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Log seven on its way!
Logfile from SamingaMU.
Fade in on angels and Majors. Downstairs, Harris and Amy look through mail and make some beverage comforts, while Majors is still upstairs with Thomas and Marjorie. Marjorie is holding her head, and looking mildly peeved. Majors is shaky and still obviously drunk and upset.
[OOC] Thomas says "Until then we'll have to settle for coffee and a wide awake drunk."
[OOC] Harris says "The Song of Cold Shower"
[OOC] The Conductor says "The bane of Lusties everywhere?"
[OOC] Amy says "...actually, does the Song of Healing (Corporeal) heal poison damage? :)"
[OOC] The Conductor says "Yeah, I'd say so. And sure, I'd have it work for alcohol."
"Come on Mr. Majors," Thomas takes Edward by the arm, "Let's go down an get some coffee so we can discuss this."
[OOC] Thomas brings the subject downstairs for experimen... err... healing. 8)
"I...I...yes, I suppose so," Edward murmurs, and rises unsteadily to his feet. "I didn't do what they say," he says to Thomas. "It was an accident, I swear. I would never have..." it fades into mumbles as he's led downstairs.
[MMORPG] Harris says, "Anyone got book suggestions for my weeklong cruise?"
Thomas nods as he leads the drunken engineer down to the kitchen, "I believe you, that's why we're here. We think you're being set up, and want to help sort this out."
"O-oh...okay," Edward says, looking rather bewildered at this turn of events. He looks around as they reach the first floor, and instinctively flinches away from the living room, and the faint noise of the reporters outside. Other than that, he lets himself be docilely led into the kitchen, and stands, blinking, at Amy.
Amy turns around, coffeecup in hand and gently placing it onto the table in front of Edward. "Well? Sit down," she says. "Coffee's getting cold."
Harris takes a moment from his random digging and scrounging to glance at Majors, then goes back to looking at mail and magazines and other stuff.
Thomas leaves Amy to attend Majors while he locates the phone and calls Troy's office number.
"Yes'm," Edward says, meekly, and wobbles his way to the chair. He sits heavily, as if all the energy flowed out of him. He stares at the coffee cup, and then picks it up and drinks it mechanically.
Troy picks up on the first ring. "Southern Star," he says, still sounding stressed.
[OOC] Amy says "Attempting the Song of Corporeal Healing. Spending +2 Essence, for TN 7."
[OOC] The Conductor says "Go for it."
[DICE] Amy rolls the d666 and gets 5 5 CHECK: 4.
[OOC] Amy says "Ah, sod it."
[OOC] Harris doh.
[DICE] The Conductor rolls the d666 and gets 5 3 CHECK: 4.
[OOC] The Conductor says "Sadly, there's no work, but the Essence does manifest /somehow/. You can choose how. :)"
[OOC] Thomas cringes.
[OOC] Harris says "Duckies and bunnies"
Amy moves around the table, moving her body in an ancient, age-old dance, as the fading sunlight trickles in and catches her in a celestial spotlight, with a faint, distant hint of a horn being gently played. Unfortunately, one of the turns brings her slap-damn into a chair. Her cold stop to glare at it ruins any of the serene beauty that could've been crafted.
Edward blinks a couple of times at Amy. He gathers enough brain cells to say, "Ma'am...you okay?"
"Troy, it's Thomas Hutchens. We are with Mr. Majors now, he's ok." Thomas pauses a moment to think, "If the police happen to call you, just tell them that Mr. Majors called back and he seemed to be fine, just obviously stressed out. They aren't needed here anymore."
Troy's voice takes on an obvious sound of utter relief. "Oh, thank god! Can I talk to him?"
Amy pulls out the offending chair, and with a frown, she sits into it with a loud harrumph. "Just fine, thank you, Mr. Majors."
[OOC] Thomas says "Are there any other phones around? Like a cordless or something?"
Edward bobs his head, and goes back to nursing his steaming cup of coffee, staring into the depths of the black liquid with a blank expression.
[OOC] The Conductor says "Yeah. There's a cordless wall phone in the kitchen."
Thomas covers the pickup on the phone, "Can someone hand the kitchen phone to Mr. Majors. His admin assistant wants a word." Thomas doesn't put down the phone himself.
Amy sighs, and stands up and gets the phone, and hands it to Edward wordlessly. "One of the people who cares about you is on the line," she says, simply. "No man survives alone."
Harris picks up a few of the threatening letters and begins to peruse them before looking up. He starts to rise and then stops when Amy gets up.
[OOC] Harris says "Anything weird about the letters"
Edward looks up, and slowly reaches out a hand to take the phone. One half of the conversation is audible to all, the other half, Troy's, can only be heard by Thomas. "Hey, boss, are you okay? Are you there?" "...yes, I'm here, Troy. I'm sorry for..." "Don't worry about it, boss. Never doubted it you for a second. Just let them help you. Seem to be good people, for reporters." Edward's eyes jerk up, and he stares over at Thomas. "Yeah," is all he says, though.
