Juliet’s Saturday evening odd encounter(Juliet)

June 29, 2025

Date: 2025-06-28 20:21

(Juliet’s Saturday evening odd encounter(Juliet):Juliet)

[Sat Jun 28 2025]

In Room 107, Windermere Dormitory/span>/spanRoom 107 sits along the ground floor corridor of the Windermere Dormitory,
its heavy wooden door bearing the brass numerals that have darkened with age.
The rectangular space contains two narrow beds positioned against opposite
walls, each accompanied by a simple wooden desk and chair. A tall window with
divided panes looks out toward the university grounds, its glass slightly
warped from decades of New England weather. The hardwood floors, worn smooth
by countless students, creak softly underfoot, particularly near the radiator
that stands beneath the window. Built-in wardrobes of dark wood line one
wall, their doors hanging slightly askew on hinges that have loosened over
time. The white plaster walls show faint cracks near the corners, and the
overhead light fixture, an ornate brass piece from an earlier era, casts
uneven shadows when the bulb flickers. A faint mustiness lingers in the air,
the accumulated scent of old wood, steam heat, and the passage of many
academic years./span>/spanIt is about 60F(15C) degrees. The mist is heaviest At Maple and Lake/span>/span(Your target discovers a ghost anchored to a seemingly mundane object in a pawn shop or estate sale. The ghost is desperate to complete unfinished business but can only communicate through manipulating electronics and moving small objects. The characters must decipher what the ghost needs before the object is sold to someone else who might not survive the haunting.)

It’s evening in the dorms at Windermere, and Juliet is here, gossiping with Nemi in the ordinary fashion, when something moves… It’s not the sort of thing someone would notice at first, except that it is a glass bowl that falls off a counter and crashes, breaking in two, something stolen from the cafeteria. “Huh,” Juliet says, turning to look at it. If there was a cat, that would make sense. This? This doesn’t make sense. “Uh…” She pauses. “That’s, uh, weird.”

Nemi eeps, jumping to the side and hugging the wall away from the fallen bowl as her eyes look so darn tired. Having mentioned that she got zero sleep last night she sighs a bit, looking up to the shelf and back towards Juliet as she chuckles lightly to them. “G-gave me a tiny heart attack there….” She admits, eyes a bit on edge- as usual with Insomnia while she stands there shaking a bit as she breaths in…. and breaths out while struggling to calm down until she eventually does.

“Everything okay?” Juliet asks Nemi, looking at the bowl. “Yeah,” she says. “That’s-” She’s interrupted, when both Nemi and Juliet’s phone begins to ring at the same time. She goes to answer it, saying, “Hello?”

Nemi looks towards her phone, almost jumping as she eeps…. raising it to take what she thinks is a collect call to her ear as she stammers out a hesitant. “H-hello?”

Both phones? Only static. Nothing besides static, just loud, strange static. It seems to modulate, rising and falling, like some eerie undulation. Juliet looks up. “Hello?” she asks again, worried. “Hello?”

Nemi looks to her phone, moving her finger closer to the hang up button as she fails to say another word, eyes narrowing a bit as she takes a sharp breath in.

Nemi does not need to hang up: instead, her phone goes dead. So does Juliet’s phone, both at the same time, and at the exact same time the lights go out, completely out. For a moment, blackness reigns in Nemi’s dorm room, but then the lights flicker back on, for just a second. The flicker quickly: blinking off, off, off, in rapid succession, and then again, off–off–off, this time off for three seconds each time, before blinking once more off, off, off quickly.

Nemi thinks, looking about as she tenses her muscles, gripping the hilt of her blade…. it could’nt have morse code…. maybe?… E or T… S…O…S She takes a breath in…. “S…O…S?” She questions, looking over to Juliet. “It’s morse code- The first one was a T… but that does’nt fit the rest-” She states. “The lights flickering off fit Morse-” She states, breath in and out fast as she knows part of the message at least.

