13287/Threading Loose

Threading Loose
Date of Scene:	14 November 2022
Location:	Llandudno, Wales
Synopsis:	Where Nadia and Gar importune an innocent couple, and Donna acts as the team's GPS.
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Nadia Pym-van Dyne, Gar Logan, Donna Troy

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Terry O'Neil has posed:
The Clontarf hotel is, by all means, a nice and cozy place. 'Located on the peaceful West Shore at the foot of the Great Orme, The Clontarf Hotel provides the perfect holiday location offering brand new highest quality beds,' the publicity brochsure tells us, 'secure car parking, locally sourced produce for breakfast, wireless internet and superb service throughout.' Having all of five rooms, it is a family-run business set in a lovely victorian house owned by Joni Stubbs (originally from Yorkshrie), a proud cyclist, marathon runner and dog owner with two schnauzers (who immediatelly took to Gar.) Joni bought the hotel in 2007, back then only a two-star place, and in the time since it has been upgraded to four stars- so, good for her!

The reservations had been made so that a small group of Titans could come over and scout a very important location- and one that was just half a block away, in fact: 91 Abbey Road. The former home of a very important residence.

The breakfast is plentiful, with laverbread, potatoes and mushrooms, eggs and sausage, bacon and oatcakes. Terry had warned the owner beforehand that one of their team had a prodigious appetite. As the plates were scraped clean of food by the breakfasters, the early morning dawns gray and drizzly- it is a cold 45 degrees in Llandudno this morning, but the breakfast room is bright and light.

Terry, allready to go in an emerald-green sweater and jeans, sensible boots and a dark crimson scarf, downs the rest of his coffee and glances at Nadia.

"We ready to roll? Looks like the house used to be just up the street, indeed. Since then, though- well, it's going to get tricky. The house isn't there anymore, many houses are- but maybe the site is more important than the building?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    The hotel is a source of delight for Nadia. Almost three years after her escape from bunker life the outside world remains full of new experiences, Wales especially so. It's like something out of a fantasy novel, but on Earth, unlike those places that have been like fantasy novels in other dimensions. Such things existing on Earth too is just amazing, even if there are no dragons, that she's found yet anyway.

    Breakfast is scarfed down. Proportionate to her frame, Nadia too is no slouch either when it comes to the eating thanks to her overclocked Widow metabolism. She tries to savor the food, but it is a constant war for attention being delicious Hobbit breakfast and whatever she is working on. Small sparks fly at one point as she seems to have gotten a miniature plasma torch from somewhere, it's best not to ask, as she puts the final touches on some device she's been working on. After a look from the proprietor, however, she gives a sheepish expression and puts the torch away back wherever it came from, and stuffs another sausage into her face instead.

    "Ready when you are!" Nadia stands up from the table, today dressed in her GIRL pink and purple bomber jacket and a comfortable pair of blue jeans. She pockets the small device she was working on before walking over to where Terry is waiting.

Gar Logan has posed:
"Dude, when you said we were going to Abbey Road, I thought you meant the /other/ Abbey Road. I'd be feeling totally let down right now, but this place is still pretty neat," Gar says, in the midst of playing with the dogs. Yes, animals tend to gravitate toward him.

He's dressed fittingly for the weather, including a red sweater and jeans, plus his usual custom sneakers with the paw print tread on them. A beanie with cat ears atop it covers most of his hair.

The warning about needing more food was not for nothing, either. He even ended up slipping the owners a bit extra as a way of compensating for his appetite, and once all that was done he stood with the others to await their direction. "I don't know much about what we actually have to do here, but I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Guess there's no better time than now, then," Terry says, giving a little smirk as Nadia puts her contraption away. You could take the girl out of the lab...



"Off to look at where the old place was?" Joni asks as Terry stands up, dabbing at his lips with a napkin, and the Cheshire Cat nods. The owners were pretty stoked when they found out who was it that was staying at their hotel- the Titans would add some celebrity to the place, and photos were taken during dinner to post on social media (after they had departed, as per agreement). The actual Cheshire Cat staying with them had tickled them all. Especially their daughter, a ten-year old sprite of a girl with wispy blond hair and a grin almost as big as Terry's.

"It was such a shame," Mark (Joni's husband and a superb cook) mentioned to the group when they shared the reason for their visit, "We weren't here but two years before it came down."
"We actually thought of buying it ourselves, didn't we?" Joni commented, serving up the last od the coffee, "But it was too far gone by then."
"Too much of an investment, if you ask me, you'd have needed some serious brass to get it in a good state. We're not the wealthy developers."
"Greedy lot, they could've preserved it or incorporated it into the project. It had character."

It had character, yes, as Terry saw in some o the old pictures. But towards the end, that character could have featured in a Stephen King novel, unfortunately. Saying their farewells until dinner, the trio made their way out.

This Abbey Road was a pretty deserted spot on a rainy morning, which suited them fine."Och, Gar, we can go to that /other/ Abbey Road next time. Heh, maybe we can jump over there after this is done and take a picture at the crosswalk. Pity Donna couldn't come, or we would have had the right number of people to do it." He stuffs his hands in his pockets and walks on, his sensible boots splashing in the light rain.

The trio had arrived to the conclusion that Llandundo was the place where the Looking-Glass House stood on Earth through some sleuthing. The events chronicled by Dodgson, if the party could assume faithfulness, pointed to Winter. Especially when Alice is trying to glance at the other house through the mirror as she exclaims: "Oh! I do so wish I could see that bit! I want so much to know whether they?ve a fire in the winter: you never can tell, you know, unless our fire smokes, and then smoke comes up in that room too?but that may be only pretence, just to make it look as if they had a fire."

The Gogarth Abbey Hotel was once located on 91 Abbey Road. It was originally called The Penmorfa, a stately home built in 1862 as a Christmas and summer retreat for the family of Alice Liddell- and, therefore, it /had/ to be the setting for her Looking-Glass adventure. The location of the portal.

There were some other bits of corroborating evidence: The two rocks out in the bay are known locally as the Walrus and the Carpenter, and there is much discussion centered around whether the names were there before Carroll 'wrote' his book, or after. If you came from the point of knowledge that Wonderland was real and Carroll merely a chronicler, then it stands to reason that the rocks were named after the book was published, a move by the locals to cement the celebrity of the location*.

The site eventually came under new ownership and became a hotel, which cashed on its Alice connection for tourist notoriety but which, eventually, closed down and was abandoned. Falling into disrepair, it was finally completely demolished in 2008 in order to make way for a block of 29 flats by developer Anwyl Construction despite receiving hundreds of protest letters and objections lodged by the Llandudno Town Council, the Victorian Society, and Llandudno and Colwyn Bay Historical Society.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Well, there it is," Terry says. Or, rather, "Well, there it /isn't/."

