3742/Awakening: Preparations

Awakening: Preparations
Date of Scene:	26 January 2018
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Redstar, Black Queen, Shadowlite
Tinyplot:	Awakening

---

Redstar has posed:
Friday evening in New York City. It is busier than ever in Times Square as is to be expected. Tourists and people heading home from work or heading out to party. Horns honk, the gentle roar of traffic and people talking, filling the air with noise.

A work crew is doing something in the sewers on Seventh Avenue. Their faces are hard and they seem oddly focused and serious. Another two teams work at diagonals from the first, forming a triangle if viewed from above. Though it all seems legit, people seem to give the worked a wide berth. And though it is causing a slow in traffic, people are not cursing or yelling at the workers as would be normal. Most people wouldn't notice, but then...there are numerous people in NYC who are not most people.

Steam rises from one manhole, two men standing above and looking down as light shines down below. It is an orange light and reflects oddly in the steam which rises.

Atop a nearby building two women stand, one with arms folded and the other reclining lazily on a beanbag. "This is boring," Says Sloth, staring up at the cloudy sky. Her legs are crossed and she kicks one foot in boredom. "You won't let me nap!"

The taller figure, standing and watching the workers below, turns and glares at the other demon. Her eyes are black and filled with ethereal yellow flame. Her wings flex slightly, like an irritated fist clenching. "We are here to make sure the nodes are placed and protect the servants doing it," She says in a dangerous voice. "Or would you like to explain to my father, if we're attacked, why so many of our servants died?" Sloth's face fell and she pouted, crossing her arms and looking away from Starr.

"Fiiiiiiiine," Sloth says with a sigh and shifts in her oversized bean bag. Starr glares at her for a moment longer. Then she turns back to her watch, her own arms folded across her chest. Occasionally her eyes glance up and about, as if waiting for something to happen. Almost expecting something to happen.

Black Queen has posed:
People. Selene is mingling and she manages to stop by a mother and her two children, she is smiling to them, "Such a wonderful..." SHe looks at the children, "Pair of young people you have. You know tomorrow is a Saturday, and there are always fun children events here in Times Square. You really ought to show up, it's to die for." Selene smiles happily to the mother and waves them along when they have gotten their sugary treats from the busy kiosk. Though Selene offers them a couple friendly waves "Toodles." She then turns away and moves to a coffee stand.

Standing in line is quite a horrible task, but it gives her time to talk with people, and insert subtle suggestions into people's minds. "Did you hear? Tomorrow there's supposed to be some wicked event down here." She says to a couple of millenials who look about her same age, early twenties, "Some kind of rave, glowsticks required." And then she gets her coffee and looks at the tip jar, "Here's a tip, come by tomorrow, I hear there will be tons of customers just falling over for some event. I am positive they will need a boost later in the day, something that could wake the living dead." After that she walks away sipping at her coffee, smiling behind it, as she looks around. A squint goes over toward the manhole, though she doesn't stop there, she begins scanning around for whomever might just be about. After all, Selene's far more capable than the average person to pick out devious plots. It isn't her eyes that see in this case, but more of her mystical senses reaching out to identify anything that's odd. With a small shake of her head, she starts idly walking in the direction of the manhole workers.

Redstar has posed:
Power. It pulses faintly all around the square. At least twenty sources, all blurred and hard to define, and it is like 20 different hearts beating all at once. But then as soon as it is felt a wave of disinterest spreads out. It is nothing. It is unimportant. The people in the square must be the cause. A subtle and powerful spell on the order of the Sorcerer Supreme washes towards Selene. Nothing to see here.

One of the workers straightens and pulls off his cap, wiping sweat from a bald head with a red rag. Replacing the hat he looks up and seems to stretch. His eyes go to the barely seen dark shape on a roof. He had only seen them from afar, but he knew their presence and felt honored his job was so important to require their watch. The Daughter of Darkness was up there and he whispered a silent prayer to her as he bent back to his work.

