Head Will Roll Follow-Up Notes

Although before the events of "Head Will Roll", not covered as it was off camera was a visit to the Laughton and Sihn offices by Aela with the new baby in tow.  She goes to meet with Eliot and no sitter was available (other than possibly Sammy) so she brings the child along to meet the gang.  They notice the baby is a bit "watery".

After the gang gets back from the harrowing events in Oklahoma, Sammy is pleased to find that the "all you can eat" place, Phoenix Mel's,  he found with Steely Danelle continues to stay open despite his many visits.  He and his now-healthy girlfriend Jane eat there frequently, so he decides to help.  He approaches the owner, offering, "Sir, I so appreciate you running this fine establishment, could I help you promote your business in some way?" --leaving the details of that help to the owner....  "advertising?  entertainment?  cleaning the dishes?"  (Sammy glows at the thought of cleaning dishes gleefully).  

The owner, Mel, by now over his nervousness (particularly as Steely has found other places to eat), furrows his brow, and says, "Uhhhh, well...sure, would you do a TV ad? Uhh, seein' as you eat so much, maybe, well, you know, what with all that money you super-guys have, you could pay for it?"

Sammy eagerly responds, "Let's see what I can come up with."  Sammy, always a believer in hype, boots up his computer and finds his answer.... http://www.roryfatt.com/ Just what Sammy had in mind... So Sammy and Jane are going to take the seminar.

He thinks, "Slogan.. we need a slogan...'Hero's need great food! Feed Me Phoenix Mel's'...That's it!"  Sammy is excited and attempts to rent some local billboards with his gleaming, cheery face on them saying those words. Then, Sammy will have some words with Bob Rogers as his advertising tactician. Feeling very enlightened, Sammy will then call up the advertising departments of the local stations playing those soap operas he, Jane, Spectrum, and Jonas the Wonder Dog were all watching recently, and acquire airtime. Getting some help with the lyrics from either of our resident super geniuses, Sammy is going put together a little pitch to the beat of one of his favorite Elvis songs. Sammy is going to try to make the commercial focus on a great place to eat with family and friends --- getting the restaurant owner to pose with him, along with as many of the Justice Squad as possible in a nice family style dinner.

Of course by the time Rogers and others are involved Sammy has half-arranged things.  Rogers suggests that someone look into Mel and also advises that if the Justice Squad is involved there ought to be a positive hook, either something about Mel that elicits sympathy or some broader appeal such as proceeds donated to charity.  Sihn seems to be missing a lot lately and is unusually distracted, and essentially dodges the question of investigation but agrees it should be done.  Laughton assigns Manny to investigate, even going so far as to forego charging Sammy any billable hours.  He thinks this is just the opportunity for Jonas the Wonder Dog; he can do some nifty tricks on camera or wolf down a meal in a race with Sammy to see who's the fastest (like that's really an issue any of the Justice Squad have doubts about).

As Hamlet Laughton discusses with Sammy, he also points at a nice Corinthian style column sitting in the lobby of the Agency (holding a potted plant on top), "There you are Sammy, I think Rodin is ready for stardom." He doesn't bother to look up from the computer screen he is reading at a very high rate of speed.  A few seconds later he adds, "Sans plant of course."  A large stack of books is scattered on the desk near by, most seem to be on desert survival techniques, and mysticism (see issue 29).

Manny finds that Mel has a labor relations skeleton in his closet as he was sued for sexual harrassment by a waitress named Flo at his old diner in Phoenix. Flo's case was that Mel got drunk at an after-closing party and made a pass at her, then said, "Don't you wanna keep your job and work around all this, baby?" Mel admits this is true, though claims his "keep your job" crack was a joke, but from there the story diverges, with Mel claiming she submitted and Flo claiming she did not. She said in court (and in interview with Manny) that she would have let it go but afterwards he treated her more poorly than the others as retribution, and then she decided to make a point. Mel claims that in fact it was the reverse, that she was disappointed with his drunken "performance" and that she treated him with ridicule. He admits he may have given her a few not-so-choice assignments afterwards but that it was for her own harrassment of him. He admits further it was poor judgement but necessary to "keep order" in the establishment - that or bring her up on charges for harrassing him, which he did not want to do. Further complicating matters, both parties admitted consensual relations "on rare occasion" prior to that incident.

