A Devil of a Job

[IamLEAM1983]

"We'll figure it out," noted Three. "My theory is Davies got jilted but already had a strong religious basis, so he fell back on it. Hatred stoked his faith, so there you go. Instant unconscious Cantor. This is probably how he manages to avoid getting caught, he can just repel suspicious sorts by asking them to step off. It's like the Black Speech, if the Black Speech ran on pure, undiluted authority instead of chaos. Having some military service could help with the needed presence, the kind of tone he'd need... But that much conviction? Religion is the cornerstone, here. Not potential Army service."

He looked to Jenkins. "As far as fucking up Winters' sight is concerned, I think the city has more than a few sorts who wouldn't mind crafting a dampener on commission. A goblin could manage it, Thomas Quint could certainly manage it, Nigel produces factory-level dampeners for protection against lesser Diviners but I figure you could just stack a few of these modules and block off Jimmy..."

Latching onto that, he refocused on his cell phone. "Check for inventory thefts or suspicious requisition orders. Anything for anti-Divining barriers; commercially available pro-privacy stuff we could buy back here, or that you could find out in London. Stackable, removable, concealable."

* * *

First, the explanation. Then research. Then testing on blocks of ballistic gel George had obtained from God knows where.

Then tea, apparently.

As was ever the case when George Murray Gammell, the city's mysterious toymaker, had a face-to-face guest, he seemed unwilling to tackle the exact specifics of their coming to him. He didn't so much talk as he delighted in getting them to talk, and derived an immense amount of pleasure out of simply listening. He was in the presence of someone he didn't need to hide from, someone who wouldn't consider him as a degenerate or a freak. As ever, it was freeing. He basked in it in that strangely British way of his, legs crossed in his best chair by the currently inert fireplace, his maw curled up in his best approximation of a benevolent smile, the fruits of his recent labor ticking away on the small table that waited next to him. He paid no mind to the torturous Eldritch contraption he'd suffused with the Architect's power for the express purposes of Holden Hall's knights and ladies, treating the tall and powerfully built Drifter as though her utterly contemporary attire were ladylike. He'd roped her into talking about her week with Frank and the first few try-outs with other employers, as well as expectorating a bit on how it felt to work as part of the city's first super-team in decades.

He still sounded as unintentionally malevolent as ever, however - like a nice old Victorian chap stuck with Top Dollar's vocal cords and an inability to make any sort of lip movement not look lightly nightmarish.

"...but really, it seems to me as though you ought to work in closer proximity with Archibald, if I may be so bold. The days of readily available physicians for his kind are long past, and I dare not present my services. I believe you can understand why: I'd introduce such energies in the good lord's mechanisms that could conceivably disrupt his continued existence. It would be useful if he were looking for some sort of onboard bomb - but last I checked, he had not embraced the ethos of the Japanese kamikaze..."

He set his cup down. "I'm ever so sorry for holding you as I have, but I really must know - how does it feel to have a group of people to depend on? I'm afraid my trustworthy acquaintances are few in number, outside of the Toybox's manager and one other acquaintance of mine - a lady of high distinction and power who would prefer to remain anonymous at this juncture, I'm afraid."

[Weirdlet]

"Honestly? It doesn't *quite* feel like I got a group to depend on yet," Tam said in reply, balancing between casual relaxation with a cup of tea and staying on the edge of the chair to avoid making it take her full weight- not out of mistrust for Gammel's furniture, but unfortunate long experience and attempted respect for it.

"The guys are cool, and I'm- really curious to see how this goes, getting involved with what's called superhero work here. I'm feeling my way, though- I just got into town, and in my first day I get a pretty cool job all by itself, and then get surrounded by all these well-meaning whack-jobs. And in another way? It's just like coming home- only I never expected to grow up into a sort of off-beat cop. It's not exactly like the comics."