91 Abbey Road now housed a condo. Once, it was envisioned as a block of 'luxury condos', but almost twenty years down the line, the buildings don't look luxurious so much as... well, somewhat tired. The Cheshire cat glances at the two-story building with its red tiled roof and white, rain-stained walls, and glances at Nadia.

"Well... this is the place. Or as close to it as we can get. What should we look for?"

*Footnote: Your universe may vary- such is the nature of the multiverse. What madness!- Ed

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    "I thought these were supposed to be luxury condos?" Nadia says to no one in particular as she peers at the buildings that now occupy the land of the former Gogarth Abbey Hotel. Her idea of what constitutes 'luxury' may have become highly skewed due to the influence of her adopted mother. "If they were going to demolish something so amazing you'd think they could have at least bothered to maintain what they put in its place. This just looks.." She searches for the right word. "Tired, like how the Red King was." Maybe there was something to that, if his troubles could permeate Wonderland, who was to say they couldn't find their way through the Looking Glass as well. It's a thought that Nadia keeps in the back of her head for the time being.

    She thinks for a moment on Terry's question. "I guess for a looking glass, unless the magic wasn't actually tied to the looking glass. Maybe this place is special? Maybe the magic can take over another object? But it was still a looking glass in Wonderland and Looking Glass Alice told me that it didn't reach anywhere anymore. One sec.." Reaching into the pocket of her jacket, Nadia fishes out that thing she'd been working on during breakfest in between bouts of shoveling delicious food into her mouth. It's not much bigger than a cellphone, though her tech tends to be compact, with a strange set of extendable antenna and most of its surface taken up by a touchscreen display. It really does look like a fancy smartphone, but knowing her is nothing so simple. "I made this to try and isolate the unique energy patterns the Interdimensional Monitoring tech picked up during the Wonderland disturbances. Basically a much much more specific and localized version. Maybe it can tell us something."

Gar Logan has posed:
Fittingly, the beanie Gar's in is reminiscent of his time as the Cheshire Cat, which he hasn't been since everything was dealt with in Wonderland. Besides, that's Terry's thing.

The greenest Titan wasn't much for the history of the land or whatever buildings are or were upon it, but after giving the owners of the place they stayed in all the photos they wanted it was time to get down to business, whatever that business was to be.

"This is your show. Well, both of yours. You know a lot more about this than me. I'm gonna hold you to that about the Abbey Road thing, too. I'm gonna do more than just take a picture at the crosswalk." He squints in the direction of Nadia's device, looking from her to Vorpal and back, leading to his hands finding his pockets. "Like..to see if there's still some sort of portal here to the other side?" he wonders.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"That's the idea, Gar," Terry says. The light rain starts getting a little more body to it, so he opens a small, black-and-white striped umbrella he has been carrying. "And I'm thinking something. Since we can't go around poking in the houses... well, at least until we know the /location/, maybe we could use Gar's talents." He glances at the greenest Titan, and then back at Nadia, "What do you say of sending Gar in birdform with the sensor for a fly-over of the condo block? see if we can pick up anything?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia looks up from poking at the device, she's beginning to look rather damp not having noticed the rain picking up due to the intensity of her focus. "Oh right, yeah. That sounds like a good idea. I don't seem to be picking up anything from here." She pauses. "Can a bird carry something like this?" That was functionality she had not foreseen being necessary in her engineering.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan merely looks at Nadia with one of /those/ expressions that seems to ask 'Have you lost your mind or something?'

A moment later, he's in Akiar form. "You do know I can just fly this way and still have full use of everything," he explains, waggling his fingers. Of course, Akiar hands are lacking one digit compared to human ones. That's something he's going to have to ask Kian about now that some light has been shed on some of his race's origin.

Holding out said hand, he asks, "What do you need? Just for me to circle around up there and see if anything pings? You'd better hope it doesn't, like, suck me back into Wonderland unexpectedly." After a pause, he clarifies. "Or almost unexpectedly, since I just brought it up."

The weather is not a bother, even with him dressed more like one of Kian's people now. "Shall I spread my wings?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Well, I was hoping for a bird to be less... conspicuous. But I guess that finding the portal is worth the reports of a half-naked green bird-man flying over the rooftops in North Wales." The cat chuckles, shooting Gar a glance that is full of mischief and a little bit more, stopping on the exposed green skin which now glistens with the rain. "Give us a couple of sweeps in a grid over the houses, maybe we can pinpoint if there is anything coming from any of them? I'll keep an eye out for the local fuzz if anyone calls them to investigate the sighting of a green angel flying around like he's dropped his keys somewhere."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    "He said bird." Nadia points at Terry, not her fault! "Yeah, that shape should work." She looks down at the device and taps it with her finger a few times adjusting some settings. "Just fly around and see if it makes a pinging noise, it should be louder depending on the intensity, so closer probably louder." She tells Gar as she hands over the device. 'Probably' is the best she can do on how it will work because you just never know with Wonderland.

Gar Logan has posed:
"As if me being green wasn't already getting us stared at, and then there's also you," the Garkiar remarks, pointing a finger directly at Vorpal's chest until he pokes there a couple of times. "And I /could/ carry it in my talons, but this is more interesting for everyone."

Up he goes, adding, "I'm pretending this is a prototype tricorder or something we had on Space Trek. Let's see what this baby can do!" As he begins to circle, he calls back down, "They tore down that place to build a bunch of boring buildings that all look even more alike from above than at street level? Someone needs to never be forgiven for that, and..wait, I think I've got something. It's beeping and stuff."

Gar shifts his path to follow the signal, staying a few dozen feet above the homes. There is a definite path toward one in particular.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Good job, Gar!" Terry says, following Gar's lead. The condo that is singled out by the signals is very much like the others except, perhaps, for the rather beat-up green Rover 216, which has one tire missing. The scattered tools around the car indicate someone must have been working on it recently- well, at least until it started raining.

"Well, there's people in there," Vorpal says, ears twitching, "I can hear someone talking..."

They stay at the outer fence to the house, which is made out of rock, and designed to look a little like castle crenellations- only smaller, and therefore produce the completely opposite effect that the real thing would have. "How do we want to approach this? Knock knock knock, hello, a cat, a green man and a young lady would like to poke around your house, if you please?" he grins.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia follows after the others. Making the trip a bit easier are the bio-synthetic wings which extend from the metal decal on the back of her GIRL bomber jacket allowing to fly over and around otherwise troublesome obstacles.

