Esme’s Wednesday evening odd encounter(Esme)
Date: 2025-07-16 17:13
(Esme’s Wednesday evening odd encounter(Esme):Esme)
[Wed Jul 16 2025]
Elysia Station, a side hallway
It is afternoon, about 95F(35C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds. It’s raining. The mist is heaviest At High and Blackstone/span>/spanGenevieve peers at Obadiah as if not understanding the point of what he just said about octopi. “My ice queen has an ice shotgun though.” She points out as if this is very important, nodding in agreement with Esme as she follows after the other woman. “I feel a lot more confident now I know Obie can go full kraken if need be.” She claims.
“Release the…” Kai starts preparing to yell the line and then he gives a light wave of his hand, “Meh,” he puts his hands into his pockets, “I’m glad it’s raining, it’s too fucking hot,” he mentions to the others and looks to Esme and Genevieve, “So what’s the plan?”
“Your right, the Ice Queen does have an ice shotgun and it is hella annoying,” Obadiah conceeds to Genevieve, “Plus those gold platted pistols are just… Sexy.” He clicks his tongue then and follows along with Esme, “Yeah… what are we even looking at?”
Genevieve beams a brilliant smile at Obadiah when he compliments her pistols. “Wet is worse when it’s hot really.” She claims to Kai, “You can’t cool down from sweating.” She points out, “Basically just further proving that the Temple are evil and they want to murder old women by heat induced cardiac failure.” She reasons.
“Sameee.” Esme agrees readily about Obadiah’s shifting. “So. My intel’s a lil’ shoddy but-” She starts and then her phone beeps and she reads over something and her expression turns utterly volatile for a moment. She breathes in deeply and exhales slowly, lifting her head to look at the group. “These Temple’s sons of bitches need an asskicking.” She begins. Helpful.
“My initial intel suggested there’s something in the water causing the nullification bullshit. Vie an’ I had the thought with the hurricane in Highgate seemingly comin’ from the Godrealm, we can maybe use that t’ are advantage and grab broken and blown away branches of the World Tree – soaked in this not-entirely-earthly water, and chuck ’em in the reservoirs.” She explains, starting to lead the group toward the Highgate border up the street to get a better look.
“Un-fucking-fortunately this report I just got…this might be a band-aid at best if the tree magic works. Cause the Temple’s been fuckin’ around with some virus creation and so yes, there is somethin’ in the water. But it’s the rain water, not necessarily our water. Un fuckin’ believable.”
Kai considers Genevieve’s words and at first he says, “Yeah but I like the rain…” and then he shrugs and nods in agreement, “True. Temple and Vigil are both terrible groups for terrible people,” he grins a little and looks to Esme, his gaze fixed on her as he listens, nodding a couple of times in agreement, “Oh… so it /is/ bad rain. Well. Fuck,” he complains as he follows after her, a glance given to Obadiah as the young aeromancer trails the group.
“Look at the Hand out here being all magnanimous,” Obadiah says in a teasing tone to Genevieve before turning his attention back to Esme, and thinks about this for a moment, “Firstly… I kinda want to fuck with Bayview now, just to be fair about things.”
After another breath he offers to the group, “So do we know anything more about the virus? Is there like a production facility in Northgate that we can… you know… make disappear?”
Genevieve pauses in the banter when Esme starts to speak, turning all her attention to the other woman with a small frown as she listens. “So they put some sort of anti-supernatural virus in the rain?” She asks, “That seems…” Obadiah’s suggestion makes her nod, “I’m no virologist but I know viruses can’t survive long outside of a host body, so they’d have to be constantly making and pumping out more of it to keep it up. Maybe we can just find where they’re doing that and let Obie Kraken drag it into the ocean?”
clarifies as they get closer to the edge. “So. They’ve been seeding shit, all over the world. And it’s just finally made it’s way here.” She slows her steps though, turning to look at Obadiah at his suggestion. “There might be. I mean. They’d have t’ have some kinda place set up t’ observe at the very least.” She agrees. “I’m not entirely unsold on the branches though. I see a few. Let’s grab them and then we’ll head into Arcadia Park. If I was going to be fucking shit up that involved water and rain, I’d try to set up shop in one of those outbuildings near the reservoir.” She concedes. “Worst case scenario, we found a band-aid and we’ll get closer to a surgical suture in the future.” She moves to grab a few thin and broken branches that have a slightly unearthly glow to them in the darker rainy atmosphere.
Kai gives a firm nod to Esme and looks around he heads away from the group, taking it upon himself to search for branches further away, he isn’t sure how many he needs so he starts to pick up many of them, stacking them in his arms like firewood, his eyes scanning the ground and low-hanging branches for likely wood that could be used for this anti-cleanse plan of theirs.