The lights stop blinking, remaining on, steady. Juliet asks Nemi, “What’s morse code?” She’s staring at the lights. “And, uh… SOS… Who is sending us an SOS?” There is a crash again, as the glass that went with the dish goes off the counter. It is made of plastic, though, so it doesn’t break.

Nemi ughs softly, thinking a bit of how to explain fast. “It’s a form of encoded transmission, Basically think ones and zeros, On and off. So if you’d do more code in the wild trying to signal help from a ship. Start a fire, a big fire, take a blanket and let the smoke burn. “S is three rapid blinks, so you’d cut the fire off three times/ O is three long blinks. So youd cut the smoke off three LONG times, And another S is well, Again three short cut offs of the smoke. It basically means help, yes.”

Nemi ughs softly, thinking a bit of how to explain fast. “It’s a form of encoded transmission, Basically think ones and zeros, On and off. So if you’d do more code in the wild trying to signal help from a ship. Start a fire, a big fire, take a blanket and let the smoke burn. S is three rapid blinks, so you’d cut the fire off three times/ O is three long blinks. So youd cut the smoke off three LONG times, And another S is well, Again three short cut offs of the smoke. It basically means help, yes.” She states and nods. “T is just One LONG cut off like the first time the lights turned off-” she states and nods softly. Anxiety having calmed a bit.

Nemi says “I don’t know all of the letters though… just SOS and a few random ones… So if we run into more… we’re screwed…“

The lights begin to blink again, now, and they are moving quickly… perhaps more quickly that Nemi can follow. Indeed, they have the rapidity of someone stressed out, as if a nervous finger is flicking the lightswitch over and over again, too much and too rapidly. “What are they saying?” Juliet asks Nemi.

Nemi slowly dies inside as she turns and shrugs softly. Looking to the light as she yells. “HEY! I just said I only know a few letters thats not fair!” She yells out into the air as she holds her head, closing her eyes as the flickering hurts far too much for her to even attempt to follow….

“Nemi?” Juliet asks Nemi, reaching out to put a hand on her. “Are you okay?” The frenetic flickering of the lights continues, going far too fast for anyone to follow. After a moment, they seem to peter out, but there’s a sense of frustration. This time, it’s a book: and it hurls itself across the room. The lights start to flicker again, returning to … — … : S-O-S.

Nemi sighs softly, taking a moment from the blinking lights as she luckily is’nt hit by the book but turns to notice it as she runs towards and grabs it. “T-to much- Not enough sleep- Eyes are tired but I can’t sleep properly…” She states as she holds her head and sighs, steadying herself, getting a look at the books title as she takes a breath in.

The fit of pique seems to subside, and then there’s just a flutter through everything electrical. “Is it…” Juliet looks over at Nemi. “Is it trying to talk to us?” she asks. “I don’t know how… I don’t know how to communicate. I don’t speak Morse Code.”

Nemi sighs softly. “It hears us- it hears us.” she states with a nod, double checking what she said as she nods. “I do- it’s simple- When the line turns off it is a dot or a dash. If it turns off for… three seconds- Its a dash… if only one second, its a dot. And if there’s a long pause between dots or dashes. it’s moving onto the next letter or word.” she states, giving a thumbs up if juliet follows as she opens the book, trying to see if anything about morse code is in here- Looking for dots, dashes, or dots and dashes next to letters and or numbers with the word international somewhere above the whole thing.

Nothing in the book. Nothing helpful, really, in the book, as Juliet frowns at Nemi. She bites her lip. The book is just a textbook, the one nearest perhaps to Nemi. “Can you hear us?” she asks the air. “Uh. Turn the lights off if you can,” she says.

Immediately, the lights go off, lingering there for a moment before they go back on. “Well,” Juliet tells Nemi. “That’s something. What do we ask next?”

Nemi hums softly…. nodding a bit. Humming she nods. “We could do this- Nearly as fast as morse code… More importantly- one for yes- Two for no. Can you see us?” She asks curiously.

