Pryde and Wisdom's House - School House Road

        The front door opens into a large pale-green living room, in which
there is quite possibly more furniture than there was in Pryde and
Wisdom's entire last apartment. On the left-hand wall from the door, a
couch covered with a plain white sheet is grouped with an armchair and a
low table and a bookcase, all by a stone fireplace. Off to the right, more
bookcases flank a computer table that looks slightly forlorn with just
Kitty's laptop and a printer set up on it. The bookcases are mostly empty,
though a scattering of paperbacks and an entire shelf of battered
textbooks occupy one, and a few videotapes and a brass sextant keep
another from looking entirely abandoned. The pirate flag from their last
place is missing from the walls. Neither has the usual state of mild chaos
quite reasserted itself - the stack of newspapers on the low table is
orderly, and the ashtray at the far end of it is kept, if not empty, not
overflowing either.
        Directly opposite the door, a staircase spirals up to the second
floor; by it are a small hallway and the doorway into the brightly-lit
kitchen.

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                               Today's Weather:

The sort of bracing weather that makes the song "Winter Wonderland" a true
sentiment. Though the air is crisp, there is no wind, the snow is white
and fresh and the sky is blue. The sun dazzles off the white blanket in
the day and the artificial lights sparkle off it like a zillion diamonds
during the night.

******************************************************************************

It may be dark, and it may be cold, but it's not snowing. Liam needs to
talk to Kitty, and it's /not/ snowing. He takes a moment to marvel at the
fact even as he comes spiraling down through the crisp clear night, a
black shadow landing on the walk. Which has been cleared. This is all too
easy. Wings folding back within the slits of his coat, the angel glances
around before limping his way to the door. There's none of the distance he
had after the last angel encounter; he's focused again, dark eyes alert, a
little tired, but only the way he's always a little tired. Knock, knock.

Tea has /just/ been fetched out from the kitchen, inside, and Kitty's
settled down on the arm of the couch, prompting a faint sleepy sound from
/under/ the couch (it's alive!). "So," she starts. "You were saying -" And
then there's the knock, and Kitty gives a helpless laugh. "Just a second."
She pushes herself up again and goes to get the door, leaving her own cup
on the table.

Seishi has calmed down considerably, now that she's been planted on the
couch and she's gotten her hands wrapped around a cup of tea. She was
opening her mouth to explain her agitattion, but she stops short just
before the knock, eyes flicking involuntarily toward the door. When Kitty
goes to answer it, Seishi wonders from her seat, "Is that Liam?"

It is indeed Liam, all his brilliant peace and love tangible for those who
have the senses to perceive it. "Mistress Wisdom," he greets, ducking his
head, running a gloved hand along the back of his neck. "Give you good
evenin'. Sorry if I'm interruptin'." Standard greeting, standard apology.
He's predictable sometimes.

"Are you sure it's you?" Kitty asks amusedly. Mistress Wisdom! Oh, no!
"You're not covered in snow. Come on in anyway. Seishi's here - yes,
Seishi, it is." And once Liam's in and the door's closed, it's back to the
kitchen. "Tea or Guinness?" is asked over her shoulder. Apparently she's
intent on him staying a bit.

Seishi offers a crooked grin from the couch. "Hi," she says; "doing okay?
It's, um, been a bit.

"I know, I'm bloody -- ach, Seishi's here? Look, I /am/ interruptin', I
could come back another time." Liam is helpless in his diffidence, and
Kitty's moving too fast for him. Did he step inside? He must've, the
door's closed, and.... "Give you good evenin'," is offered to Seishi, with
a polite half-bow.

Apparently lack of answer is interpreted as 'bring both and let him pick.'
Which is probably going to be a waste of tea, but. Glass and cup are both
set down on the end of the table nearest Liam, and Kitty returns to her
own seat. "How /are/ you doing?" she asks toward the angel. "You're
looking a lot better -" Which does something to assuage a /bit/ of guilt.
She didn't know that trick was actually going to /work/, after all.

"You're not interrupting anything," Seishi assures - then admits, "well,
if you'd gotten here about ten minutes sooner, you'd have caught me being
slightly hysterical, but your timing is good." And then she very
deliberately muffles herself by turning her attention to drinking her tea,
giving Liam a chance to maybe answer the question this time.

Apparently he's meant to be staying. Liam, defenceless against Kitty,
gives in and removes his boots, hanging his coat in the closet. The black
wings are folded close to his shoulders, though they shift to the side as
he sits. Guinness /and/ tea... there's a dilemna. Shame to waste either of
them. He starts with the tea, because it's hot. "Fine," he assures Kitty.
"I'm fine. It.... hysterical?" That gets a concerned blink in Seishi's
direction, and now /he's/ being quiet.