After losing the case, Mel left Phoenix due to hard feelings.

However, Flo apparently has her own skeletons with a history of alcohol abuse and a rather "active" known sexual history. More damningly, she recently had an insurance claim dismissed as it turned out she was faking whiplash. She was dropped from the insurance company but no criminal charges were filed against her.

Mel naturally claims she's a liar and made up the charges against him but won in court.

Manny interviewed co-workers Alice and Vera "off the record". Neither were sure what happened, but both seemed to feel that both Mel and Flo were equally guilty of some forms of harassment and poor judgment.

Rogers indicates that nothing there is material enough to warrant Sammy breaking his contract, although in theory the contract could be broken if the courts buy that Sammy is a minor, which is likely. But if they rule he is a minor, he may be up for adoption, and several interested governmental parties would almost certainly successfully claim that the Justice Squad is not the right environment. Rogers believes that it is unlikely this will be any real scandal, but it will have some "negative" spin. However, he thinks bringing Jonas the Wonder Dog in along with Sammy's acting skills will establish enough "cuddle" factor to drown out negative stories. He clearly states there are no guarantees though.

Spectrum completes the investigation by visiting Mel.  She does a surface scan of his mind, revealing he believes he acted generally rightly but also shows images of clear abuse of his power in the old diner. Mel seems generally afraid and respectful, but a brief image goes by, "Maybe I can get that freakazoid eating guy to actually generate business," and oddly, "The mayor isn't helping nearly enough to make this worthwhile."  Before leaving, she lets him know that if he causes any problems for Sammy she'll come down hard on him.

Meanwhile ABC continues its PR campaign to win Sammy's trust, both publicly and privately.  Someone from their office, an apparent lower-level functionary named Jackson Kintock approaches Sammy in the street outside Laughton Agency one day when Sammy happens to look like his "regular" self.  Jackson is rather flustered, and says he was sent to say hello  "unofficially". "Uh, we'd really like you just to come over and say hi. We have a job offer for you, I know it sounds crazy, but we'd really like to see you about it. We really want to bury the hatchet, we know you're sentient, a hero, and ABC would be stupid not to see the error of our ways."

Sammy listens, until Jackson mentions ABC, then Sammy runs back into the Laughton Agency and closes the door.  He hides in his room for the next day, then goes to exercise in the Danger Room... 

Lefty presses to see his "mom", Aela.  As he hangs out with Sammy a lot, he commensurates with him.  He complains that Eliot doesn't spend pay enough attention now that the baby has arrived, and feels his father has no interest in revealing him to Aela.  Sammy replies, "Oh Lefty! I so understand...You are family! Maybe you should introduce yourself to Aela in person when Sihn is in his lab. Aela would want to know what a great friend she has in you. I'll come with you and introduce you to her. And who knows, maybe Aela would like us to babysit so she and Sihn an have a romantic night together."  Jane is interested as well, and offers to help out.

For Eliot Sihn, life is busy at home, and things are quiet for a change. The baby is remarkable, of course, and seems to have the troubling ability to become a sort of semi-solid liquid, but it can't control that well (being a month or so old after all).  Sihn lets Aela deal with the baby.  He reflects on how it is an odd sensation, feeling so protective of another being, though he knows the baby is just another organism. Still, it is his offspring, his progeny, his legacy (should he ever die). He renews his commitment to keep his family safe from his crime-fighting. He also makes another vow to spend more time with his family, and hopes he can stick to it this time.  

Lefty however, as implied above, has been problematic. He demands to speak with Aela, insisting Troll "break the ice". He also has been spending time with Sammy, once not returning for hours when he knew Sihn needed/expected him, forcing an embarrassing need to slap on a only semi-useful hand and fake an injury at a special "date dinner" with Aela.  He's grounded for a week.  As Lefty presses the "mom" issue, Sihn tells Lefty that this is not the time to talk to Aela. Aela needs a few weeks concentrating on the baby before facing a new challenge. He promises lefty that he will indeed "break the ice" in three weeks if Lefty manages to behave. He also warns Lefty that a lot of things depend on him, and that he must act more responsibly.   Sihn also talks to Sammy, and lets him know that he is not to take Lefty out of the house without Sihn's explicit agreement.