The lights go off, then on again. “Yes?” Juliet hazards, interpreting it with a look over at Nemi. She scoots closer to the other girl, clearly a little concerned. The lights flick off and then back on again. Answering Juliet’s question? A delayed ‘no’? It’s unclear.

Nemi nods softly. “Well add three blinks for not sure.” She states with a nod. “Right- We can do this relatively fast… Do you think you’re… dead?” She asks curiously with a raise of an eyebrow.

The light goes off. It stays off, for a long time, and then it comes back on. Juliet helpfully interprets, “Yes. They think they’re dead.” She pauses. “Uh, are you a guy or a girl?” she asks. The lights go off again, and then there are three blinks. Then she looks at Nemi. “How can they not be sure?”

Nemi hums softly. “Purgatory- Comatose- Inbetween the two? existing but not- Several entities could do that… I think- Okay so they can generally see us- Not sure if their dead- They know what morse code is so their from earth and not the other or anywhere else.” She states with a soft nod. “Are you in a coma but somethings keeping you from waking up?” She asks curiously.

“I thought they said they were dead?” Juliet asks. The lights flicker again, and then the dark-haired girl looks to Nemi. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to do with ghosts,” she admits to the other girl. “Like. What makes ghosts?”

Nemi nods as she sighs a bit. “Do you- Know where you were last- We’re you living in new haven?” she asks, pausing, waiting, and with whatever answer she gets she asks one more question. “Did you know the year is twenty twenty five?”

Now two blinks, the lights flickering, and then a single blink. Separated? Maybe. Juliet looks over at Nemi. “I hope they aren’t trying to threaten us, at least,” she says, and then she asks. “Do you want something from us?” A blink: yes. “What do you want?” Three blinks, because that’s not a yes or no question at all. Juliet isn’t good at this game.

Nemi nods softly, sighing. “You lived here in new haven but did’nt know the year was twenty twenty five- I’m sorry hun but you are dead- and staying here is not going to help because the longer you do the more you sort of- lose yourself- muddled with your thoughts ghosts commonly get violent as they lose a sort of energy and parts of themselves- or they dont and it grows and then they get more violent and destructive- Now…. Hm…. was an item in this room something you owned?” She asks curiously.

A book flies, thumping hard against the door to the hallway. Juliet follows the flight of the book. “Is that a no?” she wonders. The lights flash once, for yes. “Wait,” Juliet asks Nemi. “Is that yes, it’s a no? Or no, it’s a yes?”

Nemi says “Do you want us to leave?“

Nemi asks quite simply.

The lights off, then on again. Juliet rises from the bed. “We should?” Juliet asks Nemi, looking to the other girl and her superior occult knowledge for some guidance.

Nemi looks over. “I can’t do that- I mean- I live here-? Its the college dorms.” She states, and then looks up. “Okay wait- we’ll leave- but- Only if you allow order- personnel to come help you move on- NON violently since you’re not violent and only just asking people to leave. okay? I know people far more specialized to help you than me.” she states with a nod.

Nemi says “So is that a yes that you’ll allow specialized orderites to come help you move onto the after life later on?“

There’s a frustration again, and then another book hits the door, harder. This one tears a little. Juliet asks, tentatively, “Do you want us to follow you somewhere? Is that what you mean by leave?” She looks over at Nemi for confirmation, and then there is a flicker of lights, again… yes.

Nemi nods.” one flash right, two left.” she states. Following the roadtrip they now go on as she takes Juliet’s hand with a smile.

Left. Sinister, always, as the lights flash twice. Rising, Juliet goes to open the door, stepping out with Nemi holding her hand.

Outside, the hallway starts to ripple… the overhead lights running in a wave down the hall of dorms, like an arrow pointing towards a small janitor’s closet.

Nemi nods softly… following the way to the janitors closet, sighing as she moved and turns the hand to the door once they get in front of it as they easily follow the lights….

Inside the janitor’s closet is… nothing. The lights begin to flicker, though, pulsing with excitement. Still, there’s nothing here that seems to draw the eye. “What are we looking for?” Juliet asks, perhaps Nemi, perhaps the spirit. She looks to Nemi for help.

