12446/Cleaning the Rot out

Cleaning the Rot out
Date of Scene:	16 August 2022
Location:	Mercy's Garage
Synopsis:	Friends show up to help Mercy clean up after her Old God Bug infestation
Cast of Characters:	Mercy Thompson, Cael Becker, Gabby Kinney, Sprite, Jonathan Sims

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Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy has had a lot of work to do. She had to call the insurance, she had to catalog all that was lost, take pictures of everything! She got a board to put up over the broken window and nail it into place. She's tire and hasn't even started the clean up. Yet none of that is the worst part. The worst part is the smell. This STINKS! IT just smells foul, the smell of rot the smell of dead bugs and all of that mixing with the lingering smell of grease and oil. She got herself a few new brooms, a floor squeegee for after she uses up her old one, several commercial strength cleaners, and lots of rubber gloves. All of this she's pulling from the trunk of her old cabriolet trying to not gag as she has all three garage doors open up wide.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael has been busy since the full moon. That sort of thing happens when you abruptly take over a pack of werewolves, killing off about 1/5th of their members, and genuinely want to see to the physical and mental wellbeing of the rest of the pack. Let's just say that Cael's life right now is A Lot.
    But Jon had mentioned something about Mercy's shop and- ...bugs? Ancients Gods from beyond reality had attacked Mercy's shop with... bugs? Look, she doesn't really understand it, but she needs to check in with the woman anyways.
    So a vibrant yellow Corvette pulls into the shop's parking lot, coming to a halt as Cael gets out - followed by a large white dog wearing a colorful vest proclaiming him as a 'service dog.' He wags his tail cheerfully, then sneezes, and rubs at his nose umcomfortably. He follows after Cael at a slower pace as she approaches the garage. He finds the smell even more offputting than his owner. "That's... Ugh. What the fuck even?" Cael asks helpfully as she approaches.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Oh hell naw. We need like a 55 gallon barrel of Febreze in here, stat," Gabby's voice pipes up as she arrives having intended to visit. She wasn't sure what happened here exactly, but given she'd just learned that Pixie was also having nightmares she felt like it was time to pop around and see how others were doing, too.

Just in time to arrive at smell-o-clock apparently as she enters through one of the open garage doors with her hand up over her mouth pressing a neatly folded bandana there. It was the trick that Mercy had told her to try and right now it was NOT helping a whole lot. It was better than nothing though.

She'd walked up a bit from where she'd parked her motorcycle and nods to Cael and Bear giving the dog a sympathetic glance. Poor puppy.

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite doesn't make an arrival via car; she doesn't make any kind of obvious arrival. She wasn't there, and then she was, just as suddenly. The ginger teen looks...agitated. Some mix of concerned and angry. She stalks towards the garage like an angry Karen, and her voice, a bit shrill, sounds as soon as she gets near earshot to the garage. "Mercy? Mercy, are you there?"

    Her path takes her up towards the garage, coming in behind Cael and Gabby as she stalks in.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Poor puppy? Mercy's the one who is living in the apartment above this and she's got a nose better then Bear. She will wave to those as they arrive, "Hey ladies. I got a few masks with a filter." She offers an apologetic smile. "Please don't inflict this on yourself if you don't wan..." Then she hears Sprite calling out.
    "I'm over here Sprite. Watch how you step or you'll ruin your shoes. At least most of the mess is contained inside and not in the lot. The office and near the window is not good."
    As Mercy said there's a really bad spot by the counter of the office. There are several areas in the garage itself that look.... smudge. "Wait Sprite!?" Mercy sprints for the bay farthest from the office and yanks a cover over a car she had been working on, "No peeking!"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "...don't suppose there's any masks Bear can wear?" Cael asks wryly. "Bear - go wait by the car. Bear, //car.//" She points - and the pup stops, looks back towards the car, looks towards Cael... and complies with the order, retreating back across the parking lot to sit by one of the wheels.
    "How the fuck do bugs-" she cuts off briefly, as she steps to the side to let an angry teen stalk by, "smell //this// bad?" she asks, before accepting one of the masks to slip it onto her face.
    Oh God that's better.
    "Hey Gab," she adds casually.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Still not as bad as some of the things I've been smelling in New York the past week," Gabby has to admit. It was unpleasant, severely so with her own enhanced senses, but she was getting better. That doesn't mean she turns down the offer of a filtered mask though.

