4567/A Bigger Gun

A Bigger Gun
Date of Scene:	02 June 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Lucky Day, Black Queen

---

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom can't own any lasting property. It gets Gilligan Island Away at the end of the day, but like so many other things, he works around it by cheating. He calls in favors, has favors granted and sometimes those favors are traded. He doesn't even KNOW the guy this time, in the most extreme example of this yet the favor changed hands not once but no less than nine times until he found himself in one of NYC's more posh restaurants attached to one of the nicest hotels in the city.

Not details were given, but Lucky's presence was requested at a certain date and time. Nominally actually being a hero, he worried something nefarious was going down but without details he was prepared to let the favor be called in since this one would be worth a lot. For now he was following the letter of the law, dressed to the nines in a stolen Tuxedo but thanks to his memories in another life where he WAS wealthy, he knows how to wear it WELL and looks rather dapper as he arrives at the time, looks around and sees several hushed tables and sits at the bar.

Technically speaking, just being here was going to do enough. Bad luck followed Lucky like white on rice. But he wasn't really trying to...you know...LIKE the bar or the people around him. He was keeping it neutral, but as he had his third glass of wine the relaxation and pleasant feeling was starting to do its job as probability started to work its way in a negative light around the room...in little ways, but each cascading into others.

Black Queen has posed:
Walking into the room from a back room comes Selene. She's dressed in a custom red dress, something that some super high end fashion designer made only one of and for her, and probably wouldn't reproduce it if they knew what was good for them. She draws eyes and attention in the elegant dress and her figure helps as well. As she slides across the floor supernaturally gracefully she comes to the bar and speaks up to the bartender, not offering him a smile, "My usual." And the bartender skips out on making Tom's most recent drink before he goes to a shelf that no one seems to be touching. A wine, a very old wine, is poured for Selene in a glass, far too full to be within the realms of etiquette but the bartender knows not to skimp this lady.

Then the most recent drink order for Tom is made. Those more sensitive to the magical realm can of course feel the slight pressure that comes off of Selene so easily and begins to permeate around the bar. Perhaps she's your bad luck...

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom looks up at the ....supernal vision next to him and beams. He sips his drink relaxedly and is ABOUT to say something when he feels a tingle and it isn't the tingle she normally invokes. He rubs his chin and then looks around. Is she a manifestation of his magic? Another player or something else? He tastes the wind and....um...yeah.

He considers his words carefully and nods to her. "Good evening. You look...alert." Lucky is only alive because he has learned to sense a lot and pay attention to a lot. He can't afford not to but this is already proving to be a favor that might not be worth it. Maybe. He'd hope for the best but...he's him.

Black Queen has posed:
When there's someone who brings their existence into focus around Selene, she turns and smiles in the direction of Tom, "Alert?" She questions a little bit, "No, dear boy, I am not... alert." She offers as she brings a hand up to move some of her luscious curled brown locks back behind her ear. Though she does take a small, deep breath of the air, her nostrils flaring just lightly. "You smell like you belong." She grins, a bit o a toothy grin, her very white and perfect teeth showing just a bit. Settling herself on a seat at the bar she crosses her legs, the way the dress is cut it reveals quite a bit of her smooth long legs and she wonders, "What brings you here? Hmm?" Now staring a bit intently at Tom as she sips lightly at her wine. "Aged to perfection, really."

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom learned all kinds of things about wine. He sort of remembers most of it from the Curse Life. Not enough to be a vendor but occasionally useful at parties. "Yes. The older the better I would agree." He is not normally one to be taken in by a nice pair of stems but he is...impressed. Were it not for the fact that he was on a job he might think that it was his Lucky Day. Of course...it never is. Never.

Ever.

So he uses the truth. Such a useful thing, looking into those eyes and matching the smile with one of his own, not quite as electric but charming nonetheless. "I belong I suppose. An interesting turn of phrase. I am here by request. Trying to figure out more than that to be honest. Enjoying a drink.

Black Queen has posed:
"You are here to find out more than that." Selene laughs lightly, it's a laughter that is small, each 'ha' pointedly sharp as if practiced over eons to be the perfect conversational laugh. She keeps her eyes on you, they even seem to be smiling. "Well, dear child" She looks to be only at best in her early 20s, no older, "You really should not go wandering around too much. I have learned that in this world there are things that you may not want to uncover. Though if you seek answers, maybe I can be of help." Her grin turns to a bit of a smirk and reaches out one hand to offer it in a sort of royal handshake fingers towards you, as if to be taken and kissed or worshipped, like some king, "My name is Selene. I am a purveyor of all old things, and a surprisingly large amount of truths."