In fact, Lefty spends the time being as good as he possibly can, even offering to help Eliot and cleaning up after himself.

The Bogeyman has been especially mischievous. He doesn't show up in dreams as much but in places Sihn has grown accustomed to visiting, the Bogeyman has rampaged whenever Sihn is not about and started to poison Sihn's reputation. In one town Sihn is no longer welcome after the disappearance of a number of first-born children. Also, for brief seconds but every night Sihn sees a lonely figure on a faraway cliff appear and disappear, a figure in some sort of large trenchcoat blowing in an ill wind, or perhaps a cape, with some sort of fedora on. He sees the figure for a moment, and then it disappears. It is clearly looking towards Sihn although it's so far away no facial details can be made out, just that its face is pointed towards Sihn. When Sihn tries to reach the cliff it always becomes something else by the time he arrives.  

Sihn consults with his familiar, Pyewacket, on figuring out how to deal with Bogeyman. Specifically, Sihn explores any possible weaknesses Bogeyman might have. He'll asks Pyewacket for input on the mysterious stranger in his dreams.

The discussion takes place in the alley behind SihnTek and Laughton Agency as the cat prefers to enjoy the outside whenever possible. When Pyewacket finishes cleaning, thoughtfully, he responds on Bogeyman. He doesn't speak in words as such, but if he did, he would say, "The pumpkin scarecrow is well-known throughout our lands, a scourge of the waking people of what you call the Dreamlands. As in this world, he causes destruction for reasons not apparent to the common-folk. But he troubles not the truly powerful, preferring to act as a bully and venturing only into those regions incapable of rigorous defense." A small something-or-other is seen near the trash and Pyewacket interrupts himself, "Excuse me," he states with no real air of desiring excuse.

A few moments pass as the cat darts about, and then a few more as a hapless mouse is toyed with. Before too long it is dispensed with and Pyewacket places (most of) it next to Sihn's non-Lefty hand as Sihn sits waiting patiently.

Pyewacket continues, "The creature called Bogeyman here seems to be after conquest of the highest order, of a world or perhaps a dimension. His ultimate purpose is inscrutable, but what is known is that whatever means he takes they are mostly of strange circuitry, grandiose in the most ridiculous ways but not at all laughable given his murderous ways.

"I think he's one of yours [meaning of some human origin], given that my associates only have record of him back to post-human times. He came to the Dreamlands a stranger and like your Johnny Appleseed first brought pumpkins to those lands so long ago that only the northern towers record the event.

"However human he may be, as you can already tell he is some sort of pumpkin elemental. The story of his flaming is that he has been on fire since an attempt to take over the sun, thus that power is merely incidental."

"The 'mysterious' man in the dream is no one, just a stranger."

Sihn calls around and sees if he can locate an expert on old legends. He wants to see what kinds of things he can possibly dig up about the origin of the Bogeyman in the "real" world.  At the same time, he reaches out in the dream world and starts making inquiries about the Bogeyman's haunts and habits. He makes some trips to the edge of the pumpkin patch and tries  some spells to see if there is a way of nullifying the power it grants to Bogeyman.  

There's an expert on vegetarian legends in Louisiana, down in some swamps deep deep in the back country. Sihn is perhaps a bit surprised to find the man speaks in an old sort of English, not at all like the area residents. He's an old, bony man with few teeth and a fixed unnatural smile. He has no nose. Misshaven and with long long hair in the back, in natural dreadlocks,  but no hair in front. His name is Jason Thelucides but doesn't look Greek, more of a pale, pasty English complexion. The trip to his one-room shack deep deep in the swamps is a bit  unnerving as animals seem to appear and disappear and at times the swamp yields to sinkholes miles deep, and were it not for Sihn's mutant powers he would surely have drowned. Leeches eagerly suck his free-flowing blood, but they die quickly from his unnatural juices. Jason greets Sihn, "I hear'd ye comin' young man a'mine, I heard' ye comin', clean from lands so fur they ain't known to such as me. Come in and pray thee gain some respice from the auld swamp."

Sihn responds, "I have heard that you are an expert on certain legends concerning living plants. Your reputation travels far. And, I find myself in need of some answers that I hope you can provide."