[OOC] The Conductor says "Edward never claimed ownership of them in his heart, so you /can/ use your attunement to know who they belong to."
[OOC] Harris says "That ownership thing is weird."
Harris holds up each letter and silently asks it, "Who do YOU belong to?"
[OOC] The Conductor says "Yep. One of the many, many areas of IN that is. And a peculiarly large number of them belonging to Trade."
[OOC] Amy says "A goodly number of the rest belonging to Factions, really..."
Thomas turns to make eye contact with Edward when the reporter thing is mentioned.
Amy goes and pours herself a coffee, and then takes the seat again.
[OOC] Harris shakes a fist at grey areas.
[OOC] Amy says "That would be In Nomine, between pages 5 and 207... :)"
[OOC] Thomas chuckles.
The letters have different answers, some of whom Harris recognizes from his time in town. Family members of the wounded, teens looking for some community sanctioned bullying, and...one of the more well-written and cutting ones seems to have been written by Felicia Masters.
[OOC] Taralyn snickers.
Harris sits back with Felicia Masters' letter and gives it a proper reading.
Edward drops his eyes from Thomas', and mumbles to Troy. "I'll talk to them. Thanks...thank you." Troy replies, "No problem, boss. I'm glad to see you getting it together. Don't worry about the press. Nobody's going to believe that you were a drug addict!" Troy chuckles a little, and Majors breaks down in rough sobs again.
There are a few artful misspellings, but it's printed from a word-processor, and the letter says simply, "Everyone knows it's your fault. You killed two children, murderer. How can you sit here, breathing, when they're gone? We don't want you here. You ought to just DIE."
"I think that your boss and I have a fair bit to talk about Troy." Thomas finally interjects, "We'll call you if anything changes. Thanks for your concern, and your assistance."
"Uh, yeah, okay," Troy says, sounding a bit shaken. "Just let me know, okay?"
Harris shakes his head. "So much for objective journalism." He folds up the letter and tucks it in a pocket before rising to join the others in the kitchen.
Thomas hangs up the phone and joins the rest in the kitchen, gently taking the phone from Majors and hanging it up as well before sitting down at the table.
Edward doesn't protest having the phone taken from him, although his sobs trail off faster than before, and as soon as his hand is free, he reaches back for the coffee, downing the rest of it in big, hot gulps.
Amy rubs at her forehead, and sighs. "Well, Mr. Majors.... Edward. May I call you Edward? One of my grandsons is named Edward. It's a very nice name."
Thomas eyes Majors warily, uncertain of how he's going to react to the latest news.
Edward sets the mug down on the table, and blinks again at Amy. He still doesn't seem to have figured out why a little old lady is with the rest of the group, and answers thickly, "Thank you, ma'am." One hand comes up to swipe at the tears.
Amy nods. "You're welcome, Edward. Now, I'm Amy, this is Thomas, and Harris, and the quiet one is Marjorie. We're here to help," she says straightforwardly. "It's what we do, you see."
Thomas smiles at Amy's introduction, "Mr. Majors, I won't lie to you and say I'm not a reporter." he gestures to the others in the room, "They are not, but are just as concerned about this whole situation as I am. I know about your," he pauses as if searching for a word, "History, but I also know that it is not a factor here. I suspect that you are being framed for this, but whom and why I don't know just yet."
Edward does not look significantly enlightened, but he does seem distracted enough from his own misery that he's probably not likely to break down again. Yet. "W-why would anyone want to frame me? Why would anyone /kill/ people to frame /me/? What did I do?"
Harris nods to Edward. "It's probably a bit more complex than just you. It may just be some crazy wanting to cause mayhem and you were the path of least resistance."
Amy shakes her head. "You were there, and handy, and so they made you a patsy, Edward." She sighs. "There are people like that, unfortunately."
Edward shivers in his chair, looking from Thomas, to Harris, to Amy. "But...it was an accident. The track failed. There weren't...I looked, and there wasn't any sign of explosives or anything..."
Amy leans forward slightly. "Why did the track fail, Edward?" A half pause. "More importantly, HOW?"
"This could go back farther, perhaps someone introduced a failure in manufacturing on that piece of track." Thomas leans back and crosses his arms across his chest in thought.
Amy's lips press tightly together, and she mutters something into her coffee as she takes a swallow of it.
Edward shakes his head. "I don't /know/," he says, banging his fist into the table in a sudden movement. He jerks his hand back, then raises it to tear at his hair. "Before...before they thought this was me, they let me look. It's like the track just /disintegrated/. Not even acid could do that, not without damaging the wheels."
Harris listens impassively as Edward describes rapid-action entropy in the rails. "No chemicals or tools or anything that could do that?"
Amy puts the coffee down. "Joe," she says simply.
Thomas nods slowly, "Ok, so we don't know how. Let's change tactics here and think about who. What can you tell me about, as Troy put it, the Creepy Security guy that's been in your office?"