Kitty reasons back to Liam, "Thus the tea." There's another faint mewing
sound from under the couch, but it doesn't seem to surprise or distress
Kitty in the least; she glances toward Seishi, hopeful.

Seishi glances from one to the other of them. "I was out," she explains,
"over on Southland, and I ran into a bunch of those black-winged guys that
have been harrassing you."

And Liam was just beginning to develop a hint of relaxation, too. Leaning
back, casting a quizzical look at the couch. Just before Seishi's words
register and he nearly drops his tea, sitting bolt upright again as he
looks to the ninja. "Are y'alright?"

Kitty's sitting up straighter, too, but her question's a different one.
"The broken ones?" Alert rather than alarmed. Well, Sei's got everyone's
attention now.

Seishi nods vigorously. "I'm fine," she hastens to say. "And... yeah.
Them." A quick glance down into her tea, and then she looks back to Liam
again. "You said that you guys had a way to, um, fix them, right? Well,
I've found another." She hesitates, looking from one to the other. "The
ring."

Fix them. Something whirls behind Liam's eyes that is both darkness and
light, little pinpoints of sapphire to brighten through the black. He says
nothing, only looks at Seishi, then Kitty. Then Seishi again.

And Kitty's eyes mirror Liam's as they move, though without the glow of
his power and peace. She takes a breath as she looks back to Seishi,
asking tentatively, "What happened?"

Seishi spreads her hands, a little helplessly. "Honestly, I'm not entirely
sure. There were a whole bunch of them ganging up on me. They implied that
they'd killed you and Jack," this to Kitty, "which was why I was so glad
to see you here. I fought some of them off, but..." She trails off, dark
eyes going unfocused, and has to take a moment to recover herself. "They
just wanted to be whole. To 'wake up from this dream,'" she remembers,
speaking carefully. "I didn't know what else to do. The one that was left
said they could with the ring, so I tried to make it pure." Her shoulders
lift in a quick shrug. "And it worked."

Liam gazes at Seishi for a long moment, fingers twitching when she
hesitates -- the urge to reach out, to soothe. He closes his eyes as his
own memories rise. Swallowing, he pushes them back down, concentrates on
the moment; he says, quietly, "I'm glad. Did they say anythin'?"

Kitty's staying quiet, watching both of them; she slid down off the arm of
the couch sometime while Seishi was talking, to settle cross-legged,
shoeless feet resting neatly on thighs, with her teacup cradled between
her hands in her lap. Just listening, just for now.

"Nothing I really remember," Seishi admits. "There's something else, too -
when they first showed up, I didn't sense anything from them. They didn't
have any energy, not even negative - it was like they weren't there. But
when that one changed, it was like an explosion. So *much* energy, so
suddenly." She pauses, dark eyes going to Liam. "It felt a lot like you."

"... I know," replies the little angel, softly. He watches Seishi, and
after a moment he looks away -- toward the wall, toward anything. He draws
a breath before he looks back again, and continues more concretely, "Are
you sure you're alright? I could take a look. Those rings're... an' if you
were fightin'." He has a sudden desire to switch the tea for the Guinness,
and he sets his cup to the side.

"... risky," Kitty supplies, with a faint little twitch at one corner of
her mouth. "'Dangerous,' was the term we got, I think."

Seishi shakes her head absently. "They didn't touch me," she says. "I
don't feel any different... but if there's something you can see that I
can't, I don't mind if you look." She sips her tea, then turns a dry look
on Kitty. "You didn't tell me that Kess had seen Gollum. Am I going to
have to give you the lecture on the definition of 'need-to-know basis'
that I gave Holmes-sama?"

[League] Four of Swords, Celliers says, "Yep. It's neither sequel nor
prequel to the movie, so far as I can tell. Just more stuff set in the
same universe. The animation, while not quite in the same league as the
film, is gorgeous, and the music is very cool. I rented the first volume
on DVD."

Liam takes a long swig of beer, throat working, before he sets the glass
to the side and rises, black feathers brushing by Kitty as he moves toward
Seishi. A thin white hand is held out, palm up; peace accompanies his
touch, as always. A gentle flow of love. Calming, if she wishes; if she's
like Kitty, if she doesn't want it, he'll hold it back as best he can
while he looks over her pattern.

"I haven't /seen/ you since /I/ found that out," Kitty protests, with a
quick, rueful grin. "Was going to get to that after you were done - that
and what happened night before last... /and/ the message I have for you.
These things just stack up."

Seishi laughs quietly. "It's all right," she tells Kitty. "Just spooked me
a little." She quiets as Liam approaches, reaching out for his hand - not
refusing any of the sensations that his touch produces, but there's a
certain effort not to take any more than she needs, somehow.