"I've crossed paths with a thing known as "Bogeyman." It takes the form of a flaming pumpkin. My team has done its best to defeat the thing, but all we've managed to do is to drive it into our dreams. I want to get rid of it once and for all. I want to know its history and how it came to be. I want to know what it wants, and, most importantly, I want to know what it is weak to."

"Aye, well if it's a pumpkin ye ought to eat it, right?"  the old man cackles. 

"Verily I've heerd of it, it's a beast of the dreams aright, a beast of the dreams, but one who walks in waking hours as well when he is set free by any soul on Earth who may call on it during dream.

"Bogeyman was begat by Adam and Eve they say, a son not of they together but of their wild and unnatural unions with nature.  And for me sayin' it I should be routed out of my pleasant home!  Ach, besides, the spawn of man or woman - I ain't knowin' which - with the wild Garden o'Eden is a veangeful beast as he never had a followin', never ever.  Not a man would worship him.  The foolish early ones would follow strange gods from nothing of the heavens but not this one born out of the very most holy Garden!  I suppose it drove he mad."

"Weaknesses?  I ain't knowin' that.  Why do thou not just swallow him up?"

Sihn questions, ""Swallow him up?  Why would you say that?"

The strange mage merely offers up, "Ain he a pumpkin, right? What doest one do wi' a  pumpkin? Eat it!"   He really seems to offer no more help but does offer a strange gooey slimey tea he calls "swamp tea". It appears to perhaps be rather filled with bacteria but nothing the Troll can't handle.

Sihn says, ""Thank you sir for your time.  Your comments have been most useful."  He knows he owes the old man a serious favor for his time and knowledge, as is customary in these situations. But as is also customary, a token offering at the time of the exchange is expected. Jason asks if Sihn would do him a quick favor on his way out and grab a crocodile out of the swamp for his week's meals, which of course is no problem for Sihn.  It's clear this is just a simple "if you don't mind" favor and that Sihn may see the man again someday when he's  needed. Of course it'll just be informational or a minor favor considering that sharing the information was low-risk for the old Englander.  

From the dream venturing, Sihn finds it's known that Bogeyman is gone for very long spells - apparently when he's alive. Otherwise his habits are unpredictable in terms of timing or places save what the cat mentioned already. He does seem to have a special liking for terrorizing the Zoogs and the town of Dylath-Leen. He has no record of bothering the denizens of Leng or the powerful beings living just beyond the plateau - this despite living the great pumpkin patch being contained wholly in the confines of the plateau of Leng.  Sihn continues to wander the Dreamlands, looking for enemies of Bogeyman, paying special attention to any stories of those who have bested the thing in the past.  He keeps Pyewacket nearby and consults him on any information that comes up. 

From his travels, he finds there are many individual heroes who have fought off or imprisoned Bogeyman. Sometimes he's been smashed to tiny pieces but within a few years' time been spotted back in his pumpkin patch. Once many thousands of years ago an expedition was sent from what were the forests of Leng as Bogeyman had dared to incite fear there and the pumpkin patch was set ablaze. This caused Bogeyman's power to wane and he was not sighted for a couple hundred years. But the pumpkin patch was huge and much of the plateau of Leng, the wasteland that it is, is the charred remains of that great fire which could not sustain itself forever. The limitless patch now seen is a smaller version of the old one. Once the fire subsided and the patch recovered Bogeyman was again seen, though since he has never disturbed the people of Leng. In fact his relationship with them grew over time until now the toad-like beings serve as his sentries in advance of the pumpkin-things themselves. 

Pyewacket at some point makes a great point of, "Well the cats of Ulthar have never been disturbed by your Bogeyman, at least not after Nather the Great and his gang widened Bogeyman's smile." It seems that Bogeyman did get distracted from one of his regular persecutions of the Zoogs to go after a few cats, terrorizing in particular the small kittens of Ulthar. Nather was the wildest and strongest senior cat at the time, a veteran of many scrapes, hunts, tourneys, and battles. He convinced the tribes of a need to mobilize (always a difficult task among cats although Pyewacket refers to it as "a test of purpose") and Nather with two dozen other hunters tracked Bogeyman, whose scent stands out in the Dreamlands, and attacked with him all claws and fangs. Many cats died and Nather lost his remaining eye and one front foot, but the beating Bogeyman took left pumpkin juice flowing from him and his fire no more lit. From that day he never troubled the cats of Ulthar or their immediate friends in the Dreamlands.