Nemi hums. “Something- Out of the normal-” she states. “Is it on the shelves?” She asks simply.

The lights flash twice. No.

Nemi nods softly. “Floor?”

Now, the lights flash once. The floor is tiled, with a drain in the center, as Juliet looks over at Nemi. “Have you… done something like this before?” she wonders, dropping to her knees to start searching the floor. She looks under the cabinets. “I don’t see anything here,” she says.

Nemi nods softly to Juliet. “Oh i’m a bit sensitive especially to ghostly disturbances but thats about it- Usually the powerful ones- My luck is HORRRIBLE.” she states with a soft nod.

Nemi says “you know ghost!“

Nemi says “If I could- get money from you I would force you to pay the stupid wishes jar.“

Nemi nods firmly.

Nemi says “I can’t hear your wishes… i think…“

Nemi says “Wait no… thats not- Oh god I’m sorry I take that back its not coming from you ghost dear-“

Now Juliet’s fingers find the drain. She tries to pull. “It’s screwed in,” she says to Nemi. “Do you have a screwdriver?”

Nemi takes a breath in. “So it’s there- nope!” She states, But she does unsheath…. Guilt. Taking the massive, heavy sword and striking the metal drain to shatter it with force.

“Wow. Uh. Where did you have that?” Juliet asks, when Nemi produces a longsword, highlander style, from her leggings, skirt, and blouse. She looks shocked and surprised.

That will do it. The drain shatters, and then inside? Glinting under now too-bright lights? There is a single bronze gear. Juliet looks in. “Uh… is that it?” she asks, and the lights begin to blink rapidly in excitement.

Nemi nods softly… looking about for where a gear may fit as she hums softly. “Do you want us to break it?” She asks as she looks for a gearbox or something.

There is nowhere for a gear to fit… in fact, it seems old, like out of place. From Biringan? The lights blink once, yes. “Is that a yes?” Juliet asks. “Can you… break it?”

Nemi hums. Thinking for a moment. “It’s bronze so it is’nt entirely weak- but-” she states, looking around for anything, a repair or welding torch of sorts operated by gas… but otherwise she takes her hands, gripping the two edges to do her best to really SNAP it in half.

There’s a boom, and then the gear splinters into little shatters of bronze underneath Nemi’s crushing, giant blade. Juliet steps back, shocked, but immediately the frantic, anxious flickering of the lights ceases. Juliet asks, in a quiet voice, “Is it gone?”

Nemi looks to someone. waiting for any flickering lights but when non comes she shakes her head softly. “Yeah…. he’s gone…. ooo… look at the time.” She states, leading Jenny from the closet as she takes the pieces, pocketing them in a small pouch. “I’ll bury them later where the rest of the janitors for the Ivory quarter and college staff are usually buried on average tomorrow.” She states as she nods softly. “Let’s head out for now okay? I’ve a party to get too.” She states with a soft smile.

Nemi looks to Juliet. waiting for any flickering lights but when non comes she shakes her head softly. “Yeah…. he’s gone…. ooo… look at the time.” She states, leading Jenny from the closet as she takes the pieces, pocketing them in a small pouch. “I’ll bury them later where the rest of the janitors for the Ivory quarter and college staff are usually buried on average tomorrow.” She states as she nods softly. “Let’s head out for now okay? I’ve a party to get too.” She states with a soft smile.

“See you,” Juliet tells Nemi with a hug. “And, uh… thank you? I wouldn’t know how to handle this myself. Thank God you know Morse code!” Then she’s off, leaving Nemi to her party.

“I’ll call you if I need you.” Cadalie informs of her bodyguards- a few supplicants shaded in religious wear- ushering them to stay just outside.

“The Sons have a hacker who is stealing Tamar’s data,” Thomas tells Cadalie and Meridith. “I believe he — or at least some member of his collective — lives here. I suggest we pay him a visit.” With a smile — and a muttered invocation — he summons some wind to open the door.

