I just finished my half-semester how-to-be-a-network-administrator class. I also recently finished Robb Returns. There is actual good ASoIaF/GoT fanfiction out there. Who knew?
The bad news, it was half a million words long. You can guess where my free time went recently.
My intent is to get at least one more scene done tonight, which would leave one scene left. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish that soon, but I’ve got one last midterm and a paper due this week.
Have I mention that I dislike going to class full-time and working full-time at the same time?
I just finished my half-semester how-to-be-a-network-administrator class. I also recently finished Robb Returns. There is actual good ASoIaF/GoT fanfiction out there. Who knew?
The bad news, it was half a million words long. You can guess where my free time went recently.
My intent is to get at least one more scene done tonight, which would leave one scene left. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish that soon, but I’ve got one last midterm and a paper due this week.
Have I mention that I dislike going to class full-time and working full-time at the same time?
I know that fanfic. Up to date on it. Don't much like the sheer number of times the author says "old, very old" and I almost dropped it just because of that (could he not say Ancient at least bloody once?) but on the whole, not the worst chew you could find.
As for the quest, obviously the exams take precedence. I'm of the opinion that Uni sucks balls and people are better off staying away from them, but if you've signed on, it makes sense to try your best.
I know that fanfic. Up to date on it. Don't much like the sheer number of times the author says "old, very old" and I almost dropped it just because of that (could he not say Ancient at least bloody once?) but on the whole, not the worst chew you could find.
As for the quest, obviously the exams take precedence. I'm of the opinion that Uni sucks balls and people are better off staying away from them, but if you've signed on, it makes sense to try your best.
Right. So I should know better than to set deadlines even just for myself. Urist has intervened with a roll I wasn't expecting from a person who should never have gotten that roll, damn it.
In any case, I now at least have a plan in mind for how to roll with this particular punch. Hopefully update will be done this weekend.
Right. So I should know better than to set deadlines even just for myself. Urist has intervened with a roll I wasn't expecting from a person who should never have gotten that roll, damn it.
[X] plan: I’ll think of one now+more Arturia.
[X] - Hold down your job. You need to get paid, so this is sort of a requirement. Cost: 4 AP. Results: You do the minimum required to get paid. Your bosses won’t love you, but barring something both unexpected and awful happening the restaurant will slowly keep improving.
[X] - Pleasing the Eye. Your original plans about plating went in an entirely unexpected direction, but if you want to have chefs other than yourself capable of the sort of casual excellence you envision, you’re going to need to put in the hours to train them up. Cost: 1 AP. Results: Chefs trained to cook well and look good doing it. Eventual synergy with restaurant update.
-[X] continue your previous efforts and also look at the aesthetic side of the restaurant now think how people feel when they eat in her and look to improve it still in keeping with the ritz high class reputation.
[X] - Investigate the disturbance. Rumor has it that something happened at the PM’s residence. Maybe the bobbies would appreciate some assistance?Cost: 1 AP. Results: ???
-[X] Gather what information you can on the disturbance before approaching the police see of you can get in contact with someone high up in police or govt as quietly as possible to arrange to coordinate with the Police and the security service and if possible get more information to work with. From there base your response and load out based on the analysis of the threat vector. Ask Arturia for help with getting in contact with the right people and with what ever social and protection stuff comes up.
[X] - Home Hunting. The apartment Merlin set you up with is … well, it’s an apartment. It’s small and cramped and has you living in proximity to other people a lot. You miss your suite in the Palace. With your new budget, you can find something better than what you’ve got without overstretching your means. Cost: 1 AP. Results: A list of homes for sal or rent
-[X] Try to find a place with a shed or workspace in it so you can tinker and with room to expand your family in along with a decent kitchen. Also look at it an eye towards setting up some hidden defences against intrusion and attack.
[X] - Innovative Cuisine. Now that you’ve got access to the proper grade and scope of ingredients, you can turn your attention to the fine details of tweaking the Ritz’s current recipes. As they are, they’re solid, but uninspired. Of such fine details are the differences between the Great and the merely good made. Cost: 1 AP. Results: Improved dishes, increased revenue, happy bosses.