Edward stops tugging at his hair, his brow furrowing as he tries to think past the alcohol haze. "Dunno..." he murmurs, and reaches for the coffee. The change in topic catches him off guard, and he just stares for a moment. "Security...? Oh, Mr. Wright's guy. Consultant. Joe somebody."
"What can you tell us about him?" Thomas leans forward in his chair, "How long has he been around?"
Edward looks blank. "Coupla weeks. Um. Mr. Wright hired him, said he wanted to make sure everything went smoothly, so that I could make the deadline. Deadlines." He shakes his head. "Nice guy, I guess. Didn't talk much. Just a few times. Nice guy."
"He's not such a nice guy." Thomas shakes his head, "In fact, I wouldn't put it past him to be the one that sabotaged the tracks, though I have no proof of this."
Edward leans back in his chair, and rubs his face hard with his palms, pressing them into his eyes, and shaking his head to try and clear it. He doesn't immediately deny the possibility, though, instead only saying, "Didn't seem to know much about trains. I mean," his voice is gradually clearing as the man's brain is forced to work, "he didn't seem to know much of anything about what we were doing."
Amy looks towards Thomas and Harris, jaw set.
Harris frowns at Thomas for a moment and then nods quickly. "I haven't heard much 'bout the guy, but he's got a certain reputation from people I've talked to." He shrugs. "I's wondering, what can you tell us about Wright and his deal with you."
"It's standard...I think. I needed funding for the final phase of the project. Mr Wright offered," Edward frowns, thinking about it for a moment, "offered to buy some of the stock. Not a controlling interest. And then loan the rest of the money with future stock as collateral. As long as I paid that part back by a certain date, the stock wasn't owed."
Amy shakes her head, and sighs. Even a woman who regularly avoids the business pages can hear an offer too good to be true.
[OOC] The Conductor snickers.
Thomas narrows his eyes in thought, "Did Wright come to you? Or did you go looking for him?"
Edward shakes his head. "I was meeting with investors, but Wright's the only one who showed an interest. He let me demonstrate my designs...the others didn't even get that far," he says, a touch bitterly.
Amy glances towards Thomas and Harris, and waits, quietly.
"Did the other investors give any reasons for their lack of interest? Something about the project they didn't like?" Thomas shakes his head, looking more than a little confused.
Edward shrugs. "Thought it would fail. Said that we didn't need the rails, that people could just commute if they wanted to. No demand." He sighs.
Harris says, "When does the loan come due?"
Edward sighs. "Eight months. It's not very much, but there's no way I can make it now." His shoulders droop as he considers this. "Even if they don't arrest me, no one will use the line now. No one."
[OOC] Harris says "Motive!"
[OOC] Harris says "It's like celestial Agatha Christie."
[OOC] Amy says "We have means, motive, and opportunity. Now all we have to do is punish the guilty."
[OOC] The Conductor giggles.
[OOC] Harris says "12 Little Celestials"
[OOC] Amy says "Well, clearly, we have to get them to confess. And bash in heads with rocks."
[OOC] The Conductor keeps rocks away from Amy.
[OOC] Amy pouts at the GM.
[OOC] The Conductor loves you anyway?
[OOC] Amy says "But! Bashing in heads with Rocks! It's what it's all about! People hurt my community, I bash in their heads with rocks!"
[OOC] The Conductor laughs.
[OOC] Amy is a Cherub of simple pleasures.
Thomas sighs, "Well. That's more information than we had before. Just what we do with it still needs to be investigated." Thomas slumps a little in his chair.
Amy folds her hands in front of her and furrows her brow in thought. "It seems simple. Figure out how we can explain away Joe's li'l antics. Expose him and his pet. Exonerate Edward here." She shakes her head. "After that, getting people back on the train oughta be dirt simple."
Edward looks from one to the other. "His...pet? Joe's pet?" Clearly, he's still not all that sober, because he next says, "Didn't see him with a dog."
Thomas looks up at Edward, "Something else you should consider Mr. Majors, is making a statement to the press regarding all of this, or at least some of it. Your popular opinion is currently based off of the lies being written by people like Ms. Felicia Masters."
Amy nods. "Have to get her straightened out too," she says.
Edward takes a deep breath. "What would I /say/?" he asks, miserably. "I did cocaine. It was grad school, and a lot of people did. To stay up, alert. I just...I couldn't handle it like they did. Couldn't handle it when I got on the job. I screwed up, people got hurt." He seems to shrink into himself. "I can't prove I didn't do it. Why shouldn't they believe her?"
Amy fixes Edward with the Grandmotherly Stare. "And when was the last time you used, Edward?" Her voice is soft, but the edge is undeniably there.
[OOC] Amy will roll Detect Lies on whatever he says.
Thomas shakes his head sharply, "But they can't prove you did it either. And you didn't screw up anything to get people hurt Mr. Majors."