    "They should really taking better care of their tools." She says disapprovingly, landing not too far from the Rover. "They're going to rust being left out like this. Poor tools."

    At Vorpal's question of how to approach it, Nadia thinks for a moment. "If you want to distract them, I can pretty easily slip into, well, anywhere unnoticed. ...or we could just offer to buy it or something." Both suggestions seem equally viable to her, one based off the solutions to things she was taught in childhood and the other based off the solution that Janet generally employs with most problems.

Gar Logan has posed:
Upon landing, Gar returns the device back to Nadia, giving her own wings a peek before saying, "I could make myself look like Ed McMahon, we could get an oversized check, a camera crew, and tell them they've won ten million dollars and we just need to come in to film them. But, I'd still be green, he's been dead for like a dozen years, and they probably don't even know who he was over here."

Rubbing his chin after going back to himself, he adds, "Colette would probably approve of it, but we can't just do a home invasion and I doubt they're just going to let us buy the place and head right in. We could be honest with them, but they might think some of us are flat out crazy."

He looks straight at Vorpal as he says this, Nadia only a little less so. "I already used up my best idea."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Well, then, the polite inquiry it is." Vorpal adjusts his scarf and walks up to the front door. There is, admittedly, a conversation that is loud enough to be heard as the trio approaches.

"... and for all of this, we haven't made any headway."
"Yes, dear."
"Five years and not even an offer, can you believe it? It's an investment, cousin Elda said, prime location. And now-"

The discussion is interrupted by a knock, Vorpal's, and silence followed suit.

The door to the condo opens to reveal a woman in her mid fifties, perhaps, with a head full of auburn hair that makes the pretention to be more elaborate than her hair is capable of sustaining. When she sees Vorpal, she gives a little start, but then her eyes fall on Gar and her eyebrows go up. Nadia gets a cursory glance after this.

"Who is it, Lily?" comes a man's voice from within.
"I think they're with the circus, Charles!" she calls back in a voice that is pitched high and rounded, and somewhat grating. "Are you with the circus? We don't buy tickets for it. We don't attend /popular/ entertainment," she says pointedly, clearly intending it to be a point of pride.

Vorpal is speechless.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia watches curiously from behind Terry. "Circus? Isn't that that thing with elephants and acrobats?" She asks looking from the woman to Terry and Gar. She doesn't think they look much like elephants or acrobats. She stops and thinks, WWJD (What Would Janet Do).

    Stepping out from behind Terry, Nadia decides to try her original plan, well one of them, the non-breaking and entering one, and offers the woman her biggest smile. "Hello! I'm Nadia Pym-van Dyne. Can I buy your Condo?"

Gar Logan has posed:
With or without better hearing even in his natural form, Gar makes a shushing motion as they approach, mentioning, "Guess what? They're talking like they want to sell, but haven't had any luck. We might just have a shot at this." Said as if they wouldn't have any trouble scrounging up whatever it takes.

As the door opens, he ends up behind at least one of them, Nadia for certain. "The circus? Not me, but my friend here belongs in one sometimes." He jerks a thumb Vorpal's way, then as Nadia launches right into the question, that hand finds his face to rub it slowly.

Then, he's trying to cover for her. "I'm Gar Logan. You may remember me from such shows and films as Space Trek: 2222 and The Jungle Book but I'm also a long-time member of the Titans, based in Metropolis. Our friend is getting a little ahead of herself. We /were/ wondering if you wouldn't mind giving us a tour? We couldn't help but hear you talking about offers." Or the lack of them. And it was hard /not/ to hear. Fortunately, he keeps that part to himself.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The woman blinks a couple of times and then glances at Nadia. "I beg your pardon? I don't think I quite heard- did you say you want to *buy* our condominium?"

The rows and rows of condos look decidedly insignificant at the foot of the Great Orme, not half as 'deluxe' as the quaint charm of the Victorian house nary half a block away. The residential block lays there like so much prefabricated mundanity. It is a stretch of the imagination to think someone would /covet/ any of them so much as to approach a perfect stranger with the proposition.

"What is the matter, Lily?" Her husband finally comes to the door. He is of the same age as her, balding and posessing a half-hearted effort at a moustache. Unlike his wife and her grandiose airs, he appears very unassuming. His whole face appears to be a perpetual apology in the making.
"Charles, this young lady says she wants to buy *our* condominium!"
"What. Really?" The man gives Nadia a puzzled look. "Gosh."

As Gar steps in, Charles squints and stares at him fixedly for a moment. "Oh, I think I know him, Lily. He's the one in that show where they fight the aliens."
Lily raises an eyebrow, "A /common/ television programme, Charles, you must be mistaken. Perhaps he was-"
"No, I am certain of it, the little green kid who could change into-"
"Enough, Charles, we have /guests/." The woman's attitude clearly pivots, deciding that whatever may be in store with these three is preferable to admitting her husband may have watched science fiction.

They are rushed to the kitchen, where they are offered tea.

"We didn't mean to eavesdrop," Vorpal says, clearing his throat, "Only that you were speaking rather loudly,"
"It's Charles, you know, he is hard of hearing at times-" it had clearly been her voice that was the dominant one, but Vorpal doesn't correct her.
"Yes. As my friend Garfield was saying, you were speaking about offers."

Lily purses her lips. "Not for our condominium, no, we couldn't possibly sell it. No-"
"We're from London," Charles confides in them, buttering up some toast, "But we're in here for a while, I'm afraid. We've got an-"
"My Aunt Theresa, may she rest in peace, left me a house, you see," Lily cuts in, filling teacups even for those who said they didn't want any, "Lovely old place. We've redecorated, practically ready for a turnkey B&B-"
"But the problem is-"
"But the problem IS that we've had no offers."
"We thought we'd flip it-"
"And make a healthy investment. But it is /dreadful/. In the time we've spent revitalizing the house, so many other bread and breakfasts have cropped up, it's a marvel there are any regular houses left! No-one is interested in purchasing a new one."

Vorpal frowns. "Uh. How long had you been renovating that house?"
"Ten years, give or take,"
"TEN yea-"
"Contractors. You simply can't find any good ones, they keep quitting-" Lily shakes her head vehemently as she deposits far too many sugar cubes in each teacup.
"She likes to talk to them," Charles says in a tired voice.
"It's only polite to get to know people who are working for you, Charles. One's betters /always/ set up an example-"
"And she makes suggestions-"
"It is important that the work be done properly-"
"A lot. Of suggestions."