-[X] progress has been made with the show cooks but improvements still need to be made look how you can blend eastern cooking with western so it will be palatable to the current clientele. Also look at developing new dishes that can be added to the menu have Arturia taste test and the staff to get their opinions and modify them. Make it so there is a good mix of simple and advanced dishes.
[X] - Socialize with Arturia. Weekends are for dates, right? Cost: 1 AP. Results: Fluff, WAFF, happy Arturia.
-[X] Do something simple, go visit the landmarks of London, like the Buckingham palace and Big Ben, she may be interested in learning what her country became.
[X] - Gym Hunting. It’s been a while since you were able to work with Arturia. Her Instinct might help you fake working as a team, but you’d rather not depend on that. Cost: 1 AP. Results: Find a place where you can spar with Arturia, or at least exercise together.
[x] Two pronged approach look for an official well equipped gym with a decent amount of equipment and attached hall. Also for power training see if you can find an abandoned factory or warehouse to use.
A Brave New World 7
Your eyes came open with the dawn due to long-established custom. A glance down at the weight on your chest revealed Arturia’s head pillowed there. That would make sneaking out of bed to start breakfast at least twenty-five percent more complicated, but it still put a silly grin on your face.
Making sure your Saber ended up with a pillow under her head as well as one to hold on to was as much of a hassle as you expected, but you had breakfast to make. You wanted to get an early start. After a long weekend of work for both of you, you had a day off. And you were going to look at houses.
One of which you might choose to live in.
With your wife.
Just the thought had been enough to keep you smiling even through the worst of the weekend rush at the restaurant, and it produced a satisfied smile now as well.
While you’d prefer somewhere close to the Ritz for a shorter commute, prices in Mayfair were actively obscene, and the location wouldn’t be ideal for Arturia’s job.
You were planning to hit up Camden in Westminster. The travel by tube would be roughly the same for both of you, and the prices were much more reasonable. More importantly, you’d done a little research, and while most of the offerings were flats or maisonettes, there were three townhouses on the market.
Better yet, because the economy had been so poor recently, they were reasonably priced and still not selling, so you should have a week or two to consider your purchase without risking another buyer snapping up a good deal before you could make an offer.
Speaking of snapping … you only barely avoided a small splash of grease from the bacon you were frying, and turned the heat down a touch. The pan was getting too hot if it was popping like that. Probably better to focus on not burning anything.
ASTtM
The first house you were supposed to see was a smoldering pile of debris.
“I’m so sorry. I hadn’t heard what had happened here early enough to contact you before you left,” the realtor who was showing you the first two properties today apologized profusely.
“It was not your fault,” Arturia reassured him. No doubt to an outside observer she would look perfectly composed, but you could see her concern. “Have they determined how the fire started?” she inquired.
“And did the owners get out alright?” you added.
“They’re investigating it as suspicious,” the brown-haired man said, reaching up to adjust his glasses, “and the property wasn’t occupied. I don’t know anything more than that.”
Arturia nodded and you realized she was taking in the surrounding structures. The home had actually been linked to the surrounding townhouses on one side, and while there was some damage, the second home hadn’t burned entirely.
“It seems the firefighters here are to be commended,” she said, obviously making a mental note of it.
“Well, if you’ll follow me, I’ll drive us to the second property I was planning to show you today. It’s a bit out of the way, but the street it’s on is quiet and-”
ASTtM
The second townhouse had a bit of an odd look to it. It had a small courtyard out front that was walled off from the road and was tremendously overgrown. The exterior siding was badly sun damaged and looked like it should have been replaced two decades ago.
Frankly, you were almost ready to turn around and leave before stepping one foot inside.
“I know the exterior needs a good deal of work, but the interior has been kept up better. The former occupant was homebound, you see,” it seemed that the realtor had a good sense for his customers.
“Well, I suppose we can at least take a look,” you allowed. The drive hadn’t taken that long, and you had quite a bit of time before your afternoon appointment with another realtor to see the last townhouse on your list.
“Thank you very much,” the man said and let you in through the slightly rusty cast iron gate.