From the back of the workvan he pulls a box. About a foot square all around. Holding it with care he brought it to the open manhole, passing it to the worker below. "She watches over us!" He whispered excitedly. He was still new, still young, drunk on the thrilll of being a Son of Satannish. The other smirked and nodded, "Always," He responded before disappearing with the box. Again steam began to rise from this whole, lit by the orange light from below.

Starr became more alert at the subtle signal from the worker. The node was being placed. Her eyes scanned the area in more depth, wings flexing slightly behind her. Tense all over she hadn't been able to really relax since last week. And it was only getting worse as thoughts of what was going to happen tomorrow flitted through her head. These things never bothered her in Hell, before she came to Earth. But she had been pure demon then, not melded with a human soul. The demoness pursed her lips as the thoughts distracted her, shaking her head as if to clear them away.

Black Queen has posed:
A pulse of energy. Subtle but extremely strong. Selene staggers and reaches up to grip her left earring, and it glows for a moment. Only those attuned to mystical energies would probably notice it, but it definitely is powerful magic. Kulan Gath was a formidable enemy these people are powerful but no where near as devious. That said, Selene has no interest in stopping what is happening in the manhole, and it would probably be far far more energy to do so than she has currently. Instead she moves away from the powerful magic so she doesn't have to waste everything her relic provides and heads in the direction of where the man looked. A rooftop?

Demons always like to fly, they have wings, but Selene only has heels. She doesn't make for any subtlety in her movement, just walking in the direction of the precise building where the demons are. Still rubbing her head a little bit, shaking off the magic that threatened to disrupt her mind. Since the building is close, Selene's easiest course of action is to get to the roof via elevator. Which gives her plenty of time to sip her coffee. The poor couple that got on the elevator with her though... they are merely dust by the time it dings at the top floor. Good thing the camera was conveniently fried, and fresh life means she's feeling pretty good. Along with the quad shot espresso, as she still has to climb a flight of stairs to actually make it to the roof.

Shadowlite has posed:
Normally, Shadowlite gets advance notice for jobs... but in this case, there is no job. This is simply him being forced to play hero to both keep his potential clients alive, and to retrieve what's his.

He can also be /very/ stealthy, if he wants.

He's been here on and off since he was warned; there's a nice few shadows on the rooftops of the buildings for him to come out at, and dimensional border travel isn't exactly slow. His Darkforce armor is configure to color blend into the rooftops, with a camo suit over the top of it. He's also brought a pair of high-powered electronic binoculars as he scouts over the area, building ammo caches for his rifles for tomorrows grand opening.

It's during his latest jump out this way that he spots Selene and the rest as he lays down, turning on a shotgun mic from his kit and training it over to that rooftop as he listens.

Redstar has posed:
The first work team is beginning to pack things up. The worker that was down below comes above and they pull out their equipment. It looks so normal. No one stops them, no one really notices them, as they pack things into the workvan. The second crew is still doing something, the excited cultist's mouth moving in some whispered chant as he stares into the glowing smoke. And the third crew is finally going down into their manhole after setting up.

On the roof Starr sighs and nods as the first team finishes up. And the second is almost ready to do the same. Then there is the team over on the other end, taking their damned time. "Are those yours?" She asks of the demoness behind her, eyeing the slow crew.

Her handmaid looks down from staring at the cloudy sky. "Hmmm?" She asks in her lazy manner, hovering up and over beside Starr. Her eyes look to the third team and she smirks, "Mmmmmm...not specifically but they are tickling my happy spot," The demoness known as Sloth comments, propping her chin in her hands in the air, as if the air were firm and it seems to be. "You want me to speed them up?" Her eyes roll sideways to Starr.

"The longer we are out here the more we are exposed. The greater the risk some of the nodes will be found. So what do you think?" Starr snaps, bringing a hand up to smack her across the back of the head.

"OW! Heeeeeeyyy, okay okay!" Sloth says, putting a hand to the back of her head as she reclines on the air. She glares at her mistress before turning her eyes back on the men working. Her eyes flare with a pale blue and for a fraction of a second all the workers on the third team stop dead. Then they begin moving as if nothing had happened, only quicker and more focused. "ansi(hc, Happy?)"