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom immediately shifts his interest from curves to straight lines and turns his entire attention to her like a laser, favor forgotten. Immortality is not something you can sense like a radar beam but there are still small signs. And given the magic trace he felt earlier...the bad luck here might just be for the guy who he was doing the favor for...but he was HERE so the letter of that law was struck.

Still, one did not simply say "excuse me are you magicallll?" Well. OK, in some of the pedantic montebank mustache twirling escapades he did to distract people he might have but not right now.

A romantic in some ways, he kisses the offered hand. He is not flirting and understand the old world and old ways. And if he is right....The is no stone unturned in seeking a reversal of his condition. "There are many things I seek, that's true. But the regular resasons I am here are irrelevant if you do have the right answers. My name is Tom Night."

The name Selene was not enough to immediately have Tom know who she was, but she might immediately recognize THAT name. A bit notorious in occult circles, the night family was cursed though potent magicians, dealing in luck and jinxes of the high end of the moderate scale. Players but not major hitters like Selene. Tom was...most had no idea what to make of him. But there were plenty of rumors...most of them bad.

Black Queen has posed:
After you kiss her hand gently, Selene lets it slip from you grip assuming you let her and she sips her wine a bit. There's nothing that startles her enough to come to her face. She months ago faced off against a demon the size of a large skyscraper from the literal hell, and she was bemused. Danger means something completely different after the first few thousand years, and the first dozen or so deaths. The smirk goes away a bit as she genuinely smiles more, "Well, Mister Night, it is a pleasure to meet you." She comments a little more easily, looking over the man now, before wondering, "And for whom do you have intents this evening?" Taking a gander around the room she is mostly wondering about the bad luck he brings, but not yet specifically saying anything.

"I have heard there are many chances in life to meet a Night, but only once removes all chances of everything else. Would you know if the rumors are true?" Her eyes still scan the room to see who is present, and who might be a target of this man either directly or indirectly.

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom can immediately tell from the subtext of her voice that she knows well enough why she is here and someone might have brought her in to counter him. That would take a very heavy hitter indeed potentially enough to invoke his active luck if push came to shove as chaotic and twisted as it now was. He sincrely hoped it did not. He found he was liking her...well...not liking since that would cause bad things but..enjoying her company. "Not sure. They paid me to be here. My arrangements are often very...fluid...they have to be. Sometimes knowing the details complicates the work. And rumors?" He thinks a moment, "I..think so?" The subtext has gone beyond his ability to read it but unless Selene countered it, the magic itself has done its work all around. There is a meeting in the corner with five very important men, talking about a business deal, one of whom indirectly hired Lucky and the other who hired Selene. And that meeting is, in fact, going badly all around, which means not well for the man who hired Selene.

Black Queen has posed:
There's certainly the option of countering Tom's magic, but why? Selene has never seen such chaos magic in full force. She's invoked it a few times herself but it's something different to be a creature of chaos than it is to be one who calls upon it from time to time. Instead, she's amused. Sipping her wine and paying no attention to whomever requested her help, instead she's listening to Tom, and when he is unsure of what she's saying she smiles a little, "I forget the age of information is not so well informed." She offers in way of explanation.

Then she does something rather dangerous. Turns her entire body on the stool to face Tom, instead of just her head and torso, and she hmmms lightly at him. "I was just meaning, that your family has a reputation. One where bad... luck... follows." She emphasizes the word luck with some pausing around it before she wonders, "Have you already learned to grasp your magic? Or is it still mostly just... like the air? In your breathing, and it follows?" She asks curiously, starting to just passively dampen magic in the area to see how much effort it takes to quell this ability of Tom's. Starting to work her own active corrections to things that are going wrong, both with her psychic abilities to alter perceptions of those people having the meeting and with a more fluid magical power to help dampen the effects of Tom's more passive abilities, if she can. Just a test.

Lucky Day has posed:
Selene is seasoned enough and skilled enough to see something else. It would look like Chaos to an untrained eye but as she looks deeper its primal...elemental like the spirit of Luck itself singing through him....a kind of blend of order and chaos but...then...twisted. It is the curse itself that is monstrous and a thing of perfect beauty. It is a shackle, a chain on his neck turning him around and turning perfect good luck into Bad. It might even be beyond her skill. It is as supernal as she is but she also sees how he has tricked it and twisted it himself in improbable ways. "Ah. My family rather....hates me. They have for a long time really. They all blame me for our...troubles. I can control it passively yes." He pauses, knowing things has gotten people killed. "The curse can be...um...distracted. The use of my primary magic IS a thing that can be learned but it is truly uncontrollable. The skill in its manipulation is in the wording rather than the craft...it used to be...the craft that is...but now..." he pauses....The passive luck is as strong, all the time of one of her solid normal spells. Her master work can easily counter it and her skill lets her dampen it just as well since while the curse is alive (she can sense it) it doesn't care as long as Tom is miserable. It is able to be dampened, but it takes work. Nothing she can't handle.