As your guide advanced towards the front door, you slowed down and took a look around the courtyard. Honestly, the space wasn’t bad. Semi-private thanks to the gate installed, but it had some decent potential, and with how quiet the street was, it could be a good place to entertain. Maybe even set up a grill. It was also larger than you’d expected. It was the sort of thing a much higher-end home might have had, and you worried that it was eating into what was probably a small lot. That probably meant quite a small house.
As you inspected the courtyard, Arturia had begun grilling the realtor.
“You mentioned that the former resident was homebound. That means the estate is being sold off?”
“Oh, most of it. It seems the man and his son weren’t on speaking terms. Everything in England is being let go.”
“Everything?” Arturia inquired, brow raised. “So they were a wealthy family? Why could they then not afford a gardener?”
“‘Were’ would be the operative word, Ma’am. All that was left was the home here, a car, and a small boating property that’s already sold.”
Arturia hmmed in response and let the subject drop before inspecting the front of the buil-
You finally noticed how odd the front of the townhouse looked. The entrance was on the left side, but there was no corresponding entrance on the right, so this wasn’t a duplex, and the right side featured a turret of all things, sticking out from the rest of the front wall. You could see why Arturia was curious.
Just to confirm, you looked up and down the row of houses on the street, but none shared any similar features. This townhouse was quite out of place. The style was definitely older than the rest.
Keeping your peace, you followed your wife and the guide inside, expecting the rooms to mostly branch off to the right.
Instead, the house was narrow and deep with nothing on the right half of the building. The first floor was an unspectacular living area with a fair-sized eat-in kitchen. The second floor had a bedroom and a family room, and the top floor had a second bedroom. Each floor had a WC, and the top floor had a rather nice, if dated, master bathroom.
You made the appropriate noises throughout the tour, but you were mostly scratching your head.
There was no basement access and no sign that the other half of the house even existed.
You dropped some commentary on the size of the courtyard and the Master, then shook the realtor’s hand and departed.
You had time, and you wanted a look at the property records.
ASTtM
You did the math in your head and things didn’t add up. Maybe someone had intended to make the property a duplex at one point and run out of money? It didn’t seem likely, but it was the only thought that occurred to you for why half the townhouse appeared to have been walled off from the rest of the building and abandoned. On the other hand, whoever had set the price didn’t seem to realize they were only charging for half of the town house’s real, or perhaps potential given that you had no idea what was actually there, square footage.
Still, that was a question for later. You had one more property to see this afternoon.
Ducking out of the courthouse, you found Arturia finishing off the last of her lunch.
“It’s still one property, but someone somewhere along the line seems to have bricked up the doorways to half of it and simply forgotten them.”
“Perhaps it was used for illicit activity in the past? Smuggling?” Arturia wondered aloud. That wasn’t something you’d considered, but it was also a possibility.
“I doubt we’ll know unless we purchase the place and start working on it,” you replied. “On the one hand, it’s at the lower end of the budget. On the other hand, to take full advantage of the size of the house, we’ll have to do some serious renovation work on it, which means dealing with headaches like permits and living in a construction zone.”
“But in the end, it would almost certainly be a larger home than we could otherwise acquire with our current earnings,” Arturia pointed out. “Additionally, the building is solidly constructed and the lower levels could make an ideal workshop for you.”
“True,” you acknowledged, “but we’d better hurry if we’re going to make our final appointment for the day.”
ASTtM
The last townhouse really was a beauty. Fully decorated and furnished, it was move-in ready with a large kitchen and an attic that could be turned into a workshop with very little effort. Thanks to the market being what it was, it was in your price range, if only just.
That said, it had no significant outside space, and the street it was on was both busy and loud. You had a feeling that Arturia wouldn’t appreciate the noise, and the construction didn’t seem to be as sturdy as the older townhouse you’d viewed earlier in the day. Thanking the second realtor, you departed to talk with Arturia about your options.
ASTtM
Your options are …
A smoldering pile of debris: This was a critical failure roll, but averted somewhat by the +10 from your stunt. Without that, this house would have seemed like an extraordinarily good buy. Right up until it burned down on you after you signed the papers.