Edward flinches at Amy's tone. "After the accident. My bosses...they didn't want me on the job anymore, but they helped me get into rehab. I never /ever/ touched it after that."
[DICE] Amy rolls the d666 and gets 2 1 CHECK: 4.
[OOC] Amy says "Whee!"
[OOC] The Conductor says "The dice are kind. He seems /very/ sincere about this."
Thomas furrows his eyebrows, "What accident?"
[OOC] Amy says "Edward is spared the Rock."
[OOC] Harris sighs at cats beating up sick cat.
[OOC] Amy says "Eek."
Edward looks at Thomas. "My first job. I was to set the parameters of a stress test, but...I was high," his voice shakes a little at the admission, and he soldiers on, "and I set the parameters too high. The cage broke, injured Bob and Andrew...two of our assistants. It was my fault."
Thomas nods sagely and smiles at Edward, "We all make mistakes Mr. Majors. They shouldn't be held over you for the rest of your life."
Amy says softly, "We all are tested in our own ways."
Harris winces and shakes his head. "That's... not going to go over well." He frowns deeply. "You're gonna need to get ready for that, 'cause I bet Masters already has her news report written."
Edward swallows hard. "I can't do it," he whispers. "I can't face them, not with /nothing/. I...I...don't even know if this 'Joe' person has anything to do with it, not really. You don't have any proof, either. It still could be me."
Amy pushes back from the table. "We'll just have to go and get some, then, won't we?" She stands up. "We'll get you proof, Edward. We'll have proof, and all the story we need." She looks around at the other angels. "Maybe we DO need to talk with Ms. Masters after all."
Harris says, "Well, ... you leave Joe to us. Just, think about things and be honest. Despite everything that happened, you're in the right."
Edward stares at them for a long moment, then nods, slowly. "Okay," he says, softly, then with more strength. "Okay. I'll do it your way. I don't...I don't know if I might have done this on accident, but I /know/ I did not do it on purpose. Those contracts the news said I signed, I didn't. I know that, if it helps."
[OOC] Amy says "Detect Lie again?"
[DICE] Amy rolls the d666 and gets 4 1 CHECK: 1.
[OOC] The Conductor says "He still seems sincere."
[OOC] Amy nods.
Harris nods at Amy and rises from his chair. "I guess we'll be in touch, 'kay." He offers his hand. "I know I've got a few words for her."
Edward nods, then rises unsteadily to his feet. "I...guess I should take a shower, clean up. Maybe sleep it off a bit..."
Amy nods in reply. "That would be best. Just stay inside, and get rest. Check your caller ID."
There's a weak chuckle at that, and Edward says, "I stopped answering the phone at all, yesterday. What number should I be looking for?"
Amy gives her house number.
Harris says, "Here's my cell." Harris gives his number as well, then moves to pat Edward on the back (and resonate him). "You can call if you've got something to say, too."
Edward nods. "Got it," he says, and looks out towards the living room. "You had better use the back. Think they got tired of that the other day." Marjorie chooses this moment to say, "I'll stay here with Mr. Majors. Just in case someone tries to make a more...physical kind of trouble."
[OOC] The Conductor says "Roll Res!"
[OOC] Thomas returns.
[OOC] The Conductor says "Yay!"
[DICE] Harris rolls the d666 and gets 3 2 CHECK: 2.
[OOC] Amy says "WB!"
[OOC] Harris says "Of course, with all of the hate directed at him, the Cherub Alarm system will be going off non-stop."
[OOC] Amy says "Heh."
[OOC] The Conductor says "Cherub attunement complete. You know where he is, and that he's currently drunk and still depressed, although he's not at the point of killing himself anymore. He's still pretty fragile, though, and any more blows to his emotional state /will/ endanger him."
Thomas rises from his seat, "Once we have something to say, we'll make the arrangements for you to say it without being harassed. The upside to all of the publicity, is that any one of the local stations would sell their own grandmother for an exclusive interview with you, and they'll do it on your terms."
[OOC] Harris says "For the love of god, I hope he doesn't watch tv."
[OOC] Amy says "Marjorie will undoubtedly stop him from that. Possibly by cutting all the TV wires. :)"
[OOC] Thomas says "Hehe"
[OOC] The Conductor | NPCMarjorie whistles innocently.
[OOC] Amy says "'Course, if he's rich, he probably has satellite, and THAT'S the easiest to stop... ahem. *tangents*"
"Ah, yes. I suppose. I never...thought about it," Edward admits, bemused. Marjorie touches him lightly on the arm. "Let's get you cleaned up, and you can think about what you want to say."
Thomas looks around to Harris, and Amy, "Well, shall we try and get out of here as quietly as we got in?"
Amy nods to Thomas. "That would be the ideal."
Harris nods "Yeah. Hopefully no one's stakin' out the back yet."
Marjorie leads Edward off back upstairs, to get his head back on straight, and it doesn't /seem/ like anyone's lurking in the backyard.