It always sets Liam ever so slightly aglow, no matter the subtleties of
what he's doing; the light is nearly indiscernable, save for the gleam in
his gaze. He watches Seishi intently, eyes roving over and through her; he
pauses a moment, tilting his head, then gently withdraws his hand. "You're
right, of course, I'm worryin' for nothin'." Those fingers will brush
Kitty's hair on the way back to his seat.

There's a soft but very distinct knocking at the front door. Someone still
doesn't like doorbells.

Kitty leans her head against the contact, looking more than a trifle
relieved at Liam's pronouncement - then groans at the knocking, half a
laugh, and puts her cup down /again/ to get up. "I suppose it's too late
to pretend there's nobody here. Seishi," she adds hopefully, "any idea who
it is?"

Seishi settles back against the cushions of the couch with a soft exhaled
breath, not really a sigh. "Thank you, anyhow," she tells Liam quietly,
just before the knock at the door. When Kitty asks, she looks that way,
eyes going briefly unfocused. "It's Jack," she says confidently.

The knock gets a look of instinctive alarm from Liam -- his wings are
exposed. They settle all the more tightly to his back, as though he might
somehow hide black feathers against a beige sweater and jeans. "Kitty," he
begins, because her path is going past the closet, but then he glances at
Seishi. Celliers. That doesn't really relax him, any.

The voice beyond the door is pitched to carry, and only very slightly
impatient. "Mrs. Wisdom, if you and Liam and Seishi are occupied, I can
leave, if you like."

Kitty hasn't gotten the door yet; she paused /by/ the closet, waiting for
Seishi's answer. "He probably ought to be in on this," she says. And then
eyes the door, and calls back amusedly, "That's it. We're getting a better
security system. Hang on a sec."

Seishi blinks once as Celliers pulls her own trick on her, grinning wryly
after that surprised delay. "There are far too many of us getting far too
good at that," she drawls.

Three people aren't generally too much for Liam, but one of them is
Celliers, now, and the angel's been rubbed just a little raw by recent
events, despite his current calm demeanor. He draws a breath, though, and
resumes his seat, wings shifting around him. Guinness is lifted, and
sipped.

Lack of argument leads to Kitty drawing the door open. "Hi, Jack. We're
catching up on recent events and strategy. Tea?" Isn't this sort of thing
supposed to happen in Seishi's apartment? Hm.

Celliers is standing on the stoop, with his usual iron-spined posture,
positively cadaverous in black. "I'm from the government, I'm here to
help," he deadpans, before cracking the faintest of grins, there and gone
again. "And tea would be lovely." His expression turns a bit sour, as he
steps in, rubbing at the bridge of his nose.

Celliers adds wryly, to Seishi, "And I startled one of my co-workers today
into tears, by asking her when the baby was due. She hadn't realized she
was expecting."

"Hello, Jack," Seishi greets him from her comfortable place on the couch.
After considering him a moment, she observes with a certain absence of
tact, "You look fit to inspire people into asking when the funeral is. Are
you adopting this look on purpose now?"

"Mr. Celliers," greets Liam, calmly, Guinness in hand. Soothing Guinness.
How he loves it. "Give you good evenin'." He's in a chair, across from the
couch, shoulders framed by black feathers.

Kitty heads /back/ for the kitchen. "Short version of what you've missed
so far is, Seishi got attacked by a bunch of broken ones, turned - one?
more? I missed that, Sei - back to normal with one of the rings, and we
have Gollum roaming around the city."

"Please, Seishi, stop, you'll make me vain," he replies, giving her a
sharp, amused look. "And besides. All my pink clothes are in the wash, and
I haven't had time to do laundry yet. Bear with me? And good evening to
you, as well, Liam." He's already shrugging out of the overcoat. At least
he's wearing charcoal-colored trousers with the black shirt. At Kitty's
statement, some of the snarkiness fades into real curiosity. "Well, the
first part is encouraging. But we have someone or something after Seishi's
ring, now?"

"After Kess's, if anyone's," Seishi corrects, musingly. "Although she
didn't leave me with that impression when we discussed it earlier. I
filled her in on the details of Gollum's role in the Lord of the Rings
story," Sei tells Kitty. "I don't know if that was a good idea or not, but
it struck me as something she should probably know if he's hanging around
her talking about his 'precious'. And I think there's a kitten getting
itself stuck in your couch," she concludes, as though it were somehow
related to the topic.

"Ah... sorry... what /is/ Gollum's role in the.... 'Lord of the Rings'
story?" The names mean nothing to Liam. He glances at the couch again, and
then at Kitty.

Kitty fetches tea back out. Jack's gotten the RTFM mug, just to go with
his outfit. "There's an evil ring of power in the story; Gollum spends
most of the story trying to get possession of it back from the person who
currently has it, and is trying to destroy it. His entire mind and body
were warped by holding and using the ring for too long."