Hearing someone behind her she turns to watch Sprite come in and pauses to stare at the redhead a moment. A solemn nod is given in greeting to her fellow vertically challenged one.

"Bugs huh? I guess I'm lucky I just got the destruction of all mankind for my shit show. You, uh. Got a shovel?" A nudge of her foot is given to some bug bit with a shudder.

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite stalks on by, not concerned about being rude to Cael, it seems. For that matter, not concerned with the tarp being pulled over the car. "Who was it? Where are they? Wh--?" She stops, as finally the god-awful STINK permeates her nose. "Oh, that is FOUL."

    She waves a hand idly, and the scent just disappears. It's replaced with a soft scent of wildflowers. "What the hell WAS that?" she asks. Gabby gets a return nod now that the foulness has gone, and then, after a moment's pause, she looks to Cael, as it just now sort of registers that she brushed right by the other woman. "Sorry."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Afraid not, Cael. Medae," Mercy's cat, "is hiding under my bed and in my laundry." The masks are still in the box with the cleaning supplies Mercy bought, "You're being too kind Gabby. I've been to a lot of New York this is other." She looks at the two and says, "wasn't exactly a normal bug situation Ladies."
    Mercy has this headache and frown since she's had to deal with that smell for so long, but as soon as Sprite does her thing she just sighs in relief and sags against the car. "Oh spirits! Thank you for air." Eyes almost watering from the rush of relief. "You have /no/ idea how hard that's been on me."
    Mercy motions to this and says, "It wasn't a who it was a what and they had a message to deliver. Pretty sure they were going to kill and eat me." Mercy motions to the boarded up window. "Luck saw me through as I shifted and used myself as a rock to smash through the window and escape. They were starting to fly and the whole floor of my entire lot was writ." she stops and closes her eyes to still her stomach at the memory. "It smelled and felt a lot WORSE Saturday night."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael lets out a sigh of relief when the smell vanishes, and sets the mask aside - giving the teen a grateful nod. She's not sure what gift the girl possesses to let her do such a feat - but she'lll take it.
    "Bear - heel!" she calls over to her dog - and the pup happily complies, the big, goofy thing taking an excited leap before trotting over to sit at Cael's side, tongue lolling out and tail thumping.
    "Well - looks like they failed at the murder. That's a plus. Does this have to do with all the shit that's coming after the JLD? Or it a seperate problem? ...and you got a power washer? Let's get all this goop down the sewers."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney shivers a single time as the magic cast by Sprite eliminates the smell. The bandana she'd folded up to press to her mouth and nose is lowered as she breathes a deep sigh of relief. "I don't know who you are but I love you already," she blurts out with a sigh. "Old ones," she finally states with a solemn nod as the explanation for what likely caused this. Though she does give Mercy a questioning look with eyebrow raised to confirm whether her guess was correct or not.

"The nightmares anyway, I'm guessing? And good thing you got out and Medea is safe." Important matters. She edges further in still glancing down repeatedly to watch where she's stepping with the general timidness of someone not wanting to step in too much grossness.

Sprite has posed:
    "So what did you DO to get all of this?" Sprite asks, looking about at the bugs. "And message as in "we're here to eat you", or message as in the bugs actually talked?" Cael's comment gets a curious look back. "What's a JLD?" she asks, and considers the bug-residue. A power washer might be the best answer to the problem.

    "And nightmares?" The redhead looks about at the three women there, really LOOKING at Cael and Gabby now. A slight frown quirks the corners of her lips down, as she looks about to them. "What is going on here?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    A door opens in the wall nearest Cael, and a half-distracted Archivist steps through, talking on a cell phone. "Uh-huh. Yes. Yes, I'll get the forms to you as soon as we've got them." A pause. "Of course. Thank you for all your help." He pulls the phone away from his ear and swipes across, ending the call.

    "Sorry about that," he says to the others. "Agnes needs a whole raft of vaccinations before school opens in September, evidently. Oh, Gabby! Hi. And..." He peers at Sprite, and narrows his eyes for a moment. She's /something/ odd, but he can't quite tell what. Not quite magical? Huh.