"No. I won't be until this is all done and over," Starr growls, watching the third team with a critical eye.

"Ugh...you are so boring now." Sloth says as she rolls onto her back in the air.

Black Queen has posed:
The rest of the stairs. Each one making a bit of noise as Selene climbs up the stairwell her ridiculously high-heeled boots allowing her to walk along. Her outfit is one of high fashion, designed by the top fashion brands in the world, Dior shoes and her jacket from Prada. The skirt likely from someone else, and all custom made. The jacket is made from real leather, custom fitted, and for those who happen to be fashionistas it probably cost her more than most people's cars to get dressed today. When she gets to the door of the roof she taps it, and the lock sort of undoes itself before she pushes it open. Coming out in the midst of the conversation...

"Oh, I definitely agree. Boring. Work work work is booooring." Selene says as she walks onto the roof and sips at her coffee, she smiles and it shows in her eyes as she sips, blocking much of her angular high cheekboned face from view for a moment. And then she sighs a little, shaking her head, "Workers, I know, right? Not at all like they used to be, must crack whips, drug them, everything is so much harder these days." She offers and walks only a few feet onto the roof, shaking her coffee a little to tell how much is still left in there, "Slaves, are just simply easier, less work less culty vibe. Less... incompetence. And a few here or there go missing? No one says a thing, like if you were suddenly missing a few books off the shelves. Whatever you did to them, who cares? They are your property."

A small chuckling laugh comes from Selene as she sighs a bit, "The good old days. Anyhow, what are you two fine ladies doing up here on a Friday?" She questions lightly as she seems to be just joining the conversation and making her way toward the two demonesses, albeit it slowly.

Shadowlite has posed:
The massive urge to facepalm at Selenes antics is almost overwhelming, but somehow Shadowlite resists it.

Instead, he brings his binoculars down to the crews, watching them, before he puts down the shotgun mic, keys it to remote audio in his hood transceiver, and heads over to the shadow, heading to another building and starting to build another ammo cache, "You'd think she was starring in a sitcom...."

Redstar has posed:
Starr whips around, wings flaring wide, as the door opens. She was a bit more focused on what was going on with the installation and she silently curses dropping her guard. Sloth earns a glare for not having helped much at all, but otherwise Starr says nothing to her. They will talk later...and more likely.

Everything about her is tense, ready to fight or flee, and her eyes are narrowed on the other creature of darkness. Blacked out eyes narrow and her lips purse as she listens to the woman ramble, taking in everything she can about her. Clothes, attitude, and of course what she says. Slowly she stands up straight from her ready crouch.

Sloth rolls over on the air and looks at Selene in surprise. "Oops," She at least has the decency to say. She was supposed to be watching their back. "Who are you," The handmaiden moves in front of Starr, placing her body between Selene and her. The pale blue eyes look Selene over as well as Starr folds her arms again. "And why do you say such happy making things?"

Something makes Starr turn and look over her shoulder, searching the skies, a slightly frown on her face. As she looks around it seems as if she looks right at Shadowlite, but her eyes pass over him and she turns back to Selene.

Black Queen has posed:
There's no notice of Shadowlite right now, since Selene doesn't exactly have superhuman senses - except for magic really. And she is walking forward a bit more, hands up a little to show she has no weapons. Not that it matters in the magical world, but still, it's a gesture all the same. "Calm down, calm down. No need to get your..." She looks over Starr, "Wings? I guess, in a bind. I am here just to talk." She makes note, and smiles lightly, "I saw your little workers down there, doing their thing, and I figured that I should come and extend a hand. I am, afterall..." She places her hand on her chest, in a sign of indicating herself, "Selene, Black Queen of the Hellfire club."

