Wednesday, February 01, 2023...again

We're doing a Groundhog's Day

• We're in the midst of scrambling about as we realize what has happened
  • We make what plans we can to prepare for the repeat of tomorrow
  • Aoife offers to drive me to Will's place in the morning
  • All of the bad events transpired between 10:00 and noon
• We eventually go to bed and do recover Willpower as normal

Thursday, February 02, 2023...again

Let's try this again

Declan's morning

• Aoife drops me off at Will's apartment in midtown
  • I make a note of Will's address in my address book (not thinking that it may disappear if the day resets again)
  • Aoife comes in with me and I knock on the door but there's no answer
    • She thinks she might have heard something from inside, whether it was his voice or the TV, she's not certain, so we knock again and call out his name
  • I manage to pull off a use of Mooch to produce Will's keys and use them to unlock the door
    • ...and the alarm system starts chirping for the code
    • It's still set to the night alarm, not the away during the day one
  • I think I might hear something coming from what is probably the bedroom, and leave Aoife at the security panel to go investigate
    • She gets the code in (whether through a cantrip or just because he used the same code as their former shared office)
    • I burst into the bedroom and see the bed a total mess in the middle of an otherwise very tidy room, and then see who I first think is Will standing in the middle of the room, but quickly realize it is not Will, but a younger man with a bloody torso that then evaporates into nothingness as the apparition fades
    • We hear whimpering from the closet where we find a naked Will (he sleeps naked)
      • I get him his robe and crack the closet door to hand it to him, and cast Flicker-Flies on him to impart a sense of calm & security
  • Aoife gets a sense that this was similar to when she experienced a ghost
  • While he gets dressed, Aoife makes him a coffee, and I keep talking to him about inane topics and my case to help him keep calm and grounded
    • I tell him I've heard Judge Goger is a hard ass
    • I totally go online and forward my mail to Will's place (using his credit card to pay the nominal fee) after explaining to him that I'm currently not staying at my trailer because the snake infestation
  • Aoife heads on her way and Will and I go to the courthouse

Agnes' morning

• Agnes is in her meeting with her boss, catching her up on the Malacoda case
  • She leaves her ringer on so that she doesn't miss the call from the school if it comes through
    • It's so boring and dull (she gains another point of banality)
    • Her phone doesn't end up ringing during the meeting
  • After the meeting is done, she calls the school's office and asks to speak to the guidance counselor to check in on if anything has happened with Christopher
    • She finds out that he got into a verbal altercation about 20 minutes ago, but the teacher handled it, though they will probably end up wanting a parent/teacher conference
  • She asks to speak to Christopher and after holding for a while gets to
    • He's okay and things seem they will work out okay

Blaze's morning

• Blaze is on set and it's around 10:00 and she's getting her harness and rig setup
  • She doesn't have any issues with it and is ready to go
    • She performs well in the first take, trying to rein herself in to not go to crazy, and if anything maybe does so a little too well
  • She gets some insight into JoSkar's characterization and movement, and does another set of takes and does a really solid job, looking exactly like her when she sees the footage played back
  • After she's done shooting, she does get a message from Jimmy telling her that he broke his arm on set today

Moira's morning

• Moira picks up Marina Blue to spend the day going around to avoid being at the studio
  • They go to a good gallery that Moira thinks will be the most inspiring
  • Moira broaches the topic that she may have to deal with some of the more conservative elements here in the south
  • Moira's friend at the gallery comes over and asks if this is her place and shows her a newscast on her phone showing the protest
    • Marina asks if that's because of her, knowing the answer
    • Moira talks candidly about this and that she still has her back and supports her continuing to be the artist in residence
• Back at the courthouse, Will and I go before the judge
  • Will could have used a shower, as sitting next to him I can smell that he definitely still smells like fear sweat
  • Will gets up and does a decent job, but probably not as good as he would normally because he is still a little rattled
    • I get community service and a deferred service
    • I get one success on trying to make sure I remember what may have gone better if the day replays itself again
  • We get out of there around 10:50 and I tell him I want to treat him to lunch
    • Definitely to a place that I have a coupon for, that is a buffet, and is way out of the way
  • I totally fail at getting him to open up about whatever he experienced with the ghost
  • I get the manager to take an expired buy 1 get 1 free coupon so I'm not paying retail, but absolutely leave a $50 tip for the busboy
    • ...who slips me another coupon, as this is evidently what I do every time