Inside, there is, sure enough, what appears to be a hacker’s habitual level of self-destructive slovenliness, with cheetos over the couch and too much TV on. A sallow-faced man isn’t paying attention to the TV — he’s paying attention to his three computer screens. When he looks up, at the door being thrown open, it’s some shock.

Meridith rubs her face and lets out a low growl. “Fuck I hate the Sons. Such an embarassment to my kind. Buncha dorks. Not all gods are fuckin’ western you goddamn revisionist losers!” She shakes her fist and bellows out to the neighbourhood. “Fuck yeah. I’m in. Let’s fuck them up.” She bounces on her feet and pulls her sword out. She hmphs.

Metal in two places; Her left hand and right, the sheen of a digital light glinting off the etchings of a dagger and a long barrel as Cadalie lowers her gaze to the figure across. “Hello, honey. Be smart. For your salvation can come from your lips by word or through the tip of my Sister’s sword.”

“Which will it be?”

Meridith doesn’t swoon at Cadalie’s ridiculous statement. No sirree. It doesn’t have the kind of energy a weeb in hear late twenties treats like catnip.

There is some low smile. “Here’s the thing, friend,” Thomas tells the sallow-faced man. “My friends and I are working on behalf of a person you’re targeting for your friend Jakem,” he says. “She’s a nice enough girl,” he says. “But more than that?” It’s a step towards the hacker. “This isn’t worth what we are going to do to you.” He glances at Meridith. “I solved your concern, by the way,” he says, before he nods to Cadalie. “I’ll be honest,” he tells the hacker. He lets that hang.

The hacker scrambles to his feet. “Honest about what?” he asks, his eyes full of some concern. He’s looking between them, looking for a way out. His wish for that is strong; so is his fear of getting caught.

“Hmph…” Meridith smirks. and drags her blade across the ground. Etching the surely high quality wood flooring. Treating wood floor is such a pain, goodness. Miserable. Well, that’s all in a days work for Meridith. Right now, she keeps her eyes on a swivel, keeping her eyes open for ambushes or other defenses.

Cadalie goes ahead and wanders on the side of the door, setting herself like a snare to providence at the exist, almost turning her back with a side-eye like she might turn the other way to whatever horrible honesty might come.

at the exit, Cadalie means.

“Honestly,” Thomas tells the hacker. “Honestly we’re still probably going to hurt you,” he says. “Meri, can you grab him?” he asks, casually: grabbing people seems to be below the sorcerer’s level of work. “But it won’t be as much, and when you’re done, you’ll be happy to clear whatever worm –” He says it like ‘wyrm’ “– or daemon you’ve infected the poor girl with.”

The hacker is definitely turning, now: he’s trying to flee deeper into the house.

For this, Cadalie looks to Meridith before she even considers a warning shot. For the mass of a bullet is not the mass of a full body tackling another- and the latter really just does a few things helpful.

Meridith(@Me: How many bounces…?)

Cadalie doesn’t know. It’s like rolling with advantage but who knows how many you get? If they’re consumed? Might as well just roll with none.

Meridith growls out a hot, “NO YOU DON’T! -FUCKER-!” She springs out fast and quick, attempting to gain on the Hacker. She moves in a relative blurr, superhuman performance from a five foot whatever girl, and delivers a swift kick into the side of his ankle to take him down. Knowing if he moves from there, she’ll catch him with the blade next.

The hacker tumbles — it’s a hard fall, as his blue-glow-emitting smartphone tumbles from his hand. Was he calling 911? The Sons? Who can say. It’s an oof, unpleasant, and he is for a moment stunned.

Looking over at Cadalie, Thomas smiles. “She is one of the sharpest of thorns,” he says to the woman, though it’s perhaps hard not to get the impression that he’s discussing Meridith like she is an extremely well-bred foxhound. “You brought this on yourself, didn’t you?” he asks the hacker.