The run-down townhouse: Will require some TLC, but this was a critical success, again thanks to the stunt. With the renovations it needs, it will cost the same as option three, and an ongoing action besides for the construction(time may vary depending on successes), but when you pay off the mortgage, you’ll end up with a four resource dot home instead of a three resource dot home.
The move in ready townhouse: Room for a workshop, but much less well defended than the other option. Two bedroom home with no real ability to expand that.
Either option will mean a 20 year mortgage costing two dots of income more than your current rent. (Effectively two and a half dots of income, or one dot of income and two dots of income. This would reduce free income from *** to **)
ASTtM
That evening, you fixed Arturia the first experimental run of your newest dish for the restaurant. You’d steamed two langoustines for each of you in a foil pouch with butter, seasonings, and asparagus spears then paired that with a Japanese-inspired coleslaw with pickled vegetables. Arturia wasn’t much help from a technical standpoint, not having the background for giving you critical feedback, but she was an appreciative audience and could give you a ‘woman on the street’s’ opinion.
“The asparagus and the shellfish went well together,” she told you when you asked, “and the coleslaw was a very sharp contrast.”
Basically, she had determined that it was better than boiled meat, and was thus satisfied.
Still, you thanked her for the help, even as you kept mulling the question over in your head. The langoustines hadn’t been bland, but the seasonings you’d tried hadn’t worked out as well as you wanted.
Hmmm, they are closely related to crabs. Maybe something closer to Old Bay seasoning?
That idea had promise. You ended up working with small quantities of spices for the next two hours, until Arturia called you to bed, but you thought the end result would be worth it.
ASTtM
The next day at the Ritz, you prepared a half-dozen of the langoustines as well as servings of the two side dishes to universal acclaim from your chefs. It didn’t hurt that the preparation was relatively simple either, so you were able to walk your staff through the process quickly and easily. Calling your new supplier to add to your order also went smoothly, as did adding the new dish to the menu as a Chef’s Special.
By Wednesday, the first orders of it would start to trickle, then fly out of the kitchen. It might not be the best thing you’d ever made, but the combination of price point and novelty seemed to be attracting a following.
You also made a great deal of progress in training the chefs you’d selected for display preparation. It turned out that they both learned better after hearing the theory, then seeing it put into practice than by seeing alone. Given their relatively high manual dexterity, all it was taking was some polish. They still weren’t ready, but they had both made notable progress.
ASTtM
Performance chefs have gained a dot in performance, and a performance specialty in cooking. One additional performance dot and two more dots in the specialty needed to complete the action.
ASTtM
It doesn’t take long for you to start connecting dots, even with what little information is publicly available. Less than a day after the latest incidents of violence in Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister’s residence turns briefly into a kicked-over beehive.
The odds of those two events being unrelated were very, very small.
Unfortunately, that’s where you ran into a roadblock. It was the 80’s and there was no social media to trawl through, collating rumors. People weren’t walking around, each carrying a pocket computer that was also a phone and a decently-capable camera.
You had the official press release, and one set of photographs that were taken and had already been widely circulated. There wasn’t even any film to watch, just still images.
With no progress being made, you finally had to admit defeat. If you were going to obtain any useful information, you were going to need to contact the police. Since you were going to be talking to policemen instead of scientists, that meant getting Arturia involved.
That meant a late night and short sleep, though at least you didn’t have to worry about designing a costume. Arturia’s battle dress could be supplemented with a helmet that left only her eyes, chin, and mouth exposed. Even the blue enamelwork matched her aesthetic.
Once dark fell, you and your wife left your apartment, outwardly just another couple out for a walk after their shifts. Once you were a few blocks away, however, you and your wife ducked into an alleyway. A few moments later, Guardian and Saber appeared on the roofs, leaping towards the police precinct that you’d contacted about arresting David Martin.
You had hoped to find the officers that you had spoken to previously, but by the time you arrived, the overnight shift had started and their schedule had them working afternoons.
You discovered that thanks to Arturia being her usual enchanting self. You were fairly certain that you could be juggling chainsaws at the moment and not attract a single glance from any of the policemen in the station. Even the criminals were being well-behaved instead of belligerent. Unfortunately …
“-really wish I could do more to help, but I just don’t have any information,” the Lieutenant your wife was taking to said.