Logfile from SamingaMU.
Fade in on angels and Majors. Downstairs, Harris and Amy look through mail and make some beverage comforts, while Majors is still upstairs with Thomas and Marjorie. Marjorie is holding her head, and looking mildly peeved. Majors is shaky and still obviously drunk and upset.
[OOC] Thomas says "Until then we'll have to settle for coffee and a wide awake drunk."
[OOC] Harris says "The Song of Cold Shower"
[OOC] The Conductor says "The bane of Lusties everywhere?"
[OOC] Amy says "...actually, does the Song of Healing (Corporeal) heal poison damage? :)"
[OOC] The Conductor says "Yeah, I'd say so. And sure, I'd have it work for alcohol."
"Come on Mr. Majors," Thomas takes Edward by the arm, "Let's go down an get some coffee so we can discuss this."
[OOC] Thomas brings the subject downstairs for experimen... err... healing. 8)
"I...I...yes, I suppose so," Edward murmurs, and rises unsteadily to his feet. "I didn't do what they say," he says to Thomas. "It was an accident, I swear. I would never have..." it fades into mumbles as he's led downstairs.
[MMORPG] Harris says, "Anyone got book suggestions for my weeklong cruise?"
Thomas nods as he leads the drunken engineer down to the kitchen, "I believe you, that's why we're here. We think you're being set up, and want to help sort this out."
"O-oh...okay," Edward says, looking rather bewildered at this turn of events. He looks around as they reach the first floor, and instinctively flinches away from the living room, and the faint noise of the reporters outside. Other than that, he lets himself be docilely led into the kitchen, and stands, blinking, at Amy.
Amy turns around, coffeecup in hand and gently placing it onto the table in front of Edward. "Well? Sit down," she says. "Coffee's getting cold."
Harris takes a moment from his random digging and scrounging to glance at Majors, then goes back to looking at mail and magazines and other stuff.
Thomas leaves Amy to attend Majors while he locates the phone and calls Troy's office number.
"Yes'm," Edward says, meekly, and wobbles his way to the chair. He sits heavily, as if all the energy flowed out of him. He stares at the coffee cup, and then picks it up and drinks it mechanically.
Troy picks up on the first ring. "Southern Star," he says, still sounding stressed.
[OOC] Amy says "Attempting the Song of Corporeal Healing. Spending +2 Essence, for TN 7."
[OOC] The Conductor says "Go for it."
[DICE] Amy rolls the d666 and gets 5 5 CHECK: 4.
[OOC] Amy says "Ah, sod it."
[OOC] Harris doh.
[DICE] The Conductor rolls the d666 and gets 5 3 CHECK: 4.
[OOC] The Conductor says "Sadly, there's no work, but the Essence does manifest /somehow/. You can choose how. :)"
[OOC] Thomas cringes.
[OOC] Harris says "Duckies and bunnies"
Amy moves around the table, moving her body in an ancient, age-old dance, as the fading sunlight trickles in and catches her in a celestial spotlight, with a faint, distant hint of a horn being gently played. Unfortunately, one of the turns brings her slap-damn into a chair. Her cold stop to glare at it ruins any of the serene beauty that could've been crafted.
Edward blinks a couple of times at Amy. He gathers enough brain cells to say, "Ma'am...you okay?"
"Troy, it's Thomas Hutchens. We are with Mr. Majors now, he's ok." Thomas pauses a moment to think, "If the police happen to call you, just tell them that Mr. Majors called back and he seemed to be fine, just obviously stressed out. They aren't needed here anymore."
Troy's voice takes on an obvious sound of utter relief. "Oh, thank god! Can I talk to him?"
Amy pulls out the offending chair, and with a frown, she sits into it with a loud harrumph. "Just fine, thank you, Mr. Majors."
[OOC] Thomas says "Are there any other phones around? Like a cordless or something?"
Edward bobs his head, and goes back to nursing his steaming cup of coffee, staring into the depths of the black liquid with a blank expression.
[OOC] The Conductor says "Yeah. There's a cordless wall phone in the kitchen."
Thomas covers the pickup on the phone, "Can someone hand the kitchen phone to Mr. Majors. His admin assistant wants a word." Thomas doesn't put down the phone himself.
Amy sighs, and stands up and gets the phone, and hands it to Edward wordlessly. "One of the people who cares about you is on the line," she says, simply. "No man survives alone."
Harris picks up a few of the threatening letters and begins to peruse them before looking up. He starts to rise and then stops when Amy gets up.
[OOC] Harris says "Anything weird about the letters"
Edward looks up, and slowly reaches out a hand to take the phone. One half of the conversation is audible to all, the other half, Troy's, can only be heard by Thomas. "Hey, boss, are you okay? Are you there?" "...yes, I'm here, Troy. I'm sorry for..." "Don't worry about it, boss. Never doubted it you for a second. Just let them help you. Seem to be good people, for reporters." Edward's eyes jerk up, and he stares over at Thomas. "Yeah," is all he says, though.