Terry leans back on his chair, takes a sip of the tea, and /winces/, convinced that he just felt a cavity forming in real time.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia just sort of blinks a few times at everything going on. "It seems like a very nice condominium." Nadia replies when the woman calls back to her husband. And then they are being rushed into the kitchen. "Did you know this area is haunted?" She asks completely innocently when the discussion shifts to some other house that they are trying to turn into a bed and breakfast. "Or I guess Haunted might not be the right word. But it might have a gate to a chaos dimension." The glances down at the device in her hand to see where it might be pinging while the woman makes tea. "The old Liddel summer estate used to be here." This might not be the best time to tell the truth... And then she just pivots again. "You remind me of some of the people who come to my Mom's parties. This tea is really good by the way." That those people are super stuffy and she doesn't really care for them much is left out, of course.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan's eyes sort of glaze over along the way, but not before he gives the owners a little demonstration. "Oh, I am anything but common. Check me out." Once they're inside, he becomes a red kite, complete with the notable forked tail, though in his case the color is his own. "You go ahead and tell me when you've seen someone who can do this," the bird tells them, spreading his wings apart before once again returning to normal, his arms in the same outstretched position.

No matter the reactions of Charles or Lily, he stands for now with a hip against the counter, though the tea is accepted with a surprising amount of grace from him. Must have learned a few manners /somewhere/ before.

Then, Lily talks. And talks some more. And talks even more than that.

He feigns coughing into a hand as he says under his breath, closer to Vorpal, "I don't get like that. Do /I/ get like that?"

To his credit, he refrains from making matters worse by butting in with anything. Let them talk. Let Nadia talk. Somewhere along the way, the owners might slip in one way or another. For a moment. "It's 'bed and breakfast,' not 'bread and breakfast,'" he just can't help but put in.

Charles gets a sympathetic look when he's sure Lily isn't focused on him.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Lily stops her monologue briefly, to look at Nadia as she provides some information upon the land upon which their condo is built. This gives her pause, mercifully. But that mercy is short lived. While Charles seems delighted by Gar's temporary transformation, Lily's first instinct is to fetch the newspaper on the counter. It is unclear whether she was going to spread it on the floor or hit Gar with it, as he returns to his regular shape too soon for the trio to find out.

"Now isn't that simply preposterous?" Lily glances around her kitchen and sniffs dismissively, "This is a perfectly respectable household and it bears absolutely no association with any chaotic goings-on." She daintily picks up her teacup and takes a sip. "Especially ones of extradimensional extraction."

"But dear," Charles says meekly, "It would explain what goes on in the loft-"
"Hush now, Charles dear," the woman interrupts her husband by giving him a biscuit in a rather forceful fashion.

Vorpal smirks lightly and leans into Gar's cough, "Sometimes," he whispers, "But not /that/ much."

"The Liddels summer estate? Charles, do we know any Liddels?"
"There's Barnaby Little at the office-"
"Oh yes. The unrelenting velocipedestrian. Most tiresome man-"
"He is just excercise-conscious, dear-"
"TOO conscious. One should keep exercise to the privacy of one's home instead of... parading it around wearing one's underwear on the outside-"
"It's a cycling suit, dear," Charles says meekly, shooting an apologetic look at the Titans who, on the regular, probably wear crime-fighting outfits that Lily would qualify in the same manner.
"It's indecent, is what it is."
"I think there is a mistake, ma'am," Vorpal begins, "It's Liddel, with two 'd's instead of 't's."
"Then we certainly do not know them," Lily says, "All of our acquaintances know how to spell their names correctly."

Vorpal shoots Nadia and Gar a quick, exasperated look, and then back to the couple. "So if you were to move your... er, bread and breakfast," Vorpal says, trying to not correct Lily. She did not acknowledge the correction the first time, "You'd probably move back to London?"
"Well, yes," Lily says, "With Charles having retired, this was supposed to be a temp'rary thing. Prop up the business and then make some more money, sell this condo and the old house in London and use the proceeds to buy a decently-sized home in London. In one of the better neighborhoods."
"There's nothing wrong with the London house, Lily."
"It is no place fit for a respectable couple in their twilight years, Charles!" Lily frowns, "My sister Anastasia, on the other hand- you know her- lovely house, plenty of space-"
"-Room for a pony, I know dear. I know." Charles doesn't sigh. He just looks like he might have sighed at this point.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    It's a lot, the woman never seems to stop talking. Nadia has rarely seen anything like it even among the pretenders that try to crash Janet's parties. There is one kernal that she does pick up out of it all though, addressing Charles instead of the neverending word stream that is Lily, "What happens in your loft?" This seems to have captured her curiosity. Not that she had much doubt in the readings of her instrument, something was definitely here, this just seemed to confirm things. Assuming it wasn't just rats or something.

    There is a moment when it seems like Nadia might correct them about the Liddels and how they're about a century too late to actually know them, but ultimately after opening her mouth to speak, she just closes it again and gives up.

    She looks over at Gar and then back to the couple. If it's money two of the wealthiest members of the Titans are standing in this room at the moment (leaving aside Terry's interstellar version of Breaking Bad). "So... how much are you looking for? For the old house bed and breakfast and also for the condo? I think I just heard right that you are planning to sell both?"

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan is left rather silent at the ongoing commentary that comes mostly from the woman of the house. His expression toward Nadia and Vorpal is a generally helpless one, shaking his head for a moment as they look his way, gesturing with his palms up as if to say 'I got nothing.'

Yes, they know this place is important. They also know there's been talk about selling. When he does find the words, he remarks, "Seems to me if you're actually thinking about letting go of the place and you haven't had /any/ offers, someone willing to make a serious one might be just what you need. Then you can get that nice spot you seem to want so much. Do you fancy croquet?" He's heard the English speak on more than one occasion, as he sips tea. "I know a guy who could show you a very /uncommon/ way to play." Vorpal gets a mild elbow in the side. "Since you seem to hate anything too basic, of course."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"We are not... inviting her there, Garfield. She wouldn't enjoy it," Vorpal says, giving Gar a /look/.

"The strangest thing, really," Charles leans forward to answer Nadia, "When you go up there, you get the impression someone's looking at you. Out of- well, shiny things. I went up to get Lily's old tray what got banged up during the move and I could swear that when I looked at it I saw-"
Lily's eyes immediately sparkle at Nadia's monetary question. She looks at Gar and Nadia, "Well. It really was /quite/ an expense, renovating the old house. My poor dear aunt, she wasn't very well towards the end... the house did deteriorate /so/."

Vorpal peers at Nadia. Then at Gar. He really has no idea of the reach of their wealth, so to speak. He has probably never seen that many zeroes in one place, even as a interstellar chocolate drug lord.
"It would all depend on the offer, really. We have a lot invested here, don't we Charles?" Lily asks.
Charles does sigh this time, quietly.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia's face lights up at Charles' description of the loft. "And you saw?" She prompts, watching him.