Cadalie begins her calm foray into the room, squinting at the monitors as blue light meets blue eyes. Her footsteps cross slowly, one foot set diligently in front of the other. “She is. Not so sharp as to stab everyone she sees, too.” She compliments as she steps over to the phone and is promptly gated right at the staggered lock-screen from gaining too much information.

Meridith licks her lips brief, giving a cocky grin as she encircles the hacker apraising him like a wolf might. Certainly not riding high on a sense of helpfulness like a gal fiending for a fix. “Not until he proves himself too dumb to do the smart thing and help us make things right.” She grins wide and toothy.

“Now. I’ve forgotten the thorn beast’s tether in my harness at home, so I’m without spell comp-po-nentssss.” Cadalie hisses, starting the math, measuring with her wingspan the diameter of the space allowed to her. “So. No one’s gonna help you now. It’s just us between you and God, and I’m afraid to say you’ll be sorely disappointed in the absence you find.” She kneels down and begins to make a cut with her blade along his triceps.

“Hold him down?” Thomas asks Meridith and Cadalie. He walks to the kitchen, finds a salt shaker, and pops the lid off with some strength. Then he begins to pace around the trio. “Harness?” he wonders of Cadalie, teasing. “Exactly what sort of harness do you have at home, Sister?”

On the ground, the man is writhing. “No!” he says. “Please, I’ll do whatever!”

“A cute one!” Cadalie answers conversationally as she presses her knee into his back and lifts his arm with one hand and grabs his nose like a chimpanzee with the other. “It’s a corset harness, so it buckles below the breast at the hips. I’ll show you later.”

Meridith giggles at this seemingly unnecessary torture, for one reason or another. She steps around him and places a foot down on his chest. Pinning him there blade resting in the ground, inches from his head. Ever present. She smiles down at him. “Then don’t move,” she insists of his insistance he would do whatever.

On the ground, the hacker says, “No! I’ll stop it! I’ll do whatever!” he says. “You do not need to be torturing me with a fucking sword!” he yells, increasingly panicked. “Just let me up, let me get to my computer, and I’ll do it!”

The circle completes, and Thomas smiles. “Give me a moment,” he explains to Meridith and Cadalie. “I’d like a funnel for his suffering: we will make it some offering to the powers the Conclave has made its arrangements with.” He pauses. “Though given his willingness?” he says. “I think we can take only a little.” He begins to chant, circling the salt now counter-clockwise as he produces and then lights the stub of a black candle. “I’ll need a little blood,” he says. “To sanctify the sacrifice to them. His is best.”

Cadalie does to exactly this. From the wound she cut in his triceps, she man mandles this arm down to the side and promptly lets go of his nose to dig her finger inside of it. Once he is bled suitably, she pats him like a nurse on a blood drive and smiles wholesome to his voice. “Meri? I’m gonna cut my thigh a little bit. Hold ’em steady.”

Dropping the pantyhose which takes her loafers with the motion, she makes a neat cut on her thigh and lets the blood flow freely down her leg.

Cadalie does a little cut

Cadalie gets a little pain.

“Awww…” Meridith pouts eagerly as Thomas mentions his poor quality suffering. Then giggles and gestures over. Eying Cadalie close, acutely. For. Probably very good and not at all distracted reasons. She lets Cadalie do most of the work, ready to stick a man as needed.

Blood sizzles as Cadalie’s blood mingles with the man’s. He is mostly just babbling, now. “Meridith,” he tells Meridith. “I trust you to take the measure of the man’s suffering,” he says to her. “I commend it to you — to your…” He smiles. “Your discretion. Measure what his misery is worth,” he says to Meridith. “And then we will let him earn his relief by ending this cybernetic assault.”

Around all of them — Cadalie, Meridith, and the helpless man — the circle of salt seems as if it is sending off shuddering heat waves.

Meridith hesitates a moment, “Ah! Um! That’s work of the uhm. I mean,” she is briefly on the back foot as it’s possibly clear she has no clue how to measure suffering at all. One might assume she briefly glances for a ruler. Now, of course, this brief panic also triggers a not insignificant amount of suffering herself as she fears the obvious possibility of appearing less useful all of a sudden.