    They shake themself, and say, "I wanted to come by and offer help cleaning up, given the, uhh... givens." They gesture at the garage, and the bug-stuff, and the window. Hmm. They're brightly-colored today, hair a rainbow to match Cael's, wearing a sapphire-blue ankle length skirt and violet shirt.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "I assume he won't, but he shouldn't lick at anything." Mercy warns about the dog as she stays seated on that covered car hood. She motions over, "There's a hose there with a nozzle, and I got pneumatic air as well. I'd hope the smell would have kept more people away but some still went ahead to rob me while the shop was exposed," that's the part that has Mercy really mad. She should do introductions at least.
    "Sprite, this is Gabby and Cael. Ladies this is my number one customer and friend Sprite." Mercy lightly taps the covered car she is leaning on. "This is my masterpiece and what I am making for Sprite. I was here working the other night when I got an uninvited guest." Mercy's eyes flick to Cale and Gabby, "physically. Here. In 'person' as it were." That's when Mercy hears something thump softly upstairs, "Gabby you mind looking up on Medae for me? She knows you best here and is still a bit scared."
    Then there's a Jon stepping out of her wall. "Oh. Hi Jon. This is Sprite. Sprite this is Jon, who apparently can step out of walls." She laughs a bit needing a laugh. "Plenty of work to go around."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
The question from Sprite has Gabby glance to Cael, then Jon, then Mercy. Her hands lift to tap her fingertips together a time or two as she just... Holds her breath. She wasn't called Gabby simply because it was short for Gabrielle, though it was. Times like this she reverts to old habits about blurting everything out.

"Some Old Ones from another timeline are trying to bust into ours by sneaking into our nightmares to feed off of us and try to use us as their minions but most of us have told them to fuck off so they're kind of pissed at us and trying to murder us and slash or," yes, she says the slash, "Take over us like they replaced my sister with a fake and made us think she was real but it's solved now, or that part is anyway."

Oh thankgod she stops to take a breath.

"Hi Jon! I'll let you finish there with details I'm on kitty rescue duty." SUCH a burden there. She does grin broadly, and state a little more calmly, "I'm Gabby, nice to meet you Sprite. Good to see you again Jon, and Cael. Aand I'll go check on Medea." Turning she heads off for the stairs leaving everyone to just deal with the fallout of her verbal vomit.

Cael Becker has posed:
    As Jon arrives, Cael reaches out with one arm, wrapping it around their waist in an almost possessive manner.
    Almost? Okay. It's a very possessive manner, but there's also a smile of welcome to accompany it.
    "We could just have Jon clean it all up with his magic water. Do you think that's overkill? Using the power of an Avatar to clean out a garage?" she asks. "...I could also go put the nozzle on the house." She gives Gabby a nod as she starts to move upstairs, then adds towards Sprite, "She got most of it. Apparently we pissed them off by cutting them off from their meal ticket a few months ago and- yeah. Plus, they seem to think time is a concept for lesser beings, and they're after us for something we're //going// to do? I don't pretend to understand it all."

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite was already frowning, and that frown doesn't go away when Jon arrives, maybe by the method of arrival. They get the same kind of narrowed-eyed scrutiny that they're giving Sprite, at least right up until the others start talking. She gives a nod to Mercy's explanation, and then she groans.

    The teen groans. "Awww, fuck. The Old Ones?" She hasn't had to deal with the Old Ones in a very long time, but it never gets any more fun. She makes an expression as if she tasted something unpleasant. "Do we know which one?" If the Old Ones are involved, she's not going to go touching their creepy little corpses to make them disappear.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon leans into Cael, and leans down to place a kiss on the top of her head. Then he grins at Mercy and says, "Yes, I can step out of walls. It's how I make portals--summon the concept of a door leading me to, say, Cael. Doors belong in walls, evidently, so... usually it winds up in a wall. I'm still refining the process." A pause, and then more soberly, "If you want any wards against people barging into your shop that way... we can help out."

    They give Cael a squeeze and then step away to crouch down and peer at the bug residue. "I /could/ just clean it all up with my magic water, but then nobody gets the fun of using a pressure washer." A pause, to look up at Sprite. "Nice to meet you. I'm also the Arcivist, and Avatar of Ma'at." The Egyptian gods do that--put power into humans and have them run around doing their dirty work.