[IamLEAM1983]

The Abomination chuckled. "Very little of anything resembles comics. Nothing is quite so blessedly simple, unfortunately. Men do despicable deeds for all the right reasons, while others champion for the rights of the downtrodden with the most selfish of ulterior motives. Unfortunately, I haven't been placed here to ease this particular dichotomy, I'm afraid..."

He stood up with a grunt, briefly wincing as he rested a hand against his abdominals. He hadn't had much of a chance to land a few good kills, lately, and his progressively synchronizing with the world was throwing his sensitive anatomy in for a loop. Still, he pulled himself together in that same instant and picked up his constructed device almost reverently. In signature Gammell fashion, it was an ornate puzzle box - this one standing at about the size of a Rubik's Cube. He'd once again proven his ability to work in a staggering amount of beauty and personal artistic inclinations into the object, even if the commission had been as crude as a simple "anti-Krampus grenade". Shards of pure iron and depleted uranium waited in a shell of brittle lead, the whole of it locked away in a simple, if ornate mechanical shell that would assault the Christmas Devil with the Architect's adverse laws, if triggered.

He deposited the object in a small box, its interior also lined with lead - all in order to protect the courier or user. Closing it perhaps more carefully than he really should have, he then turned to Tam.

"There we are," he said, offering it to her, "as per our agreement. The fees will be waived towards Holden Hall, there is no need for you to concern yourself with immediate compensation. Your company, as ever, has been a delightful interruption, Miss Zainall. I rather fancy these talks, your stories of your Pilus employer's alien mechanics. I should like to visit Paradise, if I may be so bold - it seems as though there would be much for me to research, as well as a somewhat less contentious larder from which I could draw."

[Karl the Mad]

"I can do that," Katherine replied confidently.

Mary, meanwhile, was still staring at Kramp. "You're despicable," she said out of the blue. "Arrogant, macho, and all too eager to hide behind Oberon's skirts. What makes you think you supersede our laws, hm?" His kind was exactly what she'd been trained to fight back against, and she was quite on edge at the moment.

[IamLEAM1983]

Thinking on it, Three piped up again. "I'll, uh, check with Winters directly. Maybe things would be as simple as searching his house and removing a few dongles someone would have slipped in. It's not like everyone in his organization is pro-Fae, there has to be some bigots lying around Davies could have conceivably tapped for services."

In the meantime, Krampus smiled as though Mary had complimented him. "Me? Oh, nothing, toots. I'm a criminal and I know it! The catch is, Oberon needs me loose and I'm not exactly the kind of guy who would walk up to you, fall to his knees and -"

He did precisely that and offered his wrists. "Please, officer! I can't live with myself anymore! The pain of centuries of mandated assaults is weighing oh-so-heavily 'pon my soul that the world has gone grey! Food has no taste, earthly pleasures bring me no release - my entire life is agony!"

Ending his sobs abruptly, he stood up again. "But I'll let you know the next time I can't sleep at night, m'kay? You'll have your five minutes of righteous satisfaction and I'll have myself some chamomile. How's that sound?"

[TennyoCeres84]

Aislinn snorted and rolled her eyes at the hammy horned man. "I get that you're supposed to be Oberon's vengeful wild card, but it certainly wouldn't hurt you to be a bit easier to work with. We've worked well with Spector, and who the fuck knows what his origins completely entail, but it can be done. Hellborn at your core or not, you'll have to adapt at some point, Kramp. That's all there is to it," she remarked.

[Karl the Mad]

"Good thinking, Aidan," Katherine replied with a nod. "I'll still check things from this end, of course."

Mary growled at Kramp, and her hand twitched. "Don't push me, half-breed," she snarled, "or I'll put you in the ICU, Oberon or no Oberon." She wanted one of her pills, but that'd make them judge her badly, and it'd affect her judgement and awareness. They wouldn't understand the way she felt, she was sure, the ingrained instincts and years of training that said the Krampus had to be taken down, or taken out, before anyone got hurt. And there he was, arrogant and self-assured, deliberately provoking her like he just had to be the alpha no matter the situation. Oh, she just wanted to knock him down a few pegs...