“You all in your beemers, and your bikes, Nice ones too,” Obadiah says as with a playful grumble as he heads over to the back of the mystery machine, and opens the back of the junker van so that any branches tha need to be transported can be loaded up safely. “What ever would you Sons do without the Court here to save your bikes.” He grins at them before going about starting to gather some branches himself.
Out near the world tree Genevieve can super jump just fine, and doe so, making a few preternatural leaps to snag lower level hanging branches and then carries them over to the back of Obadiah’s van to toss inside. “Oh thank you lord Obie for sparing our bikes from getting scratched by sticks.” She says faux-obsequiously.
“I couldn’t bare to see that rose gold finish scratched. It would break my cold heart,” Obadiah says, with a giggle for someone. The banter seems to have distracted him so much from the task at hand that he fails to find any branches himself though. Oh well.
“I couldn’t bare to see that rose gold finish scratched. It would break my cold heart,” Obadiah says, with a giggle for Genevieve. The banter seems to have distracted him so much from the task at hand that he fails to find any branches himself though. Oh well.
manages to keep hold of her branches and grins. “Truly, our hero.” She agrees, starting to drag branches back to the back of the van and toss them in. “You don’t bring tha Machine out nearly enough.” She decides to Obadiah, using the inner of the van as a bit of a shield to start examining a map of Arcadia Park while the other branches are hauled in.
Kai wanders back to the group after his outing searching for branches and asks, “Put these int he van?” he asks with a lift of his brows, a little smile on his face as he looks between the three with a light tilt of his head.
“Branches in the van.” Esme agrees with a motion. “Mmm okay. Alright. I think I’ve found a spot that could realistically be ideal for observation.” She taps something. “Let’s pile in tha van and I think Obie can drive us closer.”
Kai hauls the branches he gathered into the back of the van and climbs in to ride in the back, figuring one of his elders will want shotgun, so he pre-emptively gives up the fight for shotgun. He crouches down in the back of the van and wipes the rain from his face and rubs at his darkly circled eyes.
Genevieve shoves the branches a bit deeper and nods to Kai when he brings the branches back. “Can never have too many god branches.” She decides before starting to head back towards her bike before Esme proposes they instead pile in the van and she pouts slightly. “If I can’t get van smell out of my coat after this it’ll be your fault.” She tells her before immediately adding. “Shotgun!” And heading to the front passenger seat.
“I promise I’ll pay for tha dry cleaning.” Esme makes a cross her heart motion toward someone with a wink and laugh as she sends the gps tag to Obadiah and gets in the back.
“I promise I’ll pay for tha dry cleaning.” Esme makes a cross her heart motion toward Genevieve with a wink and laugh as she sends the gps tag to Obadiah and gets in the back.
The van is remarkably clean for a tacky piece of 70s nostalgia, and probably hasn’t had a joint smoked in it in at least 20 years. Maybe 10. “Buckle up,” Obadiah says as everyone piles in and he puts the key into the ignition and holds it there for a moment, closing his eyes, and then turning the key and stepping on the gas at the same time, while holding his mouth just so. Rituals, people, they work.
With a jump and a cough of black smoke out of the exhaust the thing sparks to life. Obadiah looks around and goes, “See? Better to be lucky than good. Where am I going Essy?”
The gps coordinates that Obadiah gets directed to lead to a service road entrances that takes a few minutes to pick a lock on by Esme, or any of the others with sticky fingers. This allows the group to wind their way down the muddied road toward their desination.
At first glance it seems like a nondescript guard post overlooking the resivor pond, but it’s not hard for experience Society people like themselves to see a Temple symbol etched in a subtle, but not totally obscure, location. “Alright. This has t’ be it. Let’s get inside and see what we can find.”
Kai drums his fingers lightly along the interior side of the van as they roll, he’s fucking around with the branches in the back and not paying attention to the outside of the vehicle so, for now at least, he misses the odd looking flowers.
Genevieve perfomatively sniffs once she’s in the van and seems mildly annoyed there’s no actual stank to complain about. “Should we bring the branches?” She wonders as she hops out of the van and studies the post, looking for any signs of guards or soldiers. “I swear the cleanse makes my eyesight worse.” She complains as she peers through the drizzle.
Kai climbs out of the van when they arrive and nods in agreement with Genevieve, “No magic shield, I can’t smell or hear far away… sucks,” he mutters to Genevieve and starts piling branches into his arms while he waits for direction from the rest of the group.
considers, looking around a beat. There’s a branching path from the service road – more meant for walking – that seems to also connect the guard building to reservoir “yeah. Yeah.” She decides of the branches. “Lets get them in the water first and then go inside.”