    "But, yes, it turns out time really /is/ just a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, and the Old Ones are trying to stop the Justice League Dark from doing something in the future." He gives Sprite a reassuring smile. "It's pretty much /just/ us, though, so you needn't worry they're going to come after you for being associated with Mercy or anything."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy is sort of blinking at Gabby's casual way of just saying it all and it makes her smile. "Thanks," she calls out to leaving young woman. Mercy shakes her head about the offer of the Avatar clean up help. "I rather we just do it. Magic can be odd around me, and this is my place. I'm not above some hard work, and it doesn't feel as 'off' as it was before. Especially with Sprite saving my nose."
    "Have to admit Sprite herein /you/ call something old is a bit unsettling but glad you know about them. I was thinking of picking your brain some. Just didn't get around to it." She motions to the office and near the biggest smear of bugs. "I was working on Sprite's car," Mercy begins.
    "That's when suddenly someone was in my office. She smelled horrible and was wrong. Lots of bugs started to come out of her. Pretty sure they wanted to eat me. While it never said its name I know it. One of those hunches I get and stuff. It was Crawling Rot, some aspect of Narly, who's name I won't say in full. I'm sure everyone here knows who I mean by Narly." Mercy says, "I hip checked the woman trying to get out and she just exploded into bugs as her skinsuit split open. I had to shift to runaway fast enough. I am just lucky that a door to VR opened for me to escape through. Else I wouldn't have stopped running until I got to the embassy for help." She shrugs and starts to get the hose set up and the squeegee. "SO now you know the big points. Trouble finds me. The rumor is everyone else got dreams and visions. I got a personal house call."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Mercy's words have Cael studying the 'teen' more closely - her brows wrinkling together in thought. "Okay, so- ...not 16 then," she remarks. She'd assumed she was just some rich brat blowing mommy and daddy's money on a swanky car but- ...apparently not.
    "I was left to wander through a maze of mist-filled halls until I forgot everyone I loved, and who I was. It was- forgetting was rough. But once I'd forgotten? It was sorta familiar."
    Cael looks to where Jon is crouched before she remarks, "Remembering is better, though."
    After telling Bear to stay (and giving him a fond scratch behind his ears) she moves towards Mercy to ask, "What job you want me on?"

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite seems to relax a little when Jon introduces themselves. She nods, and in the long-ago tongue of ancient Kemet, she replies <<It's a pleasure to meet you, Archivist.>> More polite than her usual flippant demeanor. "I'm more worried about all of YOU for trying to deal with the Old Ones. Well...maybe not for /you/." She gives a nod Jon's way, before nodding to Mercy. "Don't take it down a drain. Sweep or pressure-wash it into a pile, and we'll burn the pile. Safer that way. And there's a reason they're called Old Ones. Even to me, they're old." And that's saying something. She nods with the reference to Nyarlathotep, and refrains from saying the name.

    Cael gets one of her more common smirks. Now that she's not worried about Mercy, her usual sarcastic snark is settling back about her. "Not 16. My name is Sprite, of the Eternals. And being as I've had personal experience with the Black Pharoah..." another pseudonym for Nyarlathotep, and one she's sure Ma'at will know "...I'm willing to offer my help with this whole mess."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "From what Chas has said, the Old Gods were old when the universe was young. Evidently they're on par with Gaea, and Atum, who is Amon-Ra, which is..." Jon runs a hand through his hair. "There's a whole complicated hierarchy that really seems to boil down to 'however weird you thought the universe was, you were wrong, it's weirder than that.'" He shakes his head. "Anyway, they seem to be /outside/ of most things, which sort of makes sense? Entropy's one of the few universal constants, after all."

    They peer at Sprite, then. "Personal experience...?" A pause, and his eyes go a bit distant. "...Well that's just rude. Ma'at knows quite well what 'Eternals' are and refuses to tell me. She says if you want people to know, you'll tell them yourself." Another pause. "Which is fair, but she didn't have to /smirk/ at me like that."

    He shakes himself. "Umm. So. Yes. Ahhh... it's not so much that any of us /chose/ to try to deal with these things as they've targeted us. Partly, yes, because we stopped souls from being siphoned off to Nullspace. And partly because they're threatening to taint the dreams and imaginations of mortals, and we're evidently going to stop them. There are other reasons too--I get the feeling the JLD's going to be a thorn in the side of the Crawling Chaos and he'd rather pluck it out before it gets too troublesome. But... you have personal experience?"