Preston blinked at her, trying not to be concerned. Then he rounded on the demon for the first time. "I'm Preston," he blurted out, looking first awkward and then terrified. "J-Just ignore me. Nothing to see here."

[Weirdlet]

"Suppose it would be the place for you, at that," Tam said in reply. She rose to take the package, sparing it a glance.

"You do make some fantastic, scary toys."

[IamLEAM1983]

"I will consider this as a compliment of the highest order," replied Gammell with a smile. "Do be careful on your back downstairs."

He accompanied her to the staircase that led down to the part of the Toybox that had always been officially closed off. A rickety spiral staircase saw her to what had to serve as a sort of forgotten back lot for the store, cheap little slants of light providing her enough illumination to find her way back to the secret panel that led out to the management's office and the adjacent bathrooms. A little light rigged to a motion detector informed her of when it'd be safe for her to open the hidden door. She was out of the toystore a few moments later, the needlessly ornate box in her hand drawing nothing if envious glances. Most of the onlookers seemed to think Tam was maybe nothing more than some lucky swine who'd managed to put an order in for an authentic Japanese locket box, based on the design of the lead-lined container.

* * *

As for Krampus, he first shrugged at Aislinn. "Would if I could, honey - it shows you don't have a minor demon's nasty streak, huh? Betcha you're all nice and fluffy, past the claws and fangs," he said. "I'm being nice, right now. My bad side's considerably less interested in what makes people tick. Generally, I'm more interested in probing the extent of their swear words and desperate pleas for assistance - but that's counterproductive around you types.

I'm still learning, though! This whole life thing is still plenty weird for me too, you know. Maybe - in a few centuries, give or take, I'll have figured out how to fake that stolid mortal composure of yours, that sense some of you types have of having a spine like an iron rod," he said, making a fist and shaking it, as if his forearm were a rod all its own. "Or maybe I won't. I don't know - some people just have far too much self-control! Take Gruffs, for instance. One of 'em speaks and I, well -"

By way of a finished assertion, he produced loud cartoon snores for a second or two.

He then gave a sharkish smile to Preston. "Heya, squirt! Guess what: I know your best Christmas present ever, too..."

As if to challenge Mary's antagonistic views of him, he looked back to her. "You know what sucks about my job, Jameson? Not being able to get spoilers about the kids' faces, come morning. I never saw these, you know? The saucers in place of eyes, the repeated assertion that this one, this morning right here, that's the Best Christmas Ever. Not the one from last year, no matter what they said!"

He shrugged. "Or birthdays. Never really got the point of birthdays. Sometimes I'd see a kid who was born on the 25th, but then - eh. What's the point?"

Parting with another grin, he went on. "What's great, though, is seeing how justice really is a great big melting pot of morals and politicians pussyfooting to keep their share of the pot of gold. Oberon never wavers from his code, Officer, and I always know why I have this or that guy's scent. I always know they deserve what's coming to 'em..."

He shrugged. "You wanna get mad? Get mad at your former colleagues, the idiots who went on joyrides with their implants. Or Drake's, 'cause he saw the same shit back in Kabul. Get mad at whoever's stuck you where you are now, grasping at something to punish so you can sleep at night.

Me? Me, I'll just hang back, let y'all work, wait until you've got all your burden of proof and all your paperwork nicely squared out and sorted out with England - and then he's mine."

Slipping away from Jameson, he stuck an arm around Three's shoulders. "So, let's go! To the Harp & Blackthorn, lords and ladies, so that we may drink our fill and look for magitech concealment doodads!"

Feeling rather numb to all this tomfoolery by this point, Three stared ahead in an almost sleepy fashion and simply walked forward, heading back to Jenkins' car.

[TennyoCeres84]

Aislinn muttered something to herself, but went with Three as she headed back to retrieve her motorbike.