Trips to the pumpkin patch are uncertain and dangerous in their own right.  It takes time just to get the journey down solidly and in a way that doesn't attract too much attention, so Sihn works at getting that down before performing magical experimentation on it.  The pumpkin patch goes on forever and ever in one direction - Sihn suspects from forays at another entrance it stretches into the "real world", perhaps everywhere there is a pumpkin patch.  Where he saw Bogeyman at in his earlier encounter, he finds the residents to mostly be of three varieties:  first, the toad-like men who patrol the area on behalf of the nearby kingdom; second, the odd ghoul who surfaces now and again purportedly for exploration although Sihn knows that is not true, still the 3 who spoke at all gave no other answer and Sihn knows it is best not to arouse hostility among the ghouls per the markings you have found on other travels by one legendary Randolph Carter; and third, the little worm-like beings whose tops display up at the surface in many places but whose bottoms you cannot find no matter how much you dig.  That's not to forget the strangely crying pumpkins themselves who always moan and shout and rouse in particular as Sihn is within sight.  Sihn tries to converse with them but finds although a mind meld can be done it alerts Bogeyman immediately.

In the meantime, he's beginning to let go of the Necronomicon, drawn by the mysterious infinity of new worlds he now has access to. Sihn begins to spend a lot of time summoning up various creatures and learning about their worlds. He begins to look for opportunities that would help SihnTek - trade across dimensions, and the possibility of extra-dimensional labor.

He also spends more and more time experimenting with music. At first he was drawn to painting, but the mathematical purity of music has a very soothing effect on his often overheated imagination. The tones seem to weaken the boundaries of impossibility, in many ways mimicking his quest to find the purity of patterns that provide natural physical law.

Pyewacket is now his constant companion. To the most of rest of the group, the black cat seems to be nothing more than a cat. But, Pywacket can talk to Sihn, and Sihn can talk back. Sihn seems to develop an uncanny ability to communicate with cats Pyewacket plies Sihn with tales of unimagined places and possibilities, futures, and pasts. He also hints, just a little, that he might know a few things about Sihn that Sihn is unaware of.

Under Pyewacket's influence, Sihn clears his lab of test animals. He secretly establishes a foundation to care for stray cats. He also spends some time looking into a cure for feline leukemia.  Sihn is reasonably successful, with a treatment plan worked out that needs field testing but looks viable. It's expensive though. Pyewacket is unimpressed and when Sihn has his work submitted for publication, points out there are cheaper magical means just through mining the ores of the northern plains.  Sihn responds that could create a mess and that an expensive treatment is better than none.  He leverages some of his own resources to bring the cost down.

Otherwise, he practices his magic, working on speed and flexibility.

He asks Rogers to work on setting up relationships between SihnTek and leading Universities, hopefully to help funnel new talent out of universities and into SihnTek. Rogers will work hard on getting SihnTek a sterling reputation in academic circles. A place where you can work without interference, and still make good money. (Sort of aiming to be the Xerox Parc of Biotech, except actively marketing discoveries.)  In the course of this, before long, a young super-intelligent boy attending MIT who intended to come out and interview with SihnTek abruptly changes his mind. Sihn knows the young man is a mutant, and apparently shortly after turning down the interview disappeared completely. A couple follow-up calls lead to unexpected places, places only open to Sihn and his kind - the boy was selected by an underground university only recently established, christened the X-Man Liberty Academy. It is rumored (but not proven) to be funded by Magneto as a radical counterpoint to Xavier's New School. It operates on the move with no fixed campus. It is said to require classes on self-defense and guerrilla tactics.

Sihn tries to locate the school or the would-be recruit, asking, among others, his friend the Big Ugly Bug.   Big Ugly Bug seems a little skittish and says "I'd really rather not discuss that. You know, no point in anyone knowing too much, getting trouble, you know? Eliot, you're my friend, but I'd like to just keep our friendship outside the political, at least while we can."

Sihn responds, "I'm not asking you to tell me where this thing is located.  I'm asking you to tell me where to find someone who will."