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy says, "I got the important stuff out of the office. I'm okay with not using the drain. Drains hold scent and I doubt Sprite wants to move in with me." Mercy points to an area, "Bay one is closet to the office, where it is worst, and still far from the drain. So we can do like suggested."
    Mercy points over, "I got a hose with a nozzle, and I rented a pressure washer to use some soap attachments to help really clean up after we got the worst of it done." She points to tools and things as mentioned. "The mess started in the office and ended there. I made a brief stand near bay two when I tried for a back door before I got cut off by the bugs."
    "I'll do my best not to share other's secrets. But Sprite said it already. I totally recommend getting her to tell you a story sometime once you earned it." She grins over at Jon and Cael with that little recommendation. "To be fair Sprite, I didn't pick this fight or anything. They just showed up because of friends I made." Mercy gets some gloves out to hand to everyone else. "Yeah. Well I've always been a thorn in someone's side. May as well be an Old God I guess."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "She's smirking at you? Jon - is Ma'at picking up my least endearing qualities, somehow?" Cael asks giving him a smirk of her own.
    She takes the offered gloves - pulling them on as she gives Mercy a puzzled look. "...tell us a story? Uh- this isn't Kindergarten," she remarks without any understanding. The gloves snap into place as she wiggles her fingers into place with practiced motions.
    "If we're going to try burning this stuff - shouldn't we scrape and sweep them outside? Adding water is going to make them hard to burn..."

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite nods, agreeing with Jon's review of things. "Let's suffice it to say that I'm old. Really, /really/ old. Like, neolithic old. And yes. The Black Pharoah in ancient Kemet. Several of them were active back in the Hyborean Age. Really, that whole time mostly sucked." She may have (literally!) phenomenal cosmic power, but one of the biggest assets she brings to the table is a life experience back from when humans were banging rocks to be sharp rocks.

    "I'm going to have to figure out more about you, Mercy. There's more to you than meets the eye." Cael gets a grin. "Hey, smirking is a fantastic quality. And Mercy likes my stories. I've had a lot of practice." All the Eternals had a function, and that was hers. She basically...well, invented oral histories. "I love your hair, by the way. Nice look."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I'm going to suggest we use some degree of magic on these things, even if only at the end," Jon says. "Amon-Ra's light can eradicate the lingering traces of the stuff; there's a reason they say sunlight is the best disinfectant. So... maybe gather it into a pile and I can burn it all with summoned sunlight?" He quirks a brow in question as he takes the gloves from Mercy. "Water won't really matter much to any of that."

    He pauses before pulling the gloves on. "Oh! I have something for you, I think." He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a small silver key with a mask on it. "Compliments of the Velvet Room, evidently. Lavenza--who may or may not be a faerie in disguise--handed it to me last time I was there and said I'd know who it was for." He holds the key out to Sprite. Once that's done, he pulls on the gloves and goes to grab a squeegee.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy considers Cael's point. "I guess that's true. I just figured the more we wash and get gravity or force working for us the less we're goin to 'smear' stuff with a broom. I got a wide band squeegee. And if you think stories are for kids, you clearly never heard one told right."
    Mercy smiles at Sprite amused, "I just like to fix things. I'm a mechanic, a baby by your standards." She's starting on any counter tops and making sure she gets things to the floor at least. "The office is the part I'm dreading. I hope I can save the computer, and glad no vandals found or got into the safe."
    "Sounds like a plan then Jon. You want to use the power tool? I know I like getting to use them a lot. Oh one rule," Mercy points to the covered car. "NO. Peeking. Keep that covered. Please." Mercy will start to get to work as they talk. The sight of the key gets a grin, "That's what saved my butt the other night. Getting it to appear while I was running away. Thought my arrival in the Velvet Room was a bit of a mess and naked. But better that then dead."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Oh - thanks," Cael says brightly. "I can tell you where I got it done - if you like. It's a bit of a pain, though - needs constant touch-ups. I'll probably let it grow out... Now that Jon's back, and all." She smirks slightly as she adds, "Only got it on account of being slightly set on fire." That's her life, these days.
    "If you're sure the water won't interfere with burning this stuff up..." Cael moves towards the hose, to start spraying things out onto the lot. She's careful to keep it all clear of the covered car, and her own Corvette. And Bear.
    She does glance briefly towaards Sprite as Jon hands her a key, though, before remarking wryly, "Isn't doing that going to make her a target of the damned Old Ones? But maybe she was already..."
    Under her breath she adds, "Wish there was a better solution for the naked problem..." She's already taken to keeping extra clothes in her cars, on her motorcycle, and in the pocket of Bear's vest.