Aoife's morning

• Aoife makes it to her appointment with her client, Zeke Barnes, at his offices
  • She explains that something bad is going to happen involving his team, pawning off the explanation as a bit of future sight, which he buys as he's tied into the supernatural (he's a former hunter)
  • She gets him to break the NDA with the client whose job that team was doing
    • The contract was with someone named Gregory Pike
    • He works for a disaster response company called Karsis Applied Logistics
  • She texts Agnes to ask if she knows the company or guy's name
    • She doesn't check on the FBI system, just her personal phone, and finds nothing under the business' name and nothing that appears to be this guy under that name
• Around 11:20 she messages the group chat to see if anyone is available to come by to lend a hand when the not-zombies/thralls (maybe ghouls?) show up, but we're all occupied
  • She texts Heart and gets a call back from her and explains the situation that happened yesterday
    • She agrees that she could come out, but she might not be able to do anything else aside from helping as another gun for the folks on site, so is probably not really suited to this
  • She calls Dream-Catcher's office number next but just gets her voicemail
  • She asks Moira to reach out to one of the Storm of Souls group but Moira doesn't get an answer
  • She tries to reach Baron Athelstan but doesn't get an answer
  • She finally breaks down and texts Sir Diarmaid who is definitely eager and willing
• Diarmaid and Heart both show up
  • They definitely don't seem happy to see each other
    • Diarmaid says Heart ate his friend, and says she's not a changeling and that she's just wearing the soul of his friend
  • Agnes gets them to table any animosity until at least after they've dealt with the not-zombies
  • They both agree to try and deal with things non-lethally, but aren't going to die over trying to do so
  • When Aoife mentions "if we have to do this again" Diarmaid seems to be confused and apparently had no idea the day has repeated itself
    • But not because anything weird, just because he doesn't really pay attention to what day of the week it is really
• The not-zombies show up and (non-lethal) combat ensues!
  • They manage to take 3 down non-lethally but 2 get killed
    • One by Heart who seemed to go into some sort of berserker fury, and another that Zeke had to end up shooting
  • Diarmaid takes off after the fighting is done
  • The ones they were able to spare just keep saying "jobs over, got to get back to base" over and over
• Heart handles explaining things when cops show up on the scene
  • The cops take the survivors away before Aoife or the others can take a look at them to see if she can figure out what is going on with them
    • She does figure that she can try and assess them after they're booked to

Regrouping

• We check in via the group text around the time that the fight is over
  • I ask Moira if I can come hang at the studio, but she says not to go there
• I tell them I saw a ghost
• Moira asks for thoughts on ways to get the protesters cleared out if the day repeats itself
  • They're on private property, so could have them trespassed
• Agnes tries to see if she can find anything about the not-zombies
  • She cuts out of work early to go to the King's library to see if she can find anything there
  • She gets there but realizes she doesn't really have much to go off of
• I describe the ghost I saw and try and get some sort of plan to have Agnes go see if she can see the ghost at Will's place
  • But don't actually come up with any sort of sensible or practical plan
  • Aoife asks if the ghost looked like he was college age, which he did
    • She messages both Will and her brothers asking if they knew someone who died when they were in college
      • She sees the typing dots from Will but he doesn't send a reply
      • One of her brothers says sure, but didn't everyone know some people that died in college for some reason or another
    • She tries to see if she can find anything about a kid that died that Will and her brother's knew, but she's struggling to remember where they went to undergrad
• I have a theory which kicks off a totally not hair-brained scheme to test if things we have on our person stay after time resets, and to test that I tell everyone they should take as much money out of their banks as possible before sunset, and keep it in their pockets to see if it stays if/when the day resets
• Athelstan returns Aoife's call finally, and asks if this will help with fixing whatever is happening with time
  • When asked about trying to get some of the werewolves to help, he says they may not be available because they got into some big fight the night before, and may be nursing their wounds in the morning if the day resets
  • He does say that Dream-Catcher is probably in her office now if she wants to try and speak to her directly
• Later in the afternoon Stonetooth calls Aoife back
  • He says she should call him in the morning just in case and he'll tell the others in the band
  • They had partied last night so were all real hungover this morning
• She calls Dream-Catcher again and gets a hold of her
  • She sounds tired, and says that non-lethal isn't really their strong suit
  • She may be able to help if purifying them is a thing
  • Dream-Catcher totally knows the name of the company, Karsis Applied Logistics
    • She says that five security guards got out last night, so that's probably them
    • They're a Pentex front and the local garou raided their facility last night
    • She gives a download of the details of their attack and what they encountered so Aoife can tell her what to expect when she calls her if the day does resest
  • Aoife explains that the day has repeated itself once and we're expecting it to again
  • Dream-Catcher gives her cell number
• Moira goes to the candlelight ceremony for Imbolc and it seems perfectly mundane
  • Moments after the sunset, she disappears and finds herself in the freehold again

Wednesday, February 01, 2023...yet again

It's Groundhog's Day again

• Like clockwork, right around 6:15, the day resets and we find ourselves back in the freehold with Bridgette knocking at the door
  • My theory is that the cause may be happening before the morning, so maybe we need to pull an all-nighter
  • Moira is wondering if the not-zombies getting killed is the big thing that needs to be fixed