There does not immediately appear to be anyone actually guarding in the tower. Which could be good or bad. “Just be careful an’ keep your guard up.” She rakes another hand through her hair as she pushes the back of the van open to hop out and take a couple branches with her.
“I don’t feel very lucky today either,” Obadiah muses as he does a three point turn and backs down the rest of the road towards the access tunnel, looking over his shoulder as he does so.
Genevieve grabs a handful of the branches and carefully picks her way down to the reservoir before dropping them in and brushing her hands off. “Well at least my gun still works.” She says, making her way over to the entrance to the guard tower and slipping her handgun out from a shoulder holster as she holds it lightly in both hands and leans against the wall next to the door as she waits for someone to open it.
Kai trails the group, his hazel eyes bright as he looks around the reservoir and shifts the pile of branches in his arms, his gaze on Obadiah, Esme and Genevieve’s backs, a nod dropped when he’s told to be on guard, his gaze sweeps out around the little group, lips pressed together in thought. Once Genevieve sees fit to deposit her branches, in he goes with his, dumping them carelessly into the reservoir, “Viyo con dioz,” he mispronounces the Spanish phrase to the branches.
Obadiah grabs the last of the branches from the van and drags them down the hill to where the rest have been piled up. When Genevieve pulls out her gun he grins and says, “I will never get tired of being shot by that.” His task done he returns to the van and grabs his switchblade from under the seat, “So off to the research building?”
The branches hitting the water have some subtle reaction, glowing a little brighter as they bounce and then float. It’s the beginnings of some kind of chain reaction but Esme doesn’t stick around to see it through. There’s some vague amusement with Kai’s mispronouncation as her attention turns toward the guard tower with a small frown forming in place of the smile. “Yep.” She nods to Obadiah.
She pops the handle, nodding toward Genevieve to let her go in first and Obadiah second as she withdraws her own pistol to bring up the rear with Kai.
The immediate interior seems like nothing special, just an actual standard observation room, sparsely decorated. The very blatant metal trap door is probably another story. It doesn’t appear to be locked, but if there is anyone here, it’s possible they’re down there.
Genevieve waits for everyone to join her by the door and then a moment after Esme’s nod she pushes in and sweeps her gun over the inside of the room, she crinkles her nose a little when she notes the trap door. “Don’t suppose anyone brought any grenades?” She wonders as she heads over to it.
Kai steps to the right once he’s entered the room with the group, his hands free for the time being, gaze right on that trap door like a cat looking at a ball of yarn it wants to play with. He resists the temptation though and instead gives the room a quick scan and glances to Genevieve, Esme and Obadiah, evidently fine with following their lead. When Genevieve asks about grenades, however, he lights up with a grin and pulls one out from his backpack, offering it to her.
“Not my kind of shock and awe,” Obadiah says to Genevieve, and stays behind her and Kai when he produces one. His knife opens with a schiitck and he holds back, watching and waiting.
Genevieve grins at Kai when he hands her exactly what asked for, kneeling by the trap door and slipping her gun away to pull the pin, holding the grenade lever down as she grabs the handle of the trap door with her other hand, and then swiftly pulls it up, tosses in the grenade and then closes it again until she hears the muffled thump of it going off and then she yanks the trapdoor open again.
The flashbang gets tossed down and even with any losses of acute hearing there’s a loud, if muffled, bang that doesn’t quite shake the foundation but it definitely sends some vibrations through the feet of the upper floor.
There’s a couple muffled shouts and one shrill-like cry of surprise in the wake of the bang that become a little clearer when the trapdoor opens again. Whoever is down there is definitely still disoriented and scrambling. The group can detect probably a party of three at minimum.
Esme reaffirms the grip on her pistol, nodding for the group to head down.
Kai draws a pair of knives and at first, he takes a step, but then he hesitates and glances at the others, Obadiah in particular, and hangs back, not yet ready to dive in through the open trapdoor into the room where the enemy’s waiting.
Obadiah waits for Kai and Genevieve to do the heavy lifting of the door and jump down to be heros if they want to do be, he is content to hang back with Esme for now, though once the door is open he is ready to jump in.
Genevieve whips her pistol back out and just jumps right into the hole.
Kai once Genevieve jumps down he blows out a breath and follows, jumping down into, hopefully, a roll that breaks his fall and launches a knife at the nearest enemy he can see.
Obadiah has no problems jumping in after Genevieve and coming to a crouch with his blade in a reverse grip position.
As it turns out, when the group hits the bottom, there are four people in the spacious research room and three of them do look armed – if not still disoriented as they scramble and try to reach for their weapons. The fourth person looks like some kind of researcher and they’re cowering under a table. Genevieve and Obadiah are able to hit the marks they’re going for. Kai, whether due to his own fault or simply the fault of fate and bad luck, isn’t able to hit his intended target.