She waits a moment, to see if that name is of any concern or relevance to these two, but she continues on regardless. "I detected some very powerful magic nearby and I just wanted to offer my open palmed hands, of peace. You see? I am not at all concerned with what you are doing, just wish to make sure there's some understanding about borders. When you get down toward West 141st st, there's about a, oh, 9 square block area that we would request is left untouched. At least the structures. They are quite important to us, and it seems like such a small space, I was hoping that you would be accomodating." She looks to Sloth and then back to Starr, keeping her smile on her lips. "And, as a personal favor, I would ask that the Duck Soup restaurant in Chinatown be spared as well. Though, that's negotiable."

Redstar has posed:
Sloth doesn't seem to register the name, but Starr's face shows some recognition and she nods. "Watch the workers, Sloth," Starr says and takes a step towards Selene. "Selene," She nods her head, "Starr, Daughter of Darkness," She has a fancy title too! The demoness furls her wings in after a moment, listening to the Black Queen's words.

Sloth rolls her eyes and floats back to her spot to watch the workers finish up the last of the three nodes. "They're almost done," She interjects. Starr glances at her and nods, but turns back to Selene.

A flicker at the corner of her lips indicates she resists a smirk, "The plan is there not to be too much, if any, structural damage," She says in her low and rumbling voice. For a second she considers something and then adds, "But I will take note of the request and pass it on to my father, Satannish," Perhaps that word would ring a bell to Selene. He is only one of the most powerful demons known after all.

Black Queen has posed:
With Starr coming in her direction, Selene smiles and gives a small nod her of her head in reocogition of the other woman. One of few who actually is taller than Selene even with her heels on. That said, Selene is a waif compared to the winged form of the demoness. "Starr, welcome. And I will not pry into exactly what will be happening. I will simply make sure that most of our club members are safely away from it all. We would prefer not to have to send them off to another country, as whatever spectacle is planned I am sure that it will be - " She stops as Starr mentions Satannish.

Recognition, and a bit of wide-eyedness, "I... I had no idea." She stammers a moment, "This is for him?" She stands up a bit straighter, and seems to get a bit flustered, "We had no idea. I apologize, of course, if he wants to destroy those buildings than... by all means. He can. Certainly."

There's a momentary pause and she then speaks out some quicker words, "Please, if you do communicate with him before, whatever is happening, do so remind your father that I have, in the past, been very instrumental in situations against the Sorcerer Supreme, of whom I know he shares no love. And I would be more than happy to simply stay out of the way, or to offer my assistance in whatever endeavor that he happens to have... and I could even help to secure Times Square, to make sure that... oh, I do not know, that others perhaps are kept away during whatever lively event is happening. I understand, that great power is already being utilized, but even - one such as yourself - should realize that experience in such matters there are few who rival my own." She is speaking these last words more quickly, a bit of anxiousness creeping into her tone.

Redstar has posed:
Starr smiles a slow smile as Selene recognizes the name, nodding her head subtly. Whether it is approval or the fear or of her words about the Sorcerer Supreme, but it hardly matters. "Assistance would be most welcome, I am sure. I know your name and so, I am sure, does my father," She pauses as if to consider something, glancing back at Sloth for a second, then back to the vampire queen. "There is likely to be resistance to these things. There always is. And I have no doubt Strange will appear to try and thwart things."

~Let's hope he succeeds,~ The weak whisper rings in Starr's mind, making the yellow flames blaze for a moment. The smile fades and she returns to simply considering the Black Queen.

(Selene is powerful. Her helping will be an issue.) O o Starr spoke to her other half silently. Then she sighed and reached up to rub at her forehead. "The more people here, regular people, the better. If you have others who would be willing to help, then bring them. My father always rewards good work," Just not always in the way one would hope.

"They're finished," Sloth says, floating back from the edge of the roof, turning to look at Selene again. "We should be going," She adds, distrust in her eyes as she looks between Selene and Starr.

Starr doesn't even look at Sloth, but smacks her across the face, knocking her into the gravel of the roof. "Don't tell me what to do," She hisses to the handmaiden. Sloth already hated her, a backhand wouldn't make it that much worse, and it felt good. The handmaiden wiped at her lip which was bloody, but healing, and floated back up. The daggers her eyes threw at Starr obvious to Selene.