Black Queen has posed:
This magic is like trying to deal with an elemental in their own turf. Not so easy to do and very energy inefficient. With her other tricks it's possible to at least backtrack and prevent some reactions from growing more heated at the table. That too takes work, and she's currently still looking and listening at Tom. If she were willing to just drain the bar of all the life present she'd just squelch this all but she's not even interested in that right now, more in this curse. "So, you are cursed with bad luck? And you convince it to do your bidding from time to time?" She smiles, "You are like a trebuchet. Launch death and disease over the enemy walls, and then wait for the castle to fall into ruins all on its own." There's a little bit of a nod to that as she closes her eyes for a moment, concentrating a little harder on the magic, parting her perfectly plush lips and sucking in with her mouth and nose at the same time like some kind of predator breathing in the scents around to find her prey.

Opening her eyes slowly she takes in a more human breath, and lets it out with a chuckle, sipping her wine a bit more. "Can you give me an example, or a demonstration of your curse being 'distracted'? I would love to see, and feel it in action. I am a forever student after all." And she sips her wine still not quite dampening Tom's power all the way as that would require her to start burning life force energy but still there effects are lessened for now.

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom says, "Well..." the curse is listening always...mocking it is a bad idea. It is stupid and has a very short memory. "I wouldnt say your guess was entirely incorrect," he says vaguely, "But I have to you know...respect that I suck." The curse really likes Lucky saying he sucks even though he almost never self depreciates. "The passive luck is a trebuchet that I can bounce off mountains I suppose...my active luck is more like....a howitzer....or worse." He finally notices the curves more as she breathes, still wanting knowledge but unable to appreciate the...curviness of the curves. "What I like, it hurts. What I dislike, it benefits. It is a two way street." He repeats again, more for Selene's safety. "I suck. Anyway." He drinks his wine, "Emotions, as someone as ....well...observant of your assets as you can be...internalized. Its a matter of perspective and I can control MY attitude as it were. I can show you an example yes. Anything specific you would like to see?""

Black Queen has posed:
There's concern in this mortal's words and Selene looks at you with a bit of amused sympathy, "Oh, it is so nice, of you, to... well, feel... what is the word?" She wonders for a moment, "Concern, for me. Curse me, or hmmm. Better yet. Curse everyone here? In dark, horrible ways?" She questions lightly as she waves a hand unconcerned in the direction of the room. "Or would that be wrong?" She wonders in a sort of cute hushed voice, like a teenager trying to get away with something while her parent is watching. "Do you not think that perhaps your curse just wants you to have fun? To, well, learn to enjoy the doom and gloom it brings?" She takes note of your looking her over and leans over a bit to talk in more of a hushed tone, she smiles to you, eyes watching yours, "So much fun could be had with you Tom. Just... let it be free. Hmm?" She leans back and takes a longer sip of her wine before pulling it from her lips, "I would absolutely adore seeing that. Unrestricted, free, chaos..."

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom looks at her and cocks his head. For a moment he wonders if she is one of the one responsible. But he feels the author's hand in every moment of his life. But suddenly he has no doubt that if she couldnt rewrite reality itself she could definitely come up with a curse almost as vicious and certainly more intelligent. He gets a chill on his back and suddenly the bar tender smiles, "Miss, we found another bottle, I thought that was the last one....would you like another glass?

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom says, "I ....understand why you might think that ma'am," he uses the respectful tone because of her use of the term child earlier...he has a moderately good idea that she IS indeed immortal. "But the curse lives for one thing and one thing only. To harm me or anyone around me in a way to make me as miserable as possible. It is simple on the outer layer but goes deeper than you know. But I am, I admit, exceptionally interested in learning anything you can tell me of its origins." He nods and says, "I can do chaos though..." he wants her interest, craves it because while he is a hero....he is also desperate to be free. "With any luck....we'll see a little bit of chaos."

Lucky Day has posed:
The truck full of chickens on its way to the butcher shop was doing well. Really it was, and taking the short cut through downtown was a bad idea. If he ran into a cop he might be arrested. But the brakes were undone. The thing was, Lucky had forgotten that the curse always did THE OPPOSITE of what he wanted so it was going to show the opposite of chaos...perfect Order...as the truck crashed through the doors, chickens splattering about, it had a perfect spray of the birds, one for each person present as it landed on their head. The people, moving in what seemed chaos at first, all ran at a perfect vector toward the center of the room, screaming in terror trying to get the birds off of their head and then slammed into each other face first, most of whom immediately lost their breath. In like lightning, out like a flash, Lucky hadn't used his Active luck in so long he looked on with true horror at the injuries, albiet non lethal that he had wroght.