[OOC] The Conductor says "Edward never claimed ownership of them in his heart, so you /can/ use your attunement to know who they belong to."
[OOC] Harris says "That ownership thing is weird."
Harris holds up each letter and silently asks it, "Who do YOU belong to?"
[OOC] The Conductor says "Yep. One of the many, many areas of IN that is. And a peculiarly large number of them belonging to Trade."
[OOC] Amy says "A goodly number of the rest belonging to Factions, really..."
Thomas turns to make eye contact with Edward when the reporter thing is mentioned.
Amy goes and pours herself a coffee, and then takes the seat again.
[OOC] Harris shakes a fist at grey areas.
[OOC] Amy says "That would be In Nomine, between pages 5 and 207... :)"
[OOC] Thomas chuckles.
The letters have different answers, some of whom Harris recognizes from his time in town. Family members of the wounded, teens looking for some community sanctioned bullying, and...one of the more well-written and cutting ones seems to have been written by Felicia Masters.
[OOC] Taralyn snickers.
Harris sits back with Felicia Masters' letter and gives it a proper reading.
Edward drops his eyes from Thomas', and mumbles to Troy. "I'll talk to them. Thanks...thank you." Troy replies, "No problem, boss. I'm glad to see you getting it together. Don't worry about the press. Nobody's going to believe that you were a drug addict!" Troy chuckles a little, and Majors breaks down in rough sobs again.
There are a few artful misspellings, but it's printed from a word-processor, and the letter says simply, "Everyone knows it's your fault. You killed two children, murderer. How can you sit here, breathing, when they're gone? We don't want you here. You ought to just DIE."
"I think that your boss and I have a fair bit to talk about Troy." Thomas finally interjects, "We'll call you if anything changes. Thanks for your concern, and your assistance."
"Uh, yeah, okay," Troy says, sounding a bit shaken. "Just let me know, okay?"
Harris shakes his head. "So much for objective journalism." He folds up the letter and tucks it in a pocket before rising to join the others in the kitchen.
Thomas hangs up the phone and joins the rest in the kitchen, gently taking the phone from Majors and hanging it up as well before sitting down at the table.
Edward doesn't protest having the phone taken from him, although his sobs trail off faster than before, and as soon as his hand is free, he reaches back for the coffee, downing the rest of it in big, hot gulps.
Amy rubs at her forehead, and sighs. "Well, Mr. Majors.... Edward. May I call you Edward? One of my grandsons is named Edward. It's a very nice name."
Thomas eyes Majors warily, uncertain of how he's going to react to the latest news.
Edward sets the mug down on the table, and blinks again at Amy. He still doesn't seem to have figured out why a little old lady is with the rest of the group, and answers thickly, "Thank you, ma'am." One hand comes up to swipe at the tears.
Amy nods. "You're welcome, Edward. Now, I'm Amy, this is Thomas, and Harris, and the quiet one is Marjorie. We're here to help," she says straightforwardly. "It's what we do, you see."
Thomas smiles at Amy's introduction, "Mr. Majors, I won't lie to you and say I'm not a reporter." he gestures to the others in the room, "They are not, but are just as concerned about this whole situation as I am. I know about your," he pauses as if searching for a word, "History, but I also know that it is not a factor here. I suspect that you are being framed for this, but whom and why I don't know just yet."
Edward does not look significantly enlightened, but he does seem distracted enough from his own misery that he's probably not likely to break down again. Yet. "W-why would anyone want to frame me? Why would anyone /kill/ people to frame /me/? What did I do?"
Harris nods to Edward. "It's probably a bit more complex than just you. It may just be some crazy wanting to cause mayhem and you were the path of least resistance."
Amy shakes her head. "You were there, and handy, and so they made you a patsy, Edward." She sighs. "There are people like that, unfortunately."
Edward shivers in his chair, looking from Thomas, to Harris, to Amy. "But...it was an accident. The track failed. There weren't...I looked, and there wasn't any sign of explosives or anything..."
Amy leans forward slightly. "Why did the track fail, Edward?" A half pause. "More importantly, HOW?"
"This could go back farther, perhaps someone introduced a failure in manufacturing on that piece of track." Thomas leans back and crosses his arms across his chest in thought.
Amy's lips press tightly together, and she mutters something into her coffee as she takes a swallow of it.
Edward shakes his head. "I don't /know/," he says, banging his fist into the table in a sudden movement. He jerks his hand back, then raises it to tear at his hair. "Before...before they thought this was me, they let me look. It's like the track just /disintegrated/. Not even acid could do that, not without damaging the wheels."
Harris listens impassively as Edward describes rapid-action entropy in the rails. "No chemicals or tools or anything that could do that?"
Amy puts the coffee down. "Joe," she says simply.
Thomas nods slowly, "Ok, so we don't know how. Let's change tactics here and think about who. What can you tell me about, as Troy put it, the Creepy Security guy that's been in your office?"
