~I want drinks for everyone until we can't smell the syphilis.~ He said in perfect Spanish before turning back to Strange. "So, what's de big emergency? Remy assuming it's de shirt."
Strange looked a little hurt. "It's a disguise," he said. "I'm trying to blend in." Taking a seat next to Wanda, he leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I wasn't entirely sure I wasn't followed - this lead of Mr. Wisdom's proved to be far more involved than any of us could have anticipated."
There was a small choking sound as Wanda took him in, returning the kiss as she stared at him. "~If you are looking forward to having any kind of sex tonight,~" she said in Rom, "~the shirt will be burned.~" It was fantastic to see him again but the shirt had to go. "How more involved are we talking about?"
There was a brief choking noise as Amanda almost swallowed her tongue. Wanda looked serene, but Strange's ears shaded towards pink. "Well, ah," he began, clearing his throat nervously. "I didn't have much to go on initially - it seemed so minor that we left it until last. But it turns out to have been what we were looking for all along." He sipped at his drink, made a face and set it down again, where it was promptly snagged by Amanda, at the same time the bartender set down a round of drinks in front of them. Waiting until the man left, Strange continued. "There's a valley, up in the mountains. The villagers refuse to go there - they say it's haunted. And in a way they're right." He paused. "I believe Selene had some kind of major project going on there."
Inspecting the drinks and finding them without any ice, Sofia casually lifted the drink closest to her lips. Tilting back her head, an interesting baring of her throat that almost spoke for her. "A haunted valley. You realise how very little of these people have television," she remarked, the now empty glass making a hard knock against the wood of the table as she put it down and picked up another. 'And you're an idiot' went unsaid, but really. It was Sofia.
"Correct if I'm wrong, but didn't dat salope get sunk into de bottom of de harbour?" He reached for one of the drinks, only to get his hand smacked by Sofia as she slipped out out from under his hand. "Without her, is dere really anything major dat can be going on?" He finally secured a drink by taking Strange's.
"The thing about a figurehead is that it is seldom the only factor." There was perhaps a hint of a gentle rebuke in his voice, the schoolteacher chiding his students for missing the obvious. "There are lackeys, followers, hands if you will. Selene was the heart, yes, but her disappearance didn't mean the structures she set up went with her. That's what I've spent these past nine months doing - following up those structures and determining their threat level. Some of them were manageable. Others... not so much. This valley... there's something preventing me from travelling astrally there and that for a start is enough to make me concerned. There are few places I cannot go to in astral form."
"Yeah, like Wanda's bathroom of a morning," Amanda muttered to herself. All this talk of Selene cults and the rest was making her deeply uncomfortable and she finished the fruity drink and started on her own. "And anything that powerful could stand a chance of bringing her back, yeah?" she asked rhetorically.
Now Wanda looked uncomfortable at the very thought of that. Cults were one thing since it seemed that most of them were simply excuses for drunken group sex and the occasional animal sacrifice. But there were the ones that actually either knew what they were doing or did something incredibly stupid and stumbled across bad things by sheer dumb luck. "What kind of information do you have on this valley? Obviously, there is something there because it's preventing you from doing your astral form. Any word about the valley from the surrounding areas?"
"The villagers are, to put it frankly, afraid to go there." Strange gave up trying to secure a drink and reached unconsciously for Wanda's hand. "I did some scouting, but I didn't want to get too close and alert whatever is going on down there to the fact they've been found." He smiled a little self-effacingly. "I'm not exactly trained for that sort of thing."
"You don't have any idea what is going on dere, but dere's some kind of danger. Great." Remy looked out at the surf for a minute. "Now, de thing 'bout a figurehead is dat she's de one wit' all de damn magical power. What are de possibilities dat we're looking at? According to de files, Selene didn't have a whole cadre of students. Where else can we get de grim magical death powers and de skills to cut off an entire valley?"
"Some kind of artifact," Strange responded immediately. "With Selene inaccessible, there would have to be some other power source, something connected to her that maintains her influence."
"And why exactly is the haunted valley by default a Selene, is it, hideout?" Sofia asked suddenly, her index finger circling the rim of her glass. "Not that I particularly enjoy the idea of there being more than one of these types around, however, jumping to conclusions may be even more dangerous in this situation."
"Magical signatures," Amanda volunteered, looking at Strange for confirmation, who nodded. "Something this big... it'd all be tied up to you as a caster. You couldn't get someone just moving in and taking over - you couldn't synch things up."