    She makes a face as she listens to Lily but forces it away again putting her best smile mask in its place. "Do you have a Realtor? I think that's what they're called? That's what they're called right?" Nadia looks to Terry and Gar. She's never had to properly deal with one before. Janet usually has people for that. She's pretty sure she'd rather talk to a realtor than this lady though and she's starting to get an idea of why they've yet to get a single offer.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan's hands go up again. "I wasn't saying that! Not exactly. But..it'd be a good way to let her see a little more." Nevermind the potential for this woman to further worsen matters if she actually did go to /that/ place.

Besides, what's said about the loft has more of his attention, Nadia's as well, and really Vorpal's too. "I just have to be clear about one thing. No offers until we've seen the whole place, and you give us what you'd be looking for. We can have our people talk to your people and all that."

There may be a question about even being able to meet an offer like that, and it should go without saying he isn't expecting anything from Steve Dayton, for one. There may need to be other ways of doing this. "Yeah, there ought to be a real estate agent involved."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Lily seems about to speak, a very contrary opinion expressed on her face and ready to manifest into the world, when Charles cuts in: "What can it hurt?"

What can it hurt, indeed? Lily seems to weigh her options, and suddenly her face breaks into a smile and, with the immaculate manners of the perfect hostess, she says, "Of course. Please, follow me!"

The tour of the condo is an unnecessarily protracted one. Lily insists on showing /everything/ because, as she says, an attic is such a small thing to judge the worth of a building by, they really should see everything-

From the slim-line crystal-clear tone landline installed in the kitchen-

To the antique oak table and china cabinets in the dining room, perfect for candlelight suppers and for storing one's royal Doulton with hand-painted periwinkles-

And the deluxe art-deco bath-tub made in the exact semblance of one that may have been sold to the Duchess of Wales' nephew's cousin's aunt's chambermaid, with matching aquamarine-hued tiles in the /exact/ same color as that of the Queen's (maygodresthersoul) second favorite third Sunday outfit
To, finally, the attic.

The attic in and of itself is fairly small, but it is here that Nadia's detector suddenly begins to spike. Here, indeed, magic is afoot.

"It feels... familiar," Vorpal says, vaguely.

A lot of things have been covered up in here that normally aren't. An old bicycle with a silvery finish is draped with a cloth. A mirror is also draped over, but that may be because Charles is superstitious and is afraid of storms (yes, some people do believe that mirrors attract lightning). It is as if whomever was here last (probably Charles) went to great lengths to cover up anything that is reflective.

It should also be pointed out that he refused to go into the attic, and thus the party is currently stuck with Lily giving them the grand tour. Fortunate they.

"-And this is a perfect copy of a reproduction of a portrait of one of Lord Edgewater's third cousins. Notice what a perfect likeness they captured, about the chin."

It is a perfect likeness about the chin, alright- namely, there doesn't seem to be one.

Vorpal looks at Nadia and Gar, "This definitely feels like there could be... something here. My chaos is tingling," he whispers.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia follows along on the tour pretending that she isn't bored out of her mind. Rich people love boring tours and occasionally she's been caught up in one for some social function or another that Janet got roped into and dragged her along so it wouldn't be completely unbearable. Misery loves company after all.
    In fact Nadia's mind is on other things like what Charles saw in that tray, and she's not really listening to Lily at all. She has a pretty good idea of what he might have seen, or rather who, a solid hypothesis really. But like any hypothesis it still needs to be tested. And then as if by providence there it is in front of her, a large covered mirror. She couldn't have asked for anything more perfect and before Lily can vocalize a protest quick hands flit out and pull the sheet from the mirror, Nadia's inquisitive eyes peering into its depths.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan finds his happy place somewhere along the way, slipping into the zone of an actor pretending to be interested while in actuality completely checking out of paying attention. This includes variations of "How interesting," "That's remarkable," "Fascinating," and the like. He's determined it's the only way to survive this woman. Poor, poor Charles. /Not/ included? "Do tell more."

It's only once they reach the attic that he begins to focus again, particularly about the time Vorpal mentions chaos and tingling. "Could also be fleas somewhere," he stage-whispers, clearing his throat in the process. He knows the fact Vorpal's feeling something is meaningful, at least. They're where they needed to be. What, then, shall they do next?

Donna Troy has posed:
    As the group searches the attic, Vorpal's T-Com pings a single tone. On inspection it shows the message 'Where are you?' from Donna. It's probably not necessary to answer, because an icon in the corner of the screen indicates the track mode is active.

    Donna had rushed off to Themyscira while the trip to Wales was first being mooted; she's not supposed to be here, but apparently whatever emergency called her there is already over, because it would seem she's in the vicinity, and indeed moments later, the doorbell rings.

    "More visitors, I'll get it dear," Charles says amiably, and wanders downstairs to leave Lily to give the most fascinating tour. It's definitely Donna -- when the door is opened, her voice, though not quite her words, can be made out filtering up the stairs. The voices get closer, Donna apparently already deep in friendly conversation with Charles. The words "...mostly copper. Quite a lot of it, in fact. They used it for making bronze, for swords mostly. It was pretty much the economic basis of the whole of Europe at the time," drift upwards from Donna, followed by Charles' "Fascinating, fascinating."

     Not long afterwards Charles potters back into the attic, accompanied by the Titan's Amazonian team-mate. "It's another one of them dear," Charles tells his wife. "Name of Troia of Them... what was it again, love?"

    Donna takes a thoughtful look at Lily. She glances at the detritus in the attic, then back at Lily. "/Princess/ Troia of Themyscira," she says, suspecting that Lily is the kind of person who'll be impressed by that.

    "Hey guys! What's up? What are you doing here? I thought you'd be down the road."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
In a perfect world, Nadia's inquiry would have been met with a fruitful encounter: the semblance of an Alice peering back from the depths of the mirror. In this case, she does get a partial victory, for an Alice does stare back at her: Nadia herself. The reveal of the glass comes with no supernatural fanfare or effects, alas.

At least, nothing blatant. There is a moment where Nadia might perceive the surface of the glass vibrating slightly, and then stopping. But then there is something that catcher her attention out of the corner of her eye- a silhouette, faint, phantasmal- but it is gone before she can turn her head, revealing only the glass door of a worn-down cabinet when she does, and no other reflections but those of the team and the homeowners.

Vorpal gives Gar a dirty look, "I do not. Have. Fleas. Cheshire cats /cannot/ get fleas!"

Lily frowns at this, "I beg your pardon, did you say Che-" before the question can be formed, however, she half-turns on her heels by some miraculous mechanism, as if she were some sort of royalty magnet, and turns to face Donna.