"Literally Gollum?" Jack asks, eyes rounding slightly. "That is
perturbing. Very much so. I can think of a good many things from that
universe I'd very much like to not have to deal with. Like, oh, balrogs.
Or Uruk-Hai." He accepts the mug almost daintily, as if it were Sevres
porcelain.

Seishi nods agreement with Kitty's explanation, further clarifying, "Near
the end of the story, the ring had corrupted its current bearer to the
point where he refused to follow through with destroying it. And at that
point, Gollum attacked him and bit off his finger to get at the ring." She
grimaces. "I saw that in an animated movie when I was a child and it
terrified me. What Gollum is doing here, I don't know. I don't think the
rings are the same - the One Ring of the books was described pretty
explicity, and it doesn't parallel with the ones that Kess and I have. But
the implications of Gollum being around, and calling Kess's ring his
precious, are disturbing."

Liam leans forward, rubbing at the bridge of his nose with his free hand.
He takes in the story with a hint of alarm that morphs smoothly into weary
resignation. "That's.... not entirely reassurin', no," he says, with an
air of vast understatement. "Might be I should look in on Kess, as well."

"We were warned," Kitty adds to Seishi, "that the rings - well. Apparently
they can end things, under certain conditions - in the dream, was the way
it was put. But using them is supposed to be dangerous and possibly
painful." She glances to Jack, and adds, ruefully, "How about the king in
the tower?" There were probably less blunt ways to put that.

"Oh, Jesus," Jack says, simply, looking to Kitty with obvious alarm. "If
it's another matter of symbols from one tale matching another - well,
there are far too many malign towers in that story. And I don't want to
find out that what I've been dreaming of will turn out to be Barad-dur."

Seishi mmms quietly, looking down into her half-empty teacup. "What you've
described doesn't sound anything like the various towers of the books, if
that helps," she notes to Jack. "Really, I don't know. The ring didn't
seem to hurt me any earlier. But I don't really know how I did what I did.
I was just trying to make it do something with pure force of will."

Liam looks down into his Guinness. "Were there any angels in this...
story?"

Kitty admits, "Sort of," to Liam. "Analogous figures, really. It's been a
long time since I read the book that gave the mythical background. I think
it /is/ just a matter of symbols matching, though, rather than too many
direct derivations." She settles back down into her usual version of lotus
position. How to be comfortable while being a pretzel. "It's dream-logic.
Associations. The king in the tower, wanting to be free. Broken things.
Heroes."

Celliers cocks his head at Kitty. "Which tower, precisely? King -
Aragorn?" He sips his tea, before settling himself down on the nearest
free chair. "There's something akin to that in the notebook I have from
Wisdom's sister. But it's all very vague and allegorical."

"Not really angels," Seishi reflects. "There are the elves - immortal,
beautiful, powerful, and wise. You could draw parallels. And some wizards,
but the similarity there is even more oblique. If I were going to draw any
comparisons involving those 'broken ones,' it'd be to a group of nine
human kings who were given rings of power that corrupted them into black
wraiths. Neither end of that is very angelic."

Seishi's suggestion of parallels brings the slightest smile to Liam's
lips, but not a hint of humour. He leans back in his chair again. "I've
yet to see any tower, though I know others have. Only black angels."

Kitty reaches over to pick up her tea while people are talking, and takes
a swallow before it gets any colder ... and comes close to choking on it
at Seishi's mentioning of the wraiths. The cup's put back down hastily.
Safer that way. "Maybe calling them Ringwraiths /would/ be less
confusing," she says wryly, glancing at Liam. "No, I think you were right
the first time around, Jack. Though the whole thing gets weird there. It
really /is/ dream-logic, though, so that shouldn't be surprising." She
lets out a quick breath. "I'm reminded - Jack, I don't know if I told you,
but we found someone who knows about the Tower."

That has his whole-hearted attention, to the momentery exclusion of the
other two present. For an instant, there's that desperate, longing look in
his face, before he hides himself momentarily behind his mug. "Oh,
really?" he asks, as casually as he can. "May I ask whom?"

Seishi straightens up at that, brows lifting in interest. She doesn't say
anything - Jack has already asked the question - but she waits for the
answer.

Liam twitches, visibly -- not at Kitty's words, but because he can feel
Jack's need, pulling. Need he can't meet, a man he can't help; he curls
his fingers around his glass, then tilts it back, finishing the Guinness.
Listening.

Kitty says, "Deimos." She glances at Seishi. "He asked me to say hello to
you for him, by the way. He ... seems to be having memory problems; he'll
get in touch with Jack or get me to relay when he straightens much out. He
said we'd need Gunslingers. By the definition he gave - honor, fighting
against injustice, some other details - the three of you are about as
close as I know to what he might be talking about."