The librarian leans forward, his voice now urging Meridith on. “Hurt him,” Thomas tells Meridith. “It is not his body that needs to suffer — it is his soul. His dignity,” he tells her. “His self-respect.” And hers, perhaps?

On the ground, the man is begging, now: “Please,” he says, through huge, jagging sobs. “Please, no. Please…”

“Did you forget your ring?” Cadalie sours to Meridith as her her bare leg bleeds for this Hollowed ground! She crosses her arms and tries in vain to be put off as her face moves into a heartwarmed grin. “I’d recommend the nose. It’s what everyone will see first.”

Meridith exhales deeply. Her gaze for a moment lands on Thomas and she eases, calm now. She nods. “Got it.” A hand drifts into her pocket, and perhaps, puts something on. She pivots and a quick slash catches clothing and part of his fore arm. She was barely looking. She seems content with her efforts. She digs her sword into the floor and pulls it against his ribs, flaying a quarter inch. She smiles down at him. Giggling once. “You’re so -fucked-”

This is some explosion of pain on the part of the man on the ground: for Cadalie, perhaps, it is almost overwhelming, and as he starts to scream, the salt seems to glow green, as if energy from it is radiating out only to be caught in a spiral that circles up to the heavens.

Knife held in her palm, Cadalie rubs her pointer and thumb together mnemonically- having a pleasant dream under bemused yet furrowed brows.

“That’s enough,” Thomas says finally. “Let him get back to his computer.” He smiles. “He has a hack to undo, after all, and we?” He looks outside. “We should be gone, before the Sons’ response team gets here.”

Meridith closes her eyes and exhales, feeling something ease off her shoulders. She looks lighter on her feet than when she arrived, and smiles bright. “Up you go,” She insists, sweet as can be to the man, blade sheathed.

Someone’s made a famously lovely joke, as Cadalie breaks out into laughter- snorting at a real knee-slapper, trying to contain her guts with both hands desperately clinging to her lungs.

The hacker staggers to his feet, sobbing. Cadalie’s laughter seems to just make him shrink on himself, and he looks at Meridith through tear-stained eyes. Thomas swipes away some salt, breaking the circle, and it is an awful slump into the chair. “Go on,” Thomas tells the hacker. “Make it so.”

A breeze tells Cadalie it’s time to put back on the sheet black pantyhose, and she does so with eyes mostly shut. It’s all physical routine, dressing one’s self. Her thoughts are still stuck to the circle.

Meridith seems sincerely concerned for the poor man. And gently pushes and prods, definitely not against his now gently flayed side, until he’s into position and gotten working. She gazes back

Keystrokes, one, two, three… and then it seems as if it is done. Thomas turns to look at Cadalie and Meridith. “Time to go,” he tells them. “I think our friend here has plenty enough to occupy him.” Then he is on his way out the door, hopefully with Cadalie and Meridith following behind.

looks at Cadalie and Meridith. “It’s time for us to get out of Aurora Heights,” he says, striding out of the house.

Thomas looks at Cadalie and Meridith. “It’s time for us to get out of Aurora Heights,” he says, striding out of the house.

Meridith is still in logging. She waves to Constance as she makes her way down, making an escape alongside the pair.

“It’s over,” Thomas tells Constance, walking out with Meridith and Constance. “Time for us to find another place to be, probably.”

Cadalie is too! She comes down from a good night out, beaming at the cobble with an arch in each step. “Connnnnie!” She adds a Motown vocal fry to her greeting.

Thomas says “But at least it will get you to the Quarter.“

Thomas says “Unless you need me to drop you somewhere?“

Meridith bows her head to Thomas. “The pleasure was mine, I assure you.”

Thomas says “Yes, I am going to turn in for the night shortly.“

“Alright, Chief.” Cadalie hums, leaning against the window and counting the streetlights like stars.

It’s a tight squeeze in a couple, with Thomas, Constance and Cadalie, but here we are. “Good night, ladies.”