Sensing an opportunity, Terry adds, "Princess Troia of Themyscira, madam. She is Queen Hippolyta's daughter, and her sister is-"

"My word, Charles, we have got a /royal/ guest and you brought her all the way up to the attic?" she looks positively chagrined, "I am! so! sorry! - your royal highness, my husband is many things but he is far too eager to please to sometimes remember his proper manners. Charles!" she says his name with an upward lilt, her voice gliding into her head register with an unctuous roundness that would have made Julia Child pause in breathless appreciation, "Per'aps you'd be so kind to escort the Princess and her guests out of this dusty attic and to the dining room? I am afraid it is far too early in the day for one of my famous candlelight suppers but maybe I can use my famous talent for extemporaneous culinary confetions and provide a suitable candlel-" she glances at the window, "Rainy day brunch?"

Vorpal sidles up to Donna, "What do you mean... down the road?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia looks somewhat disappointed as she sweeps the sheet away like a magician revealing a grand trick or a mad scientist showing off their latest invention, only to be met with, well, her own reflection and that of the others in the room. But then there is definitely a puzzle here and the gears are already turning in her head. After Alice's reflection did tell her that the Looking Glass now only lead to nowhere, and yet could no where be here? Even after all of this time the laws governing Wonderland were still so elusive and yet they clearly seemed to exist in some fashion a certain rhyme to the chaos.

    Lily and even her friends have been forgotten in the moment as Nadia ponders and re-ponders the clues at hand. That is until Donna's entirely unexpected voice is heard. "Oh, Hi Donna!" She calls towards the attic entrance and that is when she sees it spinning back to face the mirror again but the ephemeral image is already gone. She stares at it a moment longer, reaching out to poke the glass with her index finger like she doesn't quite trust it. Magic is weird.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan sticks his tongue out at Vorpal, but that's the extent of the response he offers. Why?

"Donna!" he calls out upon hearing her voice, making a literal beeline (buzz buzz) over to her, circling twice before landing next to her as himself. "I'm /so/ glad you're here! This is where Nadia's device brought us!" Lowering his voice and managing to keep it down this time, he adds, "But /please/ tell me we're actually supposed to be somewhere else. I don't think I can stand another minute in this dump, that woman talks more than I do and doesn't really /say/ anything, and we've had to convince them we want to buy the place."

Huff. He crosses his arms, but she's given a hopeful look. Vorpal, at least, could hear all of this, given his close proximity.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Sorry dear," Charles tells Lily in a voice filled with contrition his expression gives the lie to, peering up at her from just outside the attic, into which he'd prefer not to venture even if his wife wasn't there. "M'wife Lily," he tells Donna. He looks with resignation back down the stairs.

    "/Bore da/ Lily!" Donna says cheerfully, utterly failing to recognize that the couple's accent isn't remotely Welsh. "I wouldn't /dream/ of imposing on you. Of course I couldn't say no to a lovely cup of tea." Her own accent is stronger than usual, she's definitely playing it up. "But I only just had breakfast at the Bodysgallen Hall, I couldn't eat another bite. Very satisfying, as I'm sure you know well. Charming place, you're so lucky to have it local to you! Please, there is no need to go to any trouble on my account. And this is /such/ a charming attic. Lovely painting. Edgewater, is it?" Ah the advantages of Amazonian hearing. "And look what a delightful mirror my young friend Nadia has found. You have such lovely things, Lily!"

    Apparently Donna is prepared to attempt to out-force of nature Lily, even if that is a task silver-tongued Hermes would find daunting.

    Donna wraps an arm around the shoulders of her favorite young mad scientist, winks at Gar and flashes him a hush gesture, and tilts her head to regard Vorpal. "I assumed you'd be at the Liddel house. The site of it anyway. It's just an empty plot now, just the remains of the foundations still visible. Someone at the hotel told me it was knocked down about fifteen years ago to build an apartment building, but the developers lost interest and it has been standing vacant ever since. It's about fifty feet further down the... ah." She looks thoughtful. "Street numbers? They... built more houses here since then."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Wha- what do you mean?" Terry asks, eyebrows raising, "No, you've got it wrong, the address we got pointed to this-"

He trails off. Wait. Could he have screwed it up?


"Oh, why thank you, your royal highness- yes, Edgewater. You know, I /do/ have a collection of plates from Mykonos that Charles and I got during our Honeymoon- which unfortunately was interrupted on account of this unexplainable phobia that Charles developed to silk chemise-"

"I'll fetch the tea," Charles says, with a lively jolt, and heads to the stairs.

Lily is clearly experiencing a moment of transactional calculations and decides that, if she can't have an actual princess sit down for brunch, she can always mention, when she passes a cup from her Royal Doulton tea service with hand-painted periwinkles, that 'The Princess of Themyscira herself drank out of this cup, dear. Now be careful not to drop it, dear, it is practic'ly irreplaceable now.' It was an acceptable trade-in for not selling the house, even. It did afford her some clout in social circles. Especially if she could convince Charles to take a photo of them at the dinner table sipping tea for proof.

"Well, then, let us adjourn!"

Terry takes Gar by the hand, "Come on, dear," he says, "I think you might need some more tea, you are looking a little green." He delivers it with a straight face, bless him. "But Troia- there's something happening /here/. I don't think the location is wrong. I can feel something magical here. Chaos-y... how can I and Nadia's bingley-bongley thing be wrong?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia's finger pokes the mirror aaaaand nothing happens, save that the mirror wobbles back and forth a little bit. She glances up Donna, the hug bringing her back from her focus on the mirror. "There's definitely something here." She tells Donna, seemingly quite certain of that. Janet's mushrooms are over a 1000km away after all, there's no way she could have eaten any this time.

    Reaching into her pocket she pulls out that small vaguely smart-phone looking device with extra antenna that she cobbled together to track Chaos energy and points it at the mirror, then reaches past the mirror with and takes a couple steps into the weeds of the attic disappearing around some boxes. "I'll just be a moment!" She calls as the others talk of tea. Maybe it's her upbringing but Nadia doesn't seem to think anything of rooting through the stuffy old couple's belongings looking for the signal source. Some brick-a-brack is tossed aside, there is a sound of something heavy being pushed out of the way grinding along the floor in protest. "Donna! I think there's a bust of one of your gods back here!" Nadia's voice calls from the depths of the attic. It's actually a bust of Julius Caesar and a fake one at that. "Ah ha!"