The BUB responds, ""Okay, Elliot.  But please don't mention my name.  You should seek out the Jerky Boys and bug them, say you know they know people.  We have mutual friends and since you already know them it's pretty innocuous as an approach.  I'm sorry I can't help much on this but you know how things are.  Got some friends on the other side, y' know?"

Sihn replies, "I understand.  It is a difficult time now, and hard to take sides.  Magneto has thrown down the gauntlet at my team, though, and we must accept the challenge."  Sihn goes to review his findings on the Jerky Boys before seeking them out.

During this time, Jane approaches Sihn, complaining of a "strange feeling".  Sihn really can't figure out that anything's wrong with her. He can't confirm his feeling, but he strongly suspects she's ready to mate.  Even with his work, Sihn really doesn't know how replication would take place. He suspects it's related to some molecular bonding and leaving behind of enough merged material from which a new being would grow.    Sihn has some reservations about Sammy as a parent, but he does realize that Sammy has always tried to do his best to interpret human culture. And, a little Sammy would likely be a lot more hardy than a human infant. Sihn talks to Suzanne in private about possible legal complications, concerned ABC may have a claim on Sammy's offspring.  Suzanne knows that Sammy's offspring is safe from ABC but more so than Sammy subject to unexpected governmental study/intrusion under the complex mutant regulatory laws. It is pretty evident that at least for now Sihn's relationship with the government would enable Sammy and Jane to raise a child without intolerable interference. Technically Sihn's baby is also subject to the same laws, but in practice the government takes a stronger stand with especially unusual (i.e., non-human) mutants.

As busy as the rest of the gang is, so is Laughton.  He wants to return to investigate the CIA's link to the strange broadcasts he once investigated the Rosicrucians for.  With WEB's courtesy it's possible. En route he speaks to Frank Beard. Beard is actually not at all displeased with the events out at Kingpin's "farm", but warns Hamlet that he's made some powerful enemies in the government - Kingpin had ties for one thing, and for another many see Laughton as a rogue type. There's no info in the CIA area regarding the broadcasts, but there is an operative whose hours correlate with the reports of the timing of their reception of the broadcasts. The operative's name is listed as Jay Richards. He's since been reassigned to Afghanistan and is in Kabul.  As Laughton is busy preparing for his Mongolian trip, he considers a later one to Afghanistan.  

Lucy Coe presses Hamlet Laughton, she's upset as he breaks dates and gives mixed signals.  She wants to know if he wants a relationship or not.  He is intrigued by her interests, and is genuine in his reciprocation of the same, but he has been kind of busy of late. He promises that he will make extra effort to spend a meal with her before his next trip out of the country.  She sighs and says, "yes, all right", not so much in a peeved but rather uncertain way.  As they go out before his Mongolian tirp, she eventually says to Laughton, "Hamlet...are you distant because of who you are? I mean..." and her voice drops, "...because you're Rodin? I know, it's not like you need to worry about that. I just think if we're serious and we're getting closer we should be open about some things."

Frank Eyes of the 719 Society continues to check in with Laughton. With the first anniversary of Origin coming up times are ripe for action, he says, which is basically true.  Laughton confers with Rogers about the best way to gain positive spin and publicity on this issue prior to court date, and spends some time prepping his case.  Rogers frankly advises Hamlet that it is difficult at best to make good spin out of this as Eyes is such a cause advocate. And he adds that Hamlet should really find a way to get Suzanne to take it on (although she has already rejected, he advises trying again). But anyway Rogers can pull a few strings and get some sympathetic interviews done, as well as a "set up" on a conservative talk-show which, if Hamlet is only somewhat careful, the host Savage can be made to look foolish. Rogers advises muzzling Eyes as much as possible (without saying so), and attending all interviews with him in controlled circumstances (no town hall sorts of meetings).  Rogers has one important question - would Eyes rather win the court case or make his cause look good or simply get his cause as much publicity as possible? Eyes responds, in speaking to Laughton, that of course he wants to win but "the cause is most important". He is dodgy whether he wants the cause to look good ("of course, but with n o compromises!") or just get publicity ("we need visibility, even if a few people are upset by it - they're racists anyway!").