Esme brings up the rear of the party, ignoring the goons as she tries to look at the room as a whole, spotting what may or may not be useful. “We’re gonna need them.” She points to the cowering researcher
Kai stumbles a bit as he lands, his inexperience with acrobatics clear as he manages to roll to break his fall, but the momentum carries him off to the side and fouls his throw. He grimaces and immediately goes to dive for cover with a little yelp.
“Probably not worth trying to make this a thing.” Genevieve advises the one remaining uninjured goon as she goes to grab the researcher to drag with them at gun point. “Obie water lord, you think there’s a way to flood this place from the reservoir or something?” She asks.
“I got him,” Obadiah says as he makes his way towards the researcher to grab him by the collar and drag him over to Genevieve. “I imagine so, let me see if I can find it.”
The uninjured goon does get a shot off in the initial chaos, but it goes wide. Clearly outgunned, he backs off for the moment. “Just let me take him and get outta here.” He insists about the researcher, holding the non-gun-toting hand out.
The researcher looks terrified, as he one should when ambushed. “Whatever you want to know I-I’ll tell you! All my notes are there!” He points to the table he was hiding under.
While Obadiah is trying to find some weak spots, Esme moves over to the research table to see if there’s anything useful that can be gleaned for potential future use. “Pretty fuckin’ terrible what you all are doing.” She comments idly.
“Trying to rid you all of your cursed existences and give you back your lives?” The soldier counters, but it’s rhetorical.
It’s a research facility and something of an underground bunker. Reinforced but not For Knox. A couple well placed explosives could theoretically be enough to break open a path for the reservoir water to get in.
Obadiah looks over to Kai, “What else do you have in that bag of tricks? Any breaching charges or…. big boombas?”
Kai peeks up from behind his cover and stands up, he shakes his head at Obadiah, “Nah, I’d just blow myself up, I don’t have anything but smoke now, sorry,” he tells the man and looks between the researcher and soldier, his fingers a little shaky from adrenaline as he sheathes the remaining knife in his hand.
“Ok I say we grab the research and head out.” Genevieve opines, “Now we know the weak points can circle back in a bit to take it out and I think we’ve done enough to deal with the problem for now yeah?” She says, checking with Esme.
nods in agreement as she takes up the notebooks. “Yeah. We’re good.” She looks between the soldier and the research with disdain. For good measure she leverages her pistol and shoots out several glass displays and one thing that looked like it was measuring something. “Let’s get out of there. You two stay put while we’re feelin’ generous.” She instructions the Temple people as she moves back toward the ladder.
Obadiah nods to Genevieve but doesn’t release the researcher, “Take…” he starts to ask but then shrugs and throws the guy back to his friend at Esme’s order, already heading towards the ladder to get out of here. “All drive us all back and then I am sure the Order and Hand will both want to have a long conversation with these chuckle heads.”
Kai is all too eager to get the fuck out and he jogs along after the group, waiting his turn to climb the ladder, his eyes warily on the researcher and soldier, “Yeah uh… keep your hands on your heads or something.”
Genevieve vaguely keeps her pistol pointed in the direction of the remaining goon as the others head up the ladder and then she heads up herself as well, slipping her pistol away as she makes her way back towards Obadiah’s van.
The group is able to make it back up and out without any more issue. While the problem may not be entirely solved, they have more information than they did before. With some reinforcements called in, the two Temple associates will be dealt with and it is no longer Their Problem. On top of that, despite of (or in spite of) the Cleanse, the World Tree’s magical healing and life properties seem to be working in the reservior, the water glowing as it works like white blood cells to erradicate the virus and hopefully over the next while work its way into the rest of the water supply to combat the rain.
exhales heavily, “Fuckin aces.” She moves toward her bike. “Great job guys. I’ll send you copies ah this paperwork for the Hand Vie. I’m sure it’ll be a group effort if they do this bullshit again.” She grins to the group. “Good workin’ with you all.”
Kai follows the group once they get out of the building, he nods at Esme, “Nice working with you too, all of you!” he is quick to add and once they’re back to the cars, he heads for his, ‘Later guys!” he tells Genevieve and Obadiah.
“I’ll chat to some of the Sons about circling back with some pipe bombs.” Genevieve claims when the van gets back to their vehicles and nods at Esme, “Sounds like a plan.” She agrees, heading towards her own bike. “Excellent tree branch removing and Temple dude shooting everyone.” She adds.
Obadiah gives a flick of his wrist in a two finger salute to the other three, “The court thanks you for helping get rid of this thing in our borough.” He winks faintly then is back in his van unless anyone stops him.
thumbs up and checks her phone briefly. “I’ll see ya at home.” She offers to Obadiah, giving another wave and driving off