    More sounds follow Nadia's declaration of triumph as she works her way back out of the depths of the attic again holding a small silver candlestick aloft like she has uncovered the Grail itself. "This is it! This is definitely the source, it's emitting weird irregular pulses of Chaos energy!" She seems to have nigh forgotten the existence of their hosts as she walks back towards the others holding her prize. And then her eyes refocus on Lily again remembering where she is. "Oh! Miss Lilac! Where did you get this?!"

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan mutters, upon Nadia finding the Caesar, "This whole thing is starting to feel like a bust if you ask me," again mainly to those closest to him. He gives Donna a weary look at the shushing motion, not to mention her playing along with the way she talks, then he allows Vorpal to usher him along at first. "I've had enough for now. Why don't you guys just.."

His own gesture indicates Nadia as she reappears with the candlestick, though he's watching the man and woman of the place as he adds, "I'm gonna be over here." He places himself close as he can to the way out, just in case.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna studies the bust with a faint air of curiosity, but quickly dismisses it as a recent copy of a recent work. The original is probably 18th century, barely yesterday, and this is just a plaster cast. Donna has spent enough of her life in Diana's restoration workshop to be able to identify a modern copy very quickly.

    "They didn't do anything with the site after knocking it down, Terry. It's the scandal of the town. On that basis I'm going to say that my empty plot with a few foundations is a better bet than this actual house."

    However there's Vorpal's sense of chaos to consider, and Nadia's bingley-bongley thing. And now, a candlestick. "Something left by the previous owners?" she suggests to Lily as Nadia returns with candlestick in hand.

    "If you think about it Vorp, it wouldn't be unlikely that when the Liddels sold the place and moved away they wouldn't take everything with them all the way back to Oxford. They'd have travelled by train, only so much they could reasonably take. They probably gave out various mementos to their neighbors."

    Poor Gar has clearly had enough, and Donna offers him an escape. "Gar? If you cross the road, go just past the house on the corner and you'll see an empty lot. Why don't you go ahead and start looking? We'll be with you in a few minutes." An excuse for the rest of them, too!

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh!" Lily seems to identify the object at once, when Nadia brings it over. "Oh dear, I had all but forgotten- that's a historical item, my dear." She leads them down the stairs, where Charles is getting the tea served. He knows his wife. He has the camera ready- yes, the camera, not a smartphone. "When the old Gogarth Abbey Hotel closed- they were drowning in red ink, the poor dears- they liquidated, you know, all invent'ry. A rather sad affair. Of course, it was all gone and done by the time we were here," she gestures for Donna and Nadia to sit. Terry, on the other hand, grabs Gar's hand again and mouths 'We'll just go ahead' and tiptoes out of the house with the poor green Titan.

"A year or two after we'd settled in, we came across some odds and ends at Miss Lind's the antiquarian- now closed, mind you, terrible scandal there. That lady (loosely used term, in this instance) who ran it was caught having an affair with the Vicar and relocated to Argentina after the Vicar's wife threatened to bludgeon her over the head with something Miss Lind had often claimed was Morgan Llwyd's chamberpot but which always seemed to me some sort of skewered flowerpot that was of no use to anyone--- anyways. She sold us that candlestick claiming it was one of the ones that always used to grace the majestic fireplace in the grand hall of that most charming building. She always promised to obtain its twin for us, but we lost touch when she relocated..."

She smiles graciously at Donna, "One or two lumps?" she says, reaching for the sugar.

The mystery of the strange happenings in the flat now solved, Lily seems to be determined to have photographic evidence of royal tea-consumption in her dining room. Nadia and Donna should find it easy enough to untangle themselves from Lily after that.



"Well. She's right. It's a ruin," Vorpal says, reaching the location. The plot, with the exposed foundations. He glances at Gar apologetically. "... hon, I'm so sorry. I didn't put two and two together. The report from '05 said the building was going to be demolished to build luxury condos, but I guess I didn't find the notice that it never came to be. I just assumed..." he gestures towards Abbey Road, "That /those/ were the luxury condos. Though I shouldn't have. They're not terribly luxurious. But I thought... well, you know. Different standards of luxury?" He rolls his eyes. "Only three months not working at the Planet and my research skills are all rusted. What would Lois say? More importantly, how do I make it up to you?" He glances at the plot, and starts walking towards it. "... but I guess we first have to make sure this /is/ the right place. If Donna got it wrong, then at least I'd feel a /little/ better about two of us making a mistake."

But just as he started getting close to the site, he knew Donna hadn't made a mistake. He started /feeling/ something... he couldn't put a finger on it. But he suspected that if he did, it'd come back covered in glitter.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Gogarth Abbey Hotel!" Donna repeats triumphantly, grinning at Nadia. "That's the Liddel home. I mean when they left, it was converted into a hotel. That was the name of it."

    Donna's happy enough to do the photos, and asks for a teaspoon of honey rather than sugar, which while perhaps being a touch eccentric and foreign is at least the kind of eccentric and foreign that can only help fulfil that royal mystique in the minds of people who believe in such things.

    "It's a shame Miss Lind didn't find the other one in the set Lily," Donna tells their host with a smile. "But I wonder, if it's not too presumptuous -- if it's no heirloom to you and has no particular sentimental value, perhaps we could purchase it from you? Would say... five hundred pounds be sufficient?" It might be worth a fifth if its provenance could be proven and documented, but purely as an antique Miss Lind would no doubt sell you any of a dozen like it for under twenty, were she still in business.

    The Titans can afford it, and Donna has a vague feeling that this poor couple needs to be compensated for the circus visit. It could be argued that Lily has taken in verbosity all the payment she deserves, but Donna would just ignore your arguments.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia smiles brightly and looks from the candlestick to Donna, to Lily, to Charles. "This is the source of the weirdness and strange reflections." She says mainly to Charles. "We'd like to take it where it can be properly contained and like Donna said we're more than happy to buy it from you. Though if you'd really like to keep it, we won't force you." She's seen the way Charles was looking at all of the reflective surfaces in the attic.

    She looks back to Lily knowing full well the woman may try to derail things or vastly inflate the price given the chance. "Your tea is delicious!" She says after taking a sip, regardless of the quality of the tea, giving her a bright smile.

Gar Logan has posed:
"Nah, I'm just not in the mood for..you know, /that/ lady and the way she talks and acts," Gar says, a shake of the head following as they head back in the direction of the ruins in question. "You're the magical one. I can't feel anything like that. Well, I sort of did when I had, uh, you, but.." He throws his hands up in a shrug.