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite smiles at the comment about summoned sunlight. "I can add some extra oomph to it, though mine isn't specifically purification." She holds up a hand, and it glows with golden sparkly light. And then Jon's pulling out a key. A broad grin crosses her face, and she lets the light fade, so that she can take the key, which she does. She doesn't bother with a squeegee, instead just moving her other hand (the one not holding the key) in an arc, as the little bug corpses near her hand start to get telekinetically pushed into a pile.

    "This won't be my first time fighting Gods. Heck, most of the Eternals have /been/ gods, more than once. Gilgamesh, and Makkari...Thena. I've been lots of trickster gods." As if to illustrate, since Cael's grousing about a naked problem, and she's using a hose outside a garage, the ginger teen flicks a finger Cael's direction, putting her in a bikini, like one would do for a car wash.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon gestures toward Cael. "I knew she'd want to use the hose," he says to Mercy with a grin. He doesn't seem too worried about getting wet, himself; he pushes along bug goop toward the pile they're making. "As for the smirking--that's just Ma'at. She didn't choose me as her avatar /only/ for the 'tells the truth in the face of ridicule' stuff. That just got me on her radar. I suppose you get old enough and you see more humor in the world."

    He blinks at Sprite, and then blinks at Cael, and shakes his head. "You've /been/ gods? Multiple gods? That's... huh." He sighs. "Like I said. Weirder and more complicated than any of us want to deal with. And I thought I was starting to get a handle on things with the angel business."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy's ears pick up Cael's comment. "At least you don't need to have collar just in case like I do. Chas' face was funny when he was handed a leash that one time." He looked so uncomfortable. Mercy is relaxing into the cleaning.
    Mercy watches VERY carefully as Sprite uses her abilities however. A little smile on her face and the mechanic is taking mental notes. "I swear if you're really my great aunt or something Sprite I'm going to build you silly walkers and over the hill mugs for every holiday I can think of. For ever culture. Ever." Cael's makeover gets a laugh and she sings, "at the car wash."
    "I wonder how well you'd do on a vision quest like the People do, Jon." She is working steadily and with determination. "Someone better use the power washer, I paid a couple hundred to get that." She is eager to get this going so she can get to work. "Just remember, one thing can actually be multiple things at once and neither of two other things at the same time."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Well, let's get most of it off with this and then we'll switch to the-" That's about when Cael realizes her attire has changed and she frowns at it. It's not Jon's magic - she doubts it's Mercy. That means the ancient being of unknown power and strength. Just the sort of thing you shouldn't mess with.
    But this is Cael, so she turns the hose on Sprite in retaliation. "Very. Funny," she remarks dryly. "Now put it back."

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite smiles. "Most gods have a better sense of humor than you'd think. And yeah, sometimes all you can do with the world is laugh." She answers Jon, and looks to Mercy, that same smirk. "If I was really your great-to-the-nth-power aunt, do you seriously think I'd tell you?"

    She grins at Mercy's song...and then looks over to Cael...just in time to get the hose turned on her. "ACK!!" Dripping wet, the redhead waves a hand, dispelling the illusion about Cael. "Absolutely no respect for your elders." Beat. Grin. "I knew I liked you."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "A vision quest? Mmm. I wouldn't be adverse to the idea. I've been on a couple of 'long treks through the Astral Plane' already. I know it's not really the same thing." Jon shrugs. "I don't know as much as I'd like about Native American spiritual practices. I've been looking into the Lenape, since 'Manhattan' comes from Munsee Lenape and thus I live on their ancestral land. Only seems polite. But--well." He gestures toward himself, English accent and all. "It wasn't exactly a priority, until I moved here."

    He snorts at Cael turning the hose on Sprite, and puts the squeegee aside to go ahead and grab the power washer. Still just generally ushering bug residue toward the big pile, but maybe the water will help get rid of some of it from sheer power?