Squeezing Strange's hand, Wanda nodded thoughtfully. "So, while we do not know what we're looking at exactly, at least we do know that it's Selene. We have a pattern of behavior, at least, so there is that. Not the greatest situation but it's doable. Since Stephen was not able to look around, we may want to go to the village nearest the valley and see what the locals have to say. It's a start."
Remy tapped the edge of the table, part of his constant fidgeting. "Going in blind again. Welcome to de typical X-Force mission." He turned to Strange. "I want everything you've got on dis valley and possible theories on what de cultists might be up to. We're going to de dis one slow and careful. Magic is always an x factor in a mission profile, and I want to narrow things down as much as possible before hand."
"Pun intended?" Amanda piped up with a grin, and subsided under Remy's look.
Strange nodded. "I've done considerable research, and I've spent some time in the nearest village - they trust me there. They'll put us up for a little while." He paused. "I know this isn't the safest situation, but I do appreciate you coming here." He smiled, a touch wryly. "I thought it would be better to call for help before the kidnapping."
"We'll be needing to stock up, then." Several pairs of eyes turned to Sofia, curious, and she shrugged, almost innocently. "There's less of a chance of remembering where I'm sleeping if I'm passed out."
"Well, at least dey didn't call it de Kon-Tiki or something." Remy expressed the thoughts of the entire team as they looked at the beach bar that Strange had specified. His e-mail asking for help had hit Snow Valley yesterday, leaving them only able to cobble together a few people to find out what he really needed. The bar was surrounded by grass fringe, half full of drunken tourists of the lower level ilk. The sounds of bad karaoke carried over the littered sand, the station tucked somewhere in the dark interior.
"There are no words," Sofia finally managed, after several attempts at a reply. If her tone hadn't betrayed her, the small wrinkle of her nose, dropping her sunglasses low enough that she could peer over them, momentarily blinded by the plethora of neon. "Heavy on the vodka, maybe. Otherwise."
Wanda sighed heavily and covered her eyes with one hand. "I do not know him," she said, sounding rather embarrassed. "I really do not. Well, I suppose we should be glad that it doesn't smell." She peeked out through her fingers as someone stumbled past her to get sick in the bushes. "Never mind. We're encouraged to drink on the job, yes? Because that's the only way I'll actually step foot in there...it has neon glowing beer glasses."
"I dunno, I kind of like it." Amanda grinned from under the rather large sunglasses she was wearing. "Got a kind of an atmosphere. Points to Strange for picking it." She ignored the disgusted looks from her older companions and leaned back in her chair, looking every inch the young British tourist - sunglasses against the glare, tiny little t-shirt from the airport and a pair of cargo shorts. As her gaze flickered over the other patrons, her eyebrows suddenly shot up at the sight of Stephen Strange, one time Columbia professor and eternal stuffed shirt (in Amanda's opinion), wandering over with a fruity drink in one hand and the world's tackiest t-shirt.
"So sorry to keep you waiting," he said as he reached their table. "I trust the flight went smoothly?"
Remy looked at him, looked at the team, and reached for Emma's credit card. "Until we found out where it ends." He flipped it across the bar, dropping it directly in front of the bartender. ~I want drinks for everyone until we can't smell the syphilis.~ He said in perfect Spanish before turning back to Strange. "So, what's de big emergency? Remy assuming it's de shirt."
Strange looked a little hurt. "It's a disguise," he said. "I'm trying to blend in." Taking a seat next to Wanda, he leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I wasn't entirely sure I wasn't followed - this lead of Mr. Wisdom's proved to be far more involved than any of us could have anticipated."
There was a small choking sound as Wanda took him in, returning the kiss as she stared at him. "~If you are looking forward to having any kind of sex tonight,~" she said in Rom, "~the shirt will be burned.~" It was fantastic to see him again but the shirt had to go. "How more involved are we talking about?"
There was a brief choking noise as Amanda almost swallowed her tongue. Wanda looked serene, but Strange's ears shaded towards pink. "Well, ah," he began, clearing his throat nervously. "I didn't have much to go on initially - it seemed so minor that we left it until last. But it turns out to have been what we were looking for all along." He sipped at his drink, made a face and set it down again, where it was promptly snagged by Amanda, at the same time the bartender set down a round of drinks in front of them. Waiting until the man left, Strange continued. "There's a valley, up in the mountains. The villagers refuse to go there - they say it's haunted. And in a way they're right." He paused. "I believe Selene had some kind of major project going on there."