Spectrum is busy spending lots of time studying with Willow as discussed before. She introduces  Suzanne to many of the texts, including an abridged sort of Necronomicon.  Given Suzanne's legal background, she has little trouble with the volume of  reading of course.  Suzanne inquires as to what the difference is between the abridged and unabridged Necronomicon.  Willow says, "Probably one's sanity." And more seriously, "The so-called abridged is really just someone's interpretation. This one's a good one, a hand-me-down from Crowley to a student named Madrigal. Crowley made a bunch of notes, sort of a note-marathon, and then Madrigal collected it all. The spells aren't as reliable as in the actual Necronomicon as nuances are missing - it's a nuance-free version. But in the actual Necronomicon the spells aren't, well, spelt out, they're in a sort of gibberish you have to make sense out of."  Spectrum considers how to make counter-spells and works with Willow on it, as well as control spells and protection spells for some of the horrors Sihn has been conjuring up.

With Willow and the rest of the gang, she also makes good on her promise to help Jericho Lad with his partying neighbor.  Jericho Lad's place looks like it was hastily cleaned - a strange bulge under a towel in the corner probably hiding some clutter, dust streaks as if the few pieces of wooden furniture were barely brushed recently. It's a small one-bedroom apartment, there's pictures of Michael Jackson (in various facial stages) up throughout the place.  There's an obvious place setting for two! But he is obviously pleased to see everyone (Spectrum with Buffy, Zander, Willow, Cordelia, and new friend Oz).  The Lad makes geeky jokes and Cordelia puts him in his place.  Before long the "loud party" next door goes into what he calls "high gear". The sound of Snoop Doggy Dogg is audible but not exactly overwhelming, and there's a few voices, though they are making some  rather strange groans. After a few moments it becomes uncomfortably obvious (with ear pressed against the wall as Jericho Lad insist that they figure out what is going on) some sort of orgy is going on but Jericho Lad seems oblivious, just complaining. 

Spectrum thinks, "Ah, Rosemary would be disappointed," and thinks she'll have to make this up to the gang later.  As Xander is going into the building trade, she discusses sound reinforcement techniques with him.  In the meantime, she turns on Jericho's stereo at a decent enough volume - and she and Buffy run out to the car and get somewhat good music.   

Suzanne chats with Oz and checks out his connection; turns out he meant the gang earlier in High School and started hanging out more with them as he's going to college.  It comes up he's also in a rock band, similar to the White Stripes (it being Detroit), giving Suzanne the idea to ask him to play for a housewarming she's planning for her place, now that the spirits are gone.  Buffy suggests they make it a costume party and invite other supers along with regular kids, so the supers can have fun in a normal environment, not having to be celebrities and not being responsible as heroes.  Spectrum likes the idea and mentally notes to begin scheduling it.

She mind links with the gang and arranges a coordinated way of leaving gracefully.  She promises to talk to the neighbor for Jericho Lad, and to her word visits him.  The neighbor is pretty nice - and not at all embarrassed. He's quite willing to do what he can but he indicates that sound just goes straight through the apartment walls and shows you an example. He's surprised that Jericho Lad didn't come by himself, he asks, "You mean that really young guy down the hall? I never see him but once a blue moon. Weird cat."  Suzanne is nice to the neighbor and asks him to be a little quieter the next few days. She also mentions she'll be looking into a solution that shouldn't affect the neighbor.  She thinks adding a thin false wall to the connecting wall is going to be the solution that Suzanne will explain to Jericho.  Inwardly, she thinks he'll find some other way to find a problem.

She visits Jericho Lad, who says, "Great idea! Thanks Suzanne, I always appreciate your help...but I don't really have that kind of money. Maybe you could sue next door just for enough money for putting the wall up? Oh, and I don't know if my landlord will let me do that? Maybe you could go and see my landlord with me?"  Suzanne explains she can't sue just for that, and eventually helps him smooth things out with the landlord to get it done as a building improvement.  Xander's help brings the cost down.