"But...she is right. Our job for now is done," She turns to look down at her floating companion's gaze. The two stare and it stretches for seconds, before Sloth looks away.

Black Queen has posed:
The smile and nod from Starr, as she doesn't leap on or attack Selene is most welcome to the Black Queen. "Yes, there is always resistance. And as time has gone on so has it seemed the will and power of that resistance. Your father was never one who liked to wait things out, or plan them. Nor did he much have to, the power he possesses great and immense. Though, such power sometimes brings with it those who would be jealous of it, those who would wish to thwart it. And so as his power has grown, so has the resistance to it." Selene shakes her head a little, quirking her mouth to the side, "But assistance, yes, I am certain I can help."

"When is this event happening? I imagine soon if you are 'done' with whatever it is that you are doing. I will, create..." She thinks for a moment a before smiling, "Yes, I will create something very subtle. A ward, inverted, to attract instead of dissuade. Gathering people. A few minor magical rituals about Times Square, and perhaps a bit further around, nothing major so there should be no fear of them... complex and ancient, most modern mystics would not even notice the small ebbs and flows of them. That should do the trick, I will get to work on those as soon as I can ride the elevator back down."

She looks between Sloth and Starr and then back to Starr again, "Seems like everything is in good hands from up here. I will simply show up to keep the power of the runes present and then... when whatever is done, is done, I shall remove them and let you all carry on your way. Tell your father, I appreciate the opportunity to not be, well, burned to a crisp or eaten, whatever his flavor of destruction is these days. Either way, I can assure you... it is unpleasant and I do not wish to find myself in such predicaments any longer. And to you both, if you find yourselves looking for something different, please come and visit. Any time. Our doors at the Hellfire club are, always open for those, who, well, come from Hellfire." She waits though, allowing the demoness and her handmaiden to depart first since they probably can do so a lot faster than Selene's heeled feet allow.

Redstar has posed:
Starr chuckles low and with minimal mirth at talk of her father's power and enemies. Oh if only she knew. "Early evening, tomorrow" She replies with a wave of her hand. "When the most people are likely to be in the square," Of course that makes sense. She looks the vampire up and down one more time. "Flaying and slow dismemberment at the moment," The smile she gives is lazy and vaguely threatening.

~You're almost convincing me you mean it...~ Weak though she is, Starr can feel the relief from Vicky's soul deep in her mind. Blinking rapidly she turns from Selene and moves to look back out over Times Square. The last van has pulled away as if they were never there. Then her eyes turn upwards to another roof and again she seems to look down the binoculars at Shadowlite. With her back to the other two only he sees the sad expression and frown of worry. But it vanishes as she turns back to her handmaiden. "Good hunting," Starr says to Selene, reaching her hand out to Sloth.

The handmaiden reaches out and yanks on Starr's hand, making her jerk slightly. The animosity is palpable and the two glare at one another as there is an outline of pale blue and then they are gone. A faint smell of brimstone blows away on the wind.

Black Queen has posed:
With the demon gone, and her workers away. Selene is free to do her designs. Ancient, and old. She starts at this building since it's right there in the middle of Times Square. Her hand comes up to her mouth and she bites hard enough with her teeth to break her own skin. No finer a writing implement was ever invented, no more powerful magic could be summoned, and she starts to draw some runic symbols along the wall that the demonesses had been near. Oh, these would certainly work, something simple something easy. And a connection to her self, still maintained. The problem with modern mystics were there constant attempts to do things the hard way, the inefficient way.

These symbols would be designed to attract people to Times Square. To create a subtle suggestion that something important, something fun, whatever would attract them, a glimpse of a long missed lover, whatever it was, would bring people to Times Square. There will already be plenty of people there, due to the time, but these would create even a more massive group. Once the first one is done all she needed to do was appraise it and with a smile she looked at her design, "Perfect."