Inspecting the drinks and finding them without any ice, Sofia casually lifted the drink closest to her lips. Tilting back her head, an interesting baring of her throat that almost spoke for her. "A haunted valley. You realise how very little of these people have television," she remarked, the now empty glass making a hard knock against the wood of the table as she put it down and picked up another. 'And you're an idiot' went unsaid, but really. It was Sofia.
"Correct if I'm wrong, but didn't dat salope get sunk into de bottom of de harbour?" He reached for one of the drinks, only to get his hand smacked by Sofia as she slipped out out from under his hand. "Without her, is dere really anything major dat can be going on?" He finally secured a drink by taking Strange's.
"The thing about a figurehead is that it is seldom the only factor." There was perhaps a hint of a gentle rebuke in his voice, the schoolteacher chiding his students for missing the obvious. "There are lackeys, followers, hands if you will. Selene was the heart, yes, but her disappearance didn't mean the structures she set up went with her. That's what I've spent these past nine months doing - following up those structures and determining their threat level. Some of them were manageable. Others... not so much. This valley... there's something preventing me from travelling astrally there and that for a start is enough to make me concerned. There are few places I cannot go to in astral form."
"Yeah, like Wanda's bathroom of a morning," Amanda muttered to herself. All this talk of Selene cults and the rest was making her deeply uncomfortable and she finished the fruity drink and started on her own. "And anything that powerful could stand a chance of bringing her back, yeah?" she asked rhetorically.
Now Wanda looked uncomfortable at the very thought of that. Cults were one thing since it seemed that most of them were simply excuses for drunken group sex and the occasional animal sacrifice. But there were the ones that actually either knew what they were doing or did something incredibly stupid and stumbled across bad things by sheer dumb luck. "What kind of information do you have on this valley? Obviously, there is something there because it's preventing you from doing your astral form. Any word about the valley from the surrounding areas?"
"The villagers are, to put it frankly, afraid to go there." Strange gave up trying to secure a drink and reached unconsciously for Wanda's hand. "I did some scouting, but I didn't want to get too close and alert whatever is going on down there to the fact they've been found." He smiled a little self-effacingly. "I'm not exactly trained for that sort of thing."
"You don't have any idea what is going on dere, but dere's some kind of danger. Great." Remy looked out at the surf for a minute. "Now, de thing 'bout a figurehead is dat she's de one wit' all de damn magical power. What are de possibilities dat we're looking at? According to de files, Selene didn't have a whole cadre of students. Where else can we get de grim magical death powers and de skills to cut off an entire valley?"
"Some kind of artifact," Strange responded immediately. "With Selene inaccessible, there would have to be some other power source, something connected to her that maintains her influence."
"And why exactly is the haunted valley by default a Selene, is it, hideout?" Sofia asked suddenly, her index finger circling the rim of her glass. "Not that I particularly enjoy the idea of there being more than one of these types around, however, jumping to conclusions may be even more dangerous in this situation."
"Magical signatures," Amanda volunteered, looking at Strange for confirmation, who nodded. "Something this big... it'd all be tied up to you as a caster. You couldn't get someone just moving in and taking over - you couldn't synch things up."
Squeezing Strange's hand, Wanda nodded thoughtfully. "So, while we do not know what we're looking at exactly, at least we do know that it's Selene. We have a pattern of behavior, at least, so there is that. Not the greatest situation but it's doable. Since Stephen was not able to look around, we may want to go to the village nearest the valley and see what the locals have to say. It's a start."
Remy tapped the edge of the table, part of his constant fidgeting. "Going in blind again. Welcome to de typical X-Force mission." He turned to Strange. "I want everything you've got on dis valley and possible theories on what de cultists might be up to. We're going to de dis one slow and careful. Magic is always an x factor in a mission profile, and I want to narrow things down as much as possible before hand."
"Pun intended?" Amanda piped up with a grin, and subsided under Remy's look.
Strange nodded. "I've done considerable research, and I've spent some time in the nearest village - they trust me there. They'll put us up for a little while." He paused. "I know this isn't the safest situation, but I do appreciate you coming here." He smiled, a touch wryly. "I thought it would be better to call for help before the kidnapping."
"We'll be needing to stock up, then." Several pairs of eyes turned to Sofia, curious, and she shrugged, almost innocently. "There's less of a chance of remembering where I'm sleeping if I'm passed out."