Suzanne also sends flowers and a note to Jeremiah Dark/Nightshade as an opening for an apology for her odd actions in New York, when under the control of one of the spirits from her house she took off to party with Wolverine then dumped him (see issue 26).  She doesn't trust phones and doesn't feel that'd be the right way to apologize; she arranges to meet, and by way of preparation says "In this business, the explanation makes a lot more sense."  She goes to New York as his schedule doesn't permit travel at the moment.  Nightshade is surprisingly un-surprised to learn of the possession, even for a super.  Apparently his association with Necromancer and Dr. Strange has him well-prepared.  She figures he'd be at least somewhat understanding.  He makes a comment about having gone through a time when his dark side was dominant, and after a little wine talks about a period where he started to find satisfaction in dining on villains' souls. It became problematic, similar to a vampiric sort of condition, and after some struggle he overcame it, mainly through force of will, not being interested in therapy.  She asks a bit more of the nature of his powers.  She also mentions her recent meddling with magic and the current line of study. He divulges that his power is some sort of elemental darkness power that he frankly doesn't entirely understand but isn't really that interested in getting too absorbed in it. Basically, he steals life force from people and it charges up his energy, it's rather vampiric by its nature. He's a bit embarrassed about it. Normally that life force can return to the person in due course, but he has to be careful or he can easily kill people. He's somewhat interested in the magical dabbling, surprisingly blasé about it in neither worrying nor getting excited over it.   Suzanne is impressed that he keeps that sort of power under control. She doesn't think it's anything to be embarrassed about, of course this is from someone who's got possession issues and allowed a dog and human to exchange brains...

 She also sees if he'll be willing to come out for her house warming (or is it a ghost free celebration?), looking for when his schedule permits.  He has some time he can come out fairly soon so the party works out, the night after Halloween.  He's willing to come by the night before and patrol Detroit as its infamous for its fires, if she's up for it. She thinks that sounds like a good time for him to come out. She'll be up for the patrol as well.

For the party, there's going to be quite the odd mix.  She invites the team plus guests, people that still remember her from the DA, the mayor,  Mel, some of the other clients,  some of the other supers she met in NY.  Buffy & Willow have invite privileges meaning Suzanne trusts them to invite good people for a party.  Suzanne can't decide whether to invite Jericho Lad, who is weirding her out.

She also starts to work on getting Jonas' body out of jail and into a mental institution - from which she hopes to take the next step  She starts to broach the subject with the team members, first with Laughton, about exchanging their brains back.

Meanwhile, after pondering on Jane's situation, Professor Sihn tells Sammy he needs to meet with him and Jane concerning an important matter.

"After a thorough examination of Jane, it has come to my attention that the current changes in her behavior most likely are caused by a readiness to mate, similar to the examples cited in Sternway's work on nematodes. I suspect this has been caused by proximity to a suitable mating partner. Before this happens, I want to make sure both of you understand what this means."

"It means that if you two stay together, you will soon be more than two. Three perhaps. Maybe more. I suppose that if I really thought about it I could tell how many there would be." Sihn goes silent for a moment, then starts humming, absent mindedly. " At least one. So, you two must prepare yourselves for parenthood. Or, in the alternative, you must never see each other again. Yes. I think that covers the options. I suppose I could perhaps clone another suitable partner for Jane, and freeze the offspring, but for some reason, people tend to react negatively to those sorts of plans, so I'll rule that out for now."

"Sammy, if you have offspring, you will need to care for them. You'll need to be more careful. You'll need to be more grownup. This is a big responsibility, and I want the two of you to take it seriously - to make plans as it were. If you are unclear on exactly what a "plan" is, I think we can get someone to explain how plans work."

"So, what do you say?"

[Game Mechanics - Points Awarded...

Totals:

Rodin  2 XP applicable to knowledge of government organizations
Sammy  2 XP applicable to Marketing; 1 XP applicable to anything related to Jane (your discretion)
Spectrum 3 XP applicable to anything occult
Troll 3 XP applicable to Geography - Dreamlands; 1 XP applicable to anything occult

Totals to Date:

Dice 188.5 RPs, 14.95 XPs
Neumann 344.5 RPs, 49.05 XPs
Rodin 1225.75 RPs, 118.2 XPs
Sammy the Slime 1189.75 RPs, 126.0625 XPs
Spectrum 1092.5 RPs, 110.5 XPs
Steely Danelle 86 RPs, 10.75 XPs
Troll 1233 RPs, 124.75 XPs]