Session 32

Date: January 21, 2012

Game date: November 6th, EY217

Location: Providence system, Beck

Previous events: Information about Flint Cardesco, off to Beck to peacefully (?) finish things off with the Varnsens

With the curtains closed at all times Vob has the run of the house, while the tomatoes stay in the basement.

Jillian gives Frederick Varnsen a dreaded phone call to arrange a meeting at a neutral place, suggesting an Ollie and Fawn's café in Mechanicville. Varnsen agrees and they set up a time for late that afternoon. Once that's done she calls the Dragon for backup: given the Steel Hummingbird's history with the Varnsens she wants as many allies present as possible. Olivia and Xao are available and willing. Olivia's reluctant to come without a grenade launcher -- at Jillian's insistence -- but is happy that she gets to bring her old naval sword. The two of them will sit at another table as backup. On the Hummingbird's side Volkova will sit with Jillian, as Varnsen will no doubt recognize her, and Malcolm will sit at another table as more backup. Bishop elects to stay home with Vob.

Jillian wants to be at the diner early, in part to gain some advantage by being the first one there and also to not be seen stumbling about. Varnsen pulls up in a battered pickup right on time and comes to their table when waved over. He's a bit confused by Jillian being a woman; in the dark, given her short hair and carefree manner with firearms, he'd assumed her to be a man. They talk for a bit, Jillian awkwardly explaining the 'rescue" of Emily and why she shot Varnsen's son. Phoebe Rubin had already explained to Varnsen when she was investigating the contents of Emily's letter that started the whole mess but he wants to hear Jillian explain her actions herself. As far as Frederick Varnsen is concerned Emily is of legal age and if she wants to run off with a gang of ne'er-do-wells she can stay with them.

When talk comes to the matter of payment Jillian doesn't even try to negotiate and pays up the amount that is asked. Given her past experiences with negotiations that's probably for the best. After counting the money Varnsen seems to feel that the matter is at an end. He gets up to leave, saying that he hopes to never see her again. When Jillian asks him if he has a message for Emily he hawks and spits a gooey mass on the floor of the café and stalks out the door. Jillian heaves a sigh of relief as she hears his pickup start up and head off.

Everyone thinks that the meeting went about as well as it could have. No blood, no overt hostilities, not even raised voices. A couple of tables are dragged together and everyone has a thoroughly mediocre meal; Ollie and Fawn's isn't known for its fine cuisine. Olivia hopefully brings up the idea of visiting the Big Bang firing range in the next day or two but with both Malcolm and Volkova in therapy it might not be the best time to play around with heavy explosives. Jillian pays for Olivia and Xao's food; it's the least that she could do.

After the tension of the day Jillian and Malcolm spend a quiet night in.

Volkova and Malcolm spend a good chunk of the next day in therapy. With Bishop spending some more time with Vob Jillian has some time to herself and without telling anyone else decides to see a doctor; it looks like her dizzy spells are here to stay and Bishop's crapbark tea -- which is every bit as tasty as its name implies -- doesn't seem to be doing her any good. Going through the phone directory she lucks out and finds a doctor, Brooke Ward, who has an opening. Ward's office isn't far and Jillian walks over, not knowing how to drive and the minibus parked at the therapist's office in any case.

Dr. Ward examines Jillian and finds out what's been causing her balance issues: the cause is indeed physical, something to do with her inner ear. As it turns out the doctor's got a few hours free and a small but adequate surgical theatre in the back of her office: she can perform the simple surgery right away. Jillian will need someone to drive her home and will need to take it very easy for a few weeks but after that she should be much improved. Jillian agrees and calls the therapist's office to talk to Malcolm, who is bored in the waiting room while Volkova talks about her reptoid mother or something during her session; he can't quite make out her raving through the door. Jillian explains the situation and Malcolm agrees both to pick her up after his session as well as to get some art magazines and the latest issue of Navigator's Quarterly for her to read while she wiles away the time.

Malcolm explains the situation to Volkova when she's done with the therapist for the day and she decides to walk over to the doctor's office instead of waiting; Mechanicville is small enough that she can easily stroll over in a few hours and she's read everything of interest in the waiting room anyway. On the way she takes numerous detours to look at the various projects going on in ship yards. Much of it is average stuff but there is some interesting work going on here and there.

His session ends early and with some spare time Malcolm not only picks a copy of Navigator's Quarterly and a couple of art magazines but takes the time to cut out any mention of Alexei Rusanov that he can find. When he gets to Dr. Ward's office Jillian is about ready to go; despite the surgery being on the minor side she's wrapped up like the bandages are the only thing holding her head in one piece. They don't have to wait long for Volkova, though the engineer has to sprint the last bit of the route after being a bit too distracted along the way. Most anyone else would be badly burned after being out in Beck's harsh sun for so long but Volkova's persistent layer of grease and oil has protected her just as it did when Kel Varnsen was hunting them in the badlands.

The three of them climb into the minibus and drive back home where Bishop and Vob have been whiling away the day. Bishop is disgusted that Jillian voluntarily let herself be cut up like a piece of meat when his crapbark tea was obviously doing her good. He leaves in a huff and stalks off to the Resplendent Dragon's house.

As soon as he's through the door Bishop rants about how he's badly treated by his crew. Although the constant "cabana boy" references are known to one and all Xao senses that there's more to this and presses Bishop for details. The young cabana boy claims that Jillian's been in a knife fight and when the Dragon's crew asks him why he's not treating her despite their treatment of him he blurts something fairly nonsensical and runs off back home, leaving the Dragon's crew in a very confused state. Concerned, Xao calls while Bishop's en route and asks what happened to Jillian and if it's the Varnsens again. He's relieved when he finds out the truth.

Soon back home, Bishop's feathers are somewhat unruffled when Jillian explains that it's not that she's turning her back on his Ubuntan medicine; she only saw a surgeon because the crapbark tea wasn't working. He thinks that she's wrong and silently vows to sneak crapbark extract into her food at every opportunity.

The next day Jillian relaxes and reads her art magazines, which have enough holes to look like someone's been writing ransom notes with them. She tries to explain why she had surgery to a curious Vob but isn't sure that the concept properly gets through. At least Vob's grasp of the human language is getting better.

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Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 13)

Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 1)