Edward stops tugging at his hair, his brow furrowing as he tries to think past the alcohol haze. "Dunno..." he murmurs, and reaches for the coffee. The change in topic catches him off guard, and he just stares for a moment. "Security...? Oh, Mr. Wright's guy. Consultant. Joe somebody."
"What can you tell us about him?" Thomas leans forward in his chair, "How long has he been around?"
Edward looks blank. "Coupla weeks. Um. Mr. Wright hired him, said he wanted to make sure everything went smoothly, so that I could make the deadline. Deadlines." He shakes his head. "Nice guy, I guess. Didn't talk much. Just a few times. Nice guy."
"He's not such a nice guy." Thomas shakes his head, "In fact, I wouldn't put it past him to be the one that sabotaged the tracks, though I have no proof of this."
Edward leans back in his chair, and rubs his face hard with his palms, pressing them into his eyes, and shaking his head to try and clear it. He doesn't immediately deny the possibility, though, instead only saying, "Didn't seem to know much about trains. I mean," his voice is gradually clearing as the man's brain is forced to work, "he didn't seem to know much of anything about what we were doing."
Amy looks towards Thomas and Harris, jaw set.
Harris frowns at Thomas for a moment and then nods quickly. "I haven't heard much 'bout the guy, but he's got a certain reputation from people I've talked to." He shrugs. "I's wondering, what can you tell us about Wright and his deal with you."
"It's standard...I think. I needed funding for the final phase of the project. Mr Wright offered," Edward frowns, thinking about it for a moment, "offered to buy some of the stock. Not a controlling interest. And then loan the rest of the money with future stock as collateral. As long as I paid that part back by a certain date, the stock wasn't owed."
Amy shakes her head, and sighs. Even a woman who regularly avoids the business pages can hear an offer too good to be true.
[OOC] The Conductor snickers.
Thomas narrows his eyes in thought, "Did Wright come to you? Or did you go looking for him?"
Edward shakes his head. "I was meeting with investors, but Wright's the only one who showed an interest. He let me demonstrate my designs...the others didn't even get that far," he says, a touch bitterly.
Amy glances towards Thomas and Harris, and waits, quietly.
"Did the other investors give any reasons for their lack of interest? Something about the project they didn't like?" Thomas shakes his head, looking more than a little confused.
Edward shrugs. "Thought it would fail. Said that we didn't need the rails, that people could just commute if they wanted to. No demand." He sighs.
Harris says, "When does the loan come due?"
Edward sighs. "Eight months. It's not very much, but there's no way I can make it now." His shoulders droop as he considers this. "Even if they don't arrest me, no one will use the line now. No one."
[OOC] Harris says "Motive!"
[OOC] Harris says "It's like celestial Agatha Christie."
[OOC] Amy says "We have means, motive, and opportunity. Now all we have to do is punish the guilty."
[OOC] The Conductor giggles.
[OOC] Harris says "12 Little Celestials"
[OOC] Amy says "Well, clearly, we have to get them to confess. And bash in heads with rocks."
[OOC] The Conductor keeps rocks away from Amy.
[OOC] Amy pouts at the GM.
[OOC] The Conductor loves you anyway?
[OOC] Amy says "But! Bashing in heads with Rocks! It's what it's all about! People hurt my community, I bash in their heads with rocks!"
[OOC] The Conductor laughs.
[OOC] Amy is a Cherub of simple pleasures.
Thomas sighs, "Well. That's more information than we had before. Just what we do with it still needs to be investigated." Thomas slumps a little in his chair.
Amy folds her hands in front of her and furrows her brow in thought. "It seems simple. Figure out how we can explain away Joe's li'l antics. Expose him and his pet. Exonerate Edward here." She shakes her head. "After that, getting people back on the train oughta be dirt simple."
Edward looks from one to the other. "His...pet? Joe's pet?" Clearly, he's still not all that sober, because he next says, "Didn't see him with a dog."
Thomas looks up at Edward, "Something else you should consider Mr. Majors, is making a statement to the press regarding all of this, or at least some of it. Your popular opinion is currently based off of the lies being written by people like Ms. Felicia Masters."
Amy nods. "Have to get her straightened out too," she says.
Edward takes a deep breath. "What would I /say/?" he asks, miserably. "I did cocaine. It was grad school, and a lot of people did. To stay up, alert. I just...I couldn't handle it like they did. Couldn't handle it when I got on the job. I screwed up, people got hurt." He seems to shrink into himself. "I can't prove I didn't do it. Why shouldn't they believe her?"
Amy fixes Edward with the Grandmotherly Stare. "And when was the last time you used, Edward?" Her voice is soft, but the edge is undeniably there.
[OOC] Amy will roll Detect Lies on whatever he says.
Thomas shakes his head sharply, "But they can't prove you did it either. And you didn't screw up anything to get people hurt Mr. Majors."