He adds, "And it's not like this is anyone's fault. Nobody said we'd find anything specific here, so maybe we really weren't in exactly the right place." He watches Vorpal as they reach the remains, or at least get close enough. "Anything?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal smirks. "... we really should do some Cheshire training for you. You were a damned fine spare cat, you know," he says, teasingly as they walk further into the ruins. The plot is overgrown, but the foundation can be seen, and as soon as Vorpal is within what would have been the confines of the ld building, he stops. His tail suddenly goes very /poofy/. "-- yes. I feel-"


===============

"I feel that's more than an equitable price, Lily," Charles says, asserting himself, knowing full well Lily might want to go higher. A meaningful glance at the camera and the photo he just took suddenly seems to suggest that it is far too easy to accidentally expose the film and ruin the evidence, should Lily decide to haggle.

"Well... yes, very well, that is more than fair. I'd hate parting with the thing," even though it was stuffed in the attic, "but I could simply not say no to a princess of The Misceera" yes, that's how she thinks it is spelled, "I could wrap it up for you. I /am/ rather famous for my wrapping at the holiday bazaar, you know. I have a way-"

============

"-a way between worlds!" Vorpal says, his voice acquiring a strange tone as he walks the rest of the way to the dead center of the ruins with regular footsteps.

"Right... here-"

He holds up a finger, as if to touch something in mid-air... and suddenly there is a blast, a crackle of chaos that leaves his finger and causes a bright light."

"Here you go, dear-" the candlestick, in its rather gaudy wrapper, is placed on the table like a bargain bin centerfold-

And then the wrapper combusts with a purple flame... that dissipates into purple glitter all over the table. Lily lets out an little shriek.

And the candlestick suddenly flies off the table and blasts out one of the windows- fortunately an open one (which explains why the Titans were able to hear the conversation as they approached) and zooms away as if drawn by a massive magnet. Towards the purple glow.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia watches the explosion of purple flame and glitter while sipping her tea before setting the cup down. "See? Chaos energy. Good thing we got here when we did." She offers the stunned couple matter of factly as she rises to her feet before looking over to Donna. "We should probably follow that." And then back to the shocked couple again. "Thank you for the tea! Have a great evening!" And with that a pair of bio-synthetic wings extend from her back before Nadia flies out the window after the silver candlestick holder and it's trail of purple glitter.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "It looks like we got here just in time," Donna says as the four still in the house watch the candlestick make its escape. It occurs to Donna that the candlestick must be smarter than she and Nadia are.

    "Really, there's nothing to be worried about," she says, giving Lily a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "That just shows we have the right item. You need worry about hauntings no longer.

    Nodding in eager agreement with Nadia's assessment, Donna quickly counts out the five hundred pounds and smiles wide at the couple. "As she says, we really must chase after that thing, you never know what kind of trouble it might be getting into. Of course we'd /love/ to stay longer, but I'm sure you can understand. It was an absolute delight to meet you both!"

    She's already at the door by the time she's finished speaking, and takes just a moment when Lily's attention is distracted by the scattering of glitter that has infested... /infested/ her kitchen to flash Charles an amused wink. Then she's gone, chasing after Nadia and the candlestick in the direction of the former Gogarth Abbey hotel.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan considers, as far as the Cheshire thing goes, "Maybe that was a one-time thing, with all the stuff that was happening." Then he adds a quick, "Uh, dude," as he points at the tail.

This is a precursor to the next events, particularly the matter of the chaos magic taking form and the candlestick itself zipping out that way. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess we found the spot," he deadpans, a part of him curious with the other part wary. Such is often the case when it comes to Vorpal, strange, and often stranger things.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal opens his mouth to speak, but before he can respond to Gar, the flying candlestick smashes into the glowing manifestation in the air, and a loud /crack/ makes any attempt to talk simply useless.

Donna and Nadia arrive just in time to see something remarkable. The candlestick hovers in mid-air, and from somewhere else in the town, its twin joins it. Sundry objects fly through the air and reach the same location- chimney pokers rest on a non-existent holder, something that looks like an urn alights next to the candles, and in one scintillating moment the purple chaos energy creates a multicolored set of bricks, a mantelpiece, a hearth and, most importantly, a glowing mirror that sparkles with pure chaos. Across the mirror's surface, something stirs, a silhouette. But the image has /depth/, it looks like the opening of an actual portal.

Vorpal turns to face Nadia and Donna as they arrive, and he waves his hands towards the magical manifestation. "So. Er... Tadaa?" he says, hesitantly.

And just as soon as it started, the demonstration ends. The magic constructs dissipate, the portal vanishes, and the objects that were not magical constructs fall to the plot, landing with dull /thuds/ on the grass.

There is nothing but stillness after that, but the Cheshire cat leans on Gar, putting an arm around him, and says to his other teammates: "Gar's right. Guess we found the place. I propose we... um... take custody of the objects and then go have some coffee and decide what we should do /next/. It's been a bit of a day."

It's still morning, but spending any time with Lily could make it seem like an entire day had just gone by. Everybody in the neighborhood knows the feeling.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna stares at the rapidly gathering assembly of artifacts, and continues staring at them as the magic fades and they fall to the ground. When the little performance is done, she gives a shrug of her shoulders.

    "It looks to me like the looking glass that Alice went through was attempting to reassemble itself," Donna says. "That had the whole... you know, the mantel thing. In the illustrations. It would probably be a good idea if we intervene rather than allowing a portal to open from here to looking glass land unsupervised."

    She tilts her head in a moment's thought. "Coffee sounds good," she concludes. "Apart from that... perhaps instead of buying a bed and breakfast place, we should see if Miss Lind's antiques shop is available. We've already got the stock for it. Come to think of it, quite likely we've got the shop's original stock. We may need to hand out some more cash."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan takes a step back, then two, looking quickly from the display to each one present to witness it. Seems like just as soon as it's all begun, so too does it end.

He was already a bit on edge from the loud crack, like thunder or something like it, and for a moment his body language is that of some animal in a sense of panic or fear.

Fortunately, it isn't a prolonged thing. "Uh, inside somewhere, at least. There's obviously something here, and I don't think we want a bunch of extra attention right now." Pick things up, hide them, whatever is called for, he's pitching in. This will require studying beyond things he knows.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia hovers above the scene watching the fascinating assemblage of every day objects and Chaos energy form a scene not unlike the mantle and inside of the Looking Glass Cottage where she found the Glass' reflection. "This is definitely the place. It seems like it wants to find a way but its link is missing. Alice's reflection told me that the Looking Glass in Wonderland currently leads to No Where." She lands near Donna, Gar, and Terry.

    She nods in agreement with Donna's assessment. "What I think we need is the original Looking Glass and if if Miss Lind's handled most of the sales, then that's probably where we should start looking. But first, coffee sounds excellent or maybe a spot of the local tea." She affects a British accent as she says the last bit with a grin.