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy watches the play between Cael and Sprite with a grin. "No Sprite. Then again you're not my aunt." She gets all serious, leaning on the mop she uses. "You are my cousin's step-sister's uncle's brother's daughter's roommate. Much closer and tight a bond. Or you're just my niece. Which would be a real head trip." Shrugging as she gets back to working on the bug yuck. LOOK! They even are getting a clean spot!.
    "I don't know a lot either Jon," it isn't like she grew up on a reservation or anything. Nobody would look at Mercy's mom and think anything but 'White America' honestly. The power washer will start right up and she got a short ranged flat wide nozzle to help with 'sweeping' the floor supposedly. "Thanks for the help on clean up everyone. Especially you with that night Jon. I wasn't my best then."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I don't do bikinis," Cael informs Sprite flatly, but she roll she eyes, and her expression turns back to a smile easily enough. She gets back to work on the cleanup - the worst of the gunk already out of the garage and out into the parking lot. Bear watches with cocked ears - but stays out of the way like he was ordered. He really is a very good boy.
    "Fuck, Mercy. I already owe you - so don't think anything about it. Besides, this clean-up is easier than, uhh, the clean-up you helped me with." She gives the woman a wry smile before she adds, "I wanted to get your impression of how all that went, actually. I'm sorry we didn't get to talk night-of - things being the way they were.
    Yeah. She and Jon had been rather busy with... judgements. And sentencing.

Sprite has posed:
    "You were complaining about a naked problem, and I didn't make you naked." Sprite says, impishly. "I consider that high restraint on my part." She finishes cleaning her section, using telekinesis rather than water as she helps get everything into the final pile. "And Mercy, that means you at least have enough taste to watch Mel Brooks, so that's something either. If anyone needs to know about vision quest rituals, I can help. I came north after the Spanish hit Tenochtilan and spent some time roaming North America." she offers, idly. "We ready to light this up?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Seems a shame," Jon murmurs with a frown. "That you don't know." He carries the memories of his ancestors around in his head, after all. But he shakes his head, and focuses on the pressure washing.

    "I'm glad to help, but it's also sort of literally my job now? Ma'at hasn't had an avatar in five thousand years, and she has one now... basically to run around cleaning up the Old Gods' messes. Restore balance to the universe, etcetera." He aims the pressure washer at a particularly difficult spot of worm gunk. "Didn't think it would be /quite/ so literal, but here we are. If you need some help replacing the window and tracking down your tools I'm sure we can provide. Rien and Chas seem to pull money out of thin air."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy waves off that talk of debt, "You needed help with something, Cael. All it cost me was an evening and some silver." She makes sure to sweep and get Jon to spray down any table or counter parts that need it. Soon the garage won't be yucky. Just getting all the stuff from the office took a bit of work, made easier with everyone helping. "I left once it was under control. I didn't need to be there for the after show. I would have only riled up the werewolves and hurt your efforts." Sadly Mercy didn't loose a lot of sleep over that, the fact she could sleep worries Mercy more then that she gunned down several people in 'cold blood' as it were.
    "One second on that Sprite," she says about starting the fire. Going to where her fire extinguisher is. "I know you all can put it out easier and better. But I need the insurance people to not have an excuse to skip payment. Least I have the reason of them getting copies of the recordings to not have security on right now." So nothing they do is on film.
    Mercy knows Sprite wants details so she'll share. "Mom was a barrel rider. She met my father at a rodeo. He got into a fatal car accident before he even know mom was pregnant. I got sent away while really young and raised with a foster family, mom had me really young. When I showed up at her home at 16 she was already remarried and I had step sisters I never met before." Anyone with half a brain can tell there are BIG holes in that story however. "Lighter her up," nodding to the pile of yuck.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael rolls her eyes at Sprite before returning her attention to Mercy. "Yeah, Moon Knight and Scarlet Scarab had similar notions," Cael murmurs. It had just been her, Jon, and more than fifty werewolves who had... thankfully decided that dueling for leadership was a legitmate way to decide things. "Let me at least pay you back for the bullets," she offers firmly. "I don't like people being put out on my account..."
    It's something of a theme for her - like when she paid off the side of beef, as well.
    With the last of her section cleaned up, she turns off the hose, and pulls off a glove so she can go stand with Bear - scratching at the back of his head.