“I see,” Arturia responded, “I suppose it’s no surprise. Regardless, if there was some sort of attack and investigative help is needed, or if there is an attack in the future, please inform them that they may rely on Guardian and myself for assistance. One of us will check in with police at least once a week to see if there is any information that you feel we need or if there are any fugitives with … inexplicable abilities that need to be captured.”
That … probably wasn’t what you would have chosen to do in her place, but Arturia was clearly fired up about the situation.
“All right, Saber,” the policeman said, “thank you again for stopping by.”
With those words said, you would have been clear to depart. It took Arturia nearly an hour to extract herself from the station. It seemed that every policeman and dispatcher stopped her on the way out of the building to shake her hand and say a few words. It seemed like the police had been more concerned than they had been letting on about the sudden appearance of superhumans, especially in the wake of David Martin who had killed three policemen while dodging bullets.
Having two such people on their side seemed to be a real comfort to them. Now if only you only had a damn cell phone so they could pass you messages discreetly. You resolved to buy a police band radio so that you could at least listen in on their transmissions.
ASTtM
Early Friday morning found you and Arturia looking into the possibilities of the gyms in Camden. None of the names that you were familiar with for the big franchise gyms were around yet, so that left only a small handful of local names.
Well, and the YMCA, but you figured you could throw that one out without bothering to visit.
The first place you stopped was called The Armoury. It wasn’t bad for what it was. There were weight machines, benches, and free weights, but you could probably max all the machines even without employing Reinforcement, and there were cameras all over the place. Even with shitty CCTV technology, they’d get enough detail to cause comment about your abilities, much less Saber.
There really weren’t many machines far enough away from the cameras to limit the detail to the point where you could get a good workout without revealing that a woman of 5’3” and barely a hundred pounds could juggle the biggest free weights they had and max out every machine.
Meeting Arturia’s eyes, you shrugged and told the manager that you’d keep them in mind. It would be better than nothing, you were sure, but you didn’t think you’d get much out of it.
ASTtM
You walked past the second gym the first time before backtracking to find it. The place was poorly marked, with only a sign advertising Coke with the name Jimmy’s on it. Frankly, you’d thought it was a diner when you passed by the first time.
Stepping inside revealed a small lobby with an empty receptionist’s booth. You could hear some noise from the back of the shop, and you were about to ring the bell on the counter when you heard the explosion.
Reflexively, you rolled up beside the door deeper into the building and looked across to meet Arturia’s eyes as she summoned her armor. You could hear a raised voice deeper inside, but the door was surprisingly sturdy and you couldn’t hear any sort of detail.
What do?
[ ] - Write In.
House hunting luck roll 3d100=2, 91, 71
Lots of perception, social, and bureaucracy rolls. Generally quite good.
Recipe creation roll. Intelligence+Craft(cooking). 13d10=5 successes.
Teaching the recipe. [Charisma+Performance]: 4d10=3 successes
Teaching fancy cooking [Charisma+Performance]: 4d10=5 successes. Major breakthrough.
Investigating the disturbance, preliminary: Intelligence+Investigate+stunt=8d10 dice=4 successes.
Saber gonna Saber. Charisma+Performance+Stunt=13 successes. As far as the local precincts are concerned, Guardian and Saber are Good People. Reputation with the police is now trusted.
Gym hunting. [Redacted]
Current Exp total: 4
There’s one scene that isn’t posted because it comes chronologically after the gym hunting event. All the rolls for this update were interesting in their own ways.
So for the house hunting I think we can all agree on the second house and it seems we have stumbled upon some trouble while hunting for a gym. And it looks like we will need to intervene with this situation only question now is how should we intervene.
Second place visited, first house is the best deal.
Just one question. Did the realtor not even realize that half of the building was blocked off and there at all, as if by magic? or was he just being oblivious?
What to do now with the explosion. Investigate. Not sure how much more there is to say. Since Saber is now in costume, you need to do so as well. You always have to be seen in or out of costume together. Never a mix.