Black Queen has posed:
A surprise, another bottle. Selene looks over at the bartender. It would not be so curious, except she tracked this bottle down herself. A vintage from the early 9th century. A medieval brew, literally, that managed to survive countless sieges, moved into new homes, never able to be used for a celebration or a meal. And it continued it's journey to eventually find itself here, at this place, and Selene's been the sole drinker, making sure she consumes the last of this bit of hope was almost a childish or superstitious thing to do, but... another one would be rather improbable, if not impossible.

There it is though. Something unlikely and unfathomable, the roots of it magic. "Of course." She drinks down the rest of her glass, and so ends her pursuit of one bit of hope that survived wars and battles, sieges and moves, rebuilds and purchases, the prohibition drunks from getting to it, development, and in sweet victory it could not avoid Selene. Though now it has, and she settles her glass on the bar to get a refill, one she thought she'd never have to do.

The bartender started to pour the liquid when his shock was felt by Selene more than seen and she held up two fingers quickly as an exercise of exerting will. Some spells need a hand gesture, as she froze him to prevent spilling her wine. She needed no eyes as she turned back to see, just in time, the rest of the doors shattering into the room and pieces falling in even locations without destroying a single table. And then the order began, a chicken destined towards Selene's head is simply swallowed by a sudden rift torn in the world, heat, for just a moment, excudes from the rift before it seals just as quickly. Bemused she laughs as people run into one another face first and fall the floor, having knocked their breath from themselves. "Mister Night. You do such wonderful things. Truly." She drops any dampening effect she's been having and any corrections to Tom's passive abilities as she takes in a deep breath and sighs out, "What else can you do? Could you cause gas mains to explode to the toon of Jingle Bells at Christmas? I know, it is easily accomplished by other means, but still, it would be entertaining. No? It is unfortunate these Chickens did not have rabies or ebola or something, but still, humorous."

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom suddenly realizes just how bad his luck has been here today. This is an immortal, and someone who even his active luck cannot counter. He might MIGHT be able to rely on the cyclic nature of his curse. But that was certainly it. Better to simply..not piss her off and that required neither liking nor disliking her too much. His curse laughed in equal delight to Selene. Worse, worst of all was the temptation to seek knowledge from her as he got a flash of that other life, possibly readable by Selene's telepathy of Lucky Day the Luck Mage humiliating Selene with a masterfully crafted bit of active luck, stopping a scheme she had spent centuries on in second, chuckling, winking and leaving by magic mirror while she was covered in mud. And ...whatever this thought was, it was either a false memory of such perfection that its skill actually exceeds her own, or someone had rewritten reality so totally that they had rewritten time...with not a hint of reality alteration or any evidence on him that it had been so. She can sense the TRUE scope of what has been done to Lucky and it is...a Greater power indeed. "I...might be able to do that ma'am." He has to know. HE HAS TO KNOW. "Would it be possible to arrange an exchange if you could do some...analysis?

Black Queen has posed:
Squinting for a moment at Tom, Selene doesn't tend to delve too deeply into the minds of others, she doesn't spend a lot of time caring what ohter people think beyond their meager surface thoughts. She does sense a memory of something in her past, something like something she'd of done. Though memories, hundreds upon thousands of lives worth of memories exist inside of her and to each she remembers with perfect clarity. The downside is there's a lot of memories to sift through, and she sits back for a moment. There's a slight decision to be made, as she's trying to recall this particular slight, does she just kill this man now or make him suffer? What does she do... and then there's something else, she remembers her first thought upon meeting Tom. She'd never met a Night before, and she smiles lightly. "Ooooh, devious." She says to no one in particular, and then grins more straight lined with her lips, wicked is all it looks like. The storybook villainous woman's smile, and she turns her grinning face with her slanted mischeviously evil eyes on Tom and she reaches out to him, but doesn't touch, "If I could just wear you for a day..." She sighs and shakes her head, "No, that would never work." And she leans back, her face growing more normal again, "An arrangement? An exchange. Dear Tom, are you sure you wish to make a deal? I can certainly help you know, what it is you wish to know, but favors... Mister Night are a dangerous thing to owe. 1 favor, and I shall do this analysis for you, and the favor, of course, will be decided later."

Just like some storybook villain...

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom lives in a world of stories, and his magic is old, older than almost all others. Fairy tales are just where it belongs. In fact that feels just right. Even the curse. Powerful....powerful primal magic that Selene has certainly encountered before that she can't...quite taste. Yet. But its there. Lucky knows its a bad idea. He knows the price is never worth it. And yet he has lived his entirely live like Tantalus pushing a rock up a hill. The nature of favors is a magic unto itself. The nature of the favor depends entirely on the utility of he results...but that could be a big favor indeed. He says, without hesitation, knowing what it will cost. "Yes."