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite looks to Jon, and lets her hand go glowy and gold again as she prepares to smite the bugs with cosmic power and all that. "After you?" She'd still rather let the one who's an avatar of a Goddess of Balance take the point on this. "Unless you want me to dump 'em out in deep space somewhere. I'm just glad I wasn't here for it. Not a fan of the creepy OR the crawly. Also, if we need anything financed, I can do that." she offers, idly.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Even in deep space they're still... /there/. Hovering. Potentially affecting passers-by." Jon shakes his head as he sets aside the power washer. He frowns at the pile of bugs and bug residue on the garage floor, and then reaches out his left hand. The right, after all... really shouldn't be there.

    What he summons up around the hand is sunlight. Not light that has the same spectrum or anything--actual sunlight, like a warm summer afternoon. He directs a beam of it at the bug residue, and starts... it doesn't really /burn/ away. It's more complete than that. What the light touches just sort of... dissipates. But it's shortly clear that this /is/ somewhat taxing for the Archivist.

    He glances to Sprite with a strained smile. "Wouldn't mind the help," he says.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "I liked Scarabs outfit. But bother of their scents sort of were give me the feeling like my brain was going cross eyed." Mercy points to the roof at Cael and says, "I make my own. You can't just buy silver bullets. That said, if you want to buy silver and give it to me for that. I won't say no. Just be careful with it okay?"
    Mercy says, "I am far less a fan myself." She doesn't go into details, though those in the Velvet Room when Mercy showed up saw the poor girl heaving her guts out. To Sprite, "I already got all the money I need from you for now on that project. I just hope you feel you get your money's worth. Insurance will cover almost all of it. /IF/ and I mean /if/ I find that I need money. I'll ask for a lone from a friend to pay back when insurance cuts me a check. I didn't loose anything irreplicable and I always keep important stuff in the safe."
    When the magic show is about to begin Mercy takes the fire extinguisher and a step back. Just to give some room and not cause things to grow in stead of shrink or anything else strange.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I'll be fine," Cael says easily - touching the silver chain she wears around her neck, still. Silver doesn't bother her - as long as she doesn't get stabbed, sliced, or shot with it. "I'll get you some," she agrees. She nudges Bear, then moves up closer to Jon, her ungloved hand reaching up to rest on their back in support. Does it help at all? Probably not - but it doesn't hurt.
    They may not have //said// to Sprite exactly what she, Jon, and Mercy have been up to - but given the talk about silver, and the concern for its presence around Cael - Sprite can doubtlessly make some relatively easy guesses.
    Plus - the moon was full only a few days ago.

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite nods, and points her hand, palm out, at the pile of buggy bits. A beam of golden, sparkling light emits from it, breaking down the corpses. Energy Projection isn't her strength, but all Eternals can all do the base tricks to some degree or another. She'll work with Jon until the bits are gone.

    "I'm sure I'll feel I got my money's worth. And I'm just offering. Money is SO not an issue." She's curious about the were-issues, but she won't pry. Not YET, anyway. (She'll totally pry eventually.)

    Finally, she'll look around. "All right, youngsters. I've done my good deed for the day." She takes out the key, that impish smile on her face again. "Now, I'm gonna play with my newest toy."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Oh good lord," Jon mutters. But then he breaks into a grin. "Actually, I look forward to seeing how the attendants handle someone like you. Maybe you'll get along. Or maybe you'll drive them all terribly mad." He may be fond of Lavenza, but he's not above giving faeries a bit of a nose-thumbing.

    The bug gunk scoured away, he slumps a bit, but takes the chance while he's got it out to run the sunlight over his form. A few blue-black feathers drop off of him and disappear, and his right arm wavers for a moment and almost disappers before asserting itself again. "Getting there," he mutters, and then leans into Cael a bit.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy is doing her best to watch how the two people burn away the bucks, paying more attention to the visual parts of Sprite's power. It's research! "Thanks Everyone. I got to sort through papers and do some really boring stuff. Not to mention return a lot of that cleaner I didn't use if I can." She waves to Sprite with her key< "Have fun. Don't drink 'The Tower' it smells unhealthy!" Whatever that means. She will look at Jon and Cael. "I should check up on Gabby. She may be victim of Madae's sleep spell and charms. You two should go do something fun or something." Mercy makes shooing motions as she starts to shut down some of the garage doors so she can get to all the other work. "Thanks again you all!"