Edward flinches at Amy's tone. "After the accident. My bosses...they didn't want me on the job anymore, but they helped me get into rehab. I never /ever/ touched it after that."
[DICE] Amy rolls the d666 and gets 2 1 CHECK: 4.
[OOC] Amy says "Whee!"
[OOC] The Conductor says "The dice are kind. He seems /very/ sincere about this."
Thomas furrows his eyebrows, "What accident?"
[OOC] Amy says "Edward is spared the Rock."
[OOC] Harris sighs at cats beating up sick cat.
[OOC] Amy says "Eek."
Edward looks at Thomas. "My first job. I was to set the parameters of a stress test, but...I was high," his voice shakes a little at the admission, and he soldiers on, "and I set the parameters too high. The cage broke, injured Bob and Andrew...two of our assistants. It was my fault."
Thomas nods sagely and smiles at Edward, "We all make mistakes Mr. Majors. They shouldn't be held over you for the rest of your life."
Amy says softly, "We all are tested in our own ways."
Harris winces and shakes his head. "That's... not going to go over well." He frowns deeply. "You're gonna need to get ready for that, 'cause I bet Masters already has her news report written."
Edward swallows hard. "I can't do it," he whispers. "I can't face them, not with /nothing/. I...I...don't even know if this 'Joe' person has anything to do with it, not really. You don't have any proof, either. It still could be me."
Amy pushes back from the table. "We'll just have to go and get some, then, won't we?" She stands up. "We'll get you proof, Edward. We'll have proof, and all the story we need." She looks around at the other angels. "Maybe we DO need to talk with Ms. Masters after all."
Harris says, "Well, ... you leave Joe to us. Just, think about things and be honest. Despite everything that happened, you're in the right."
Edward stares at them for a long moment, then nods, slowly. "Okay," he says, softly, then with more strength. "Okay. I'll do it your way. I don't...I don't know if I might have done this on accident, but I /know/ I did not do it on purpose. Those contracts the news said I signed, I didn't. I know that, if it helps."
[OOC] Amy says "Detect Lie again?"
[DICE] Amy rolls the d666 and gets 4 1 CHECK: 1.
[OOC] The Conductor says "He still seems sincere."
[OOC] Amy nods.
Harris nods at Amy and rises from his chair. "I guess we'll be in touch, 'kay." He offers his hand. "I know I've got a few words for her."
Edward nods, then rises unsteadily to his feet. "I...guess I should take a shower, clean up. Maybe sleep it off a bit..."
Amy nods in reply. "That would be best. Just stay inside, and get rest. Check your caller ID."
There's a weak chuckle at that, and Edward says, "I stopped answering the phone at all, yesterday. What number should I be looking for?"
Amy gives her house number.
Harris says, "Here's my cell." Harris gives his number as well, then moves to pat Edward on the back (and resonate him). "You can call if you've got something to say, too."
Edward nods. "Got it," he says, and looks out towards the living room. "You had better use the back. Think they got tired of that the other day." Marjorie chooses this moment to say, "I'll stay here with Mr. Majors. Just in case someone tries to make a more...physical kind of trouble."
[OOC] The Conductor says "Roll Res!"
[OOC] Thomas returns.
[OOC] The Conductor says "Yay!"
[DICE] Harris rolls the d666 and gets 3 2 CHECK: 2.
[OOC] Amy says "WB!"
[OOC] Harris says "Of course, with all of the hate directed at him, the Cherub Alarm system will be going off non-stop."
[OOC] Amy says "Heh."
[OOC] The Conductor says "Cherub attunement complete. You know where he is, and that he's currently drunk and still depressed, although he's not at the point of killing himself anymore. He's still pretty fragile, though, and any more blows to his emotional state /will/ endanger him."
Thomas rises from his seat, "Once we have something to say, we'll make the arrangements for you to say it without being harassed. The upside to all of the publicity, is that any one of the local stations would sell their own grandmother for an exclusive interview with you, and they'll do it on your terms."
[OOC] Harris says "For the love of god, I hope he doesn't watch tv."
[OOC] Amy says "Marjorie will undoubtedly stop him from that. Possibly by cutting all the TV wires. :)"
[OOC] Thomas says "Hehe"
[OOC] The Conductor | NPCMarjorie whistles innocently.
[OOC] Amy says "'Course, if he's rich, he probably has satellite, and THAT'S the easiest to stop... ahem. *tangents*"
"Ah, yes. I suppose. I never...thought about it," Edward admits, bemused. Marjorie touches him lightly on the arm. "Let's get you cleaned up, and you can think about what you want to say."
Thomas looks around to Harris, and Amy, "Well, shall we try and get out of here as quietly as we got in?"
Amy nods to Thomas. "That would be the ideal."
Harris nods "Yeah. Hopefully no one's stakin' out the back yet."
Marjorie leads Edward off back upstairs, to get his head back on straight, and it doesn't /seem/ like anyone's lurking in the backyard.