[So, Red had been talking to Crystal in the Greenhouse. They separated, she next wanted to talk to Mallory, to save time I'll say she hears he's in the Lion hall and gets directions there.] [It's on the second floor and has a tapestry of a Lion outside. There's a group of younger students coming down the hall towards the door at this point. She hasn't seen anyone leave since the second ago when she got here.] [The lion is a fairly fearsome looking one, although it stands apparently in defense of a lamb oddly enough.][ [Start] ( I'll say I've given up on finding Hurst, then? ) (Nobody knew where he was we'll say.) * Red looks around. Is there some special way of getting in, or is it just a door? [Red notices that she's being watched expectantly by the animated Lion. Otherwise the just the door.] * Red hums, and decides to just open the door, rather than knocking. Let's see what they're up to. [Door fails to open, doesn't budge really.] Password? [Students, two males and a female, you don't recognize them, reach the door and glance up at Red.] Hi? * Red smiles at the students. "Hello. I'm here to speak to Mallory. Could you be a dear and open the door so I can come in and get him?" He want to see you? [Lion settles slightly and watches the interchange.] Well, he agreed to the interview at dinner, so I suppose he does, yes. I can see why. Huh? * Female goes to the door and whispers something to the Lion. The door opens. * Male#2 gestures to Red. Thank you. * Mail#1 briefly looks enlightened. "Oh...." Then he thinks for a moment more. "Wait a minute, Mallory doesn't normally get along with suits, that wouldn't..." * Male#2 hits him upside the head, the group then proceeds in. [The indoor of the Lion house is fairly messy with a good number of play weapons and the color splotches as well as the occasional odd goo. The students don't seem too keen on cleaning.] * Red stifles a giggle as she follows the group through. ( No house elves, either. I'll bet Unicorn house is clean, tho. ) [You can see Mallory brooding by the fireplace, he's got Jarrett hanging by him. He's telling a story to a few other Lion's you don't recognize, they seem amused but Mallory is unfazed.] (books all over actually. :P) [The three students join the crowd.] * Red glances around for Mallory, finds him, then walks over towards him. Is it possible to go around the throng of students to get to him? Wouldn't want to interrupt the tale. What tale is he telling, anyway? * Jarrett finishes "And so the wizard says to the farmer, 'that wasn't my wand.'" And a few of the older students crack up or look faintly amused depending on style. [Red can get through without too much difficulty, they give him some distance. * Red walks around to Mallory, then, and taps him on the shoulder. < Jarrett> That's not the best part, the next year the farmer's daughter... huh. [The crowd watches to see for Mallory's reaction.] ( Which is exactly what she didn't want. ) * Mallory smiles. "Welcome to my den." (Sorry, sycophants, you know how it is.) Why, thank you. Are you ready for that interview now? Finish the blasted story Jarrett. But I want to see what Mal-- He'll be okay. Certainly. Alright. Then if you'd be so good as to follow me out, we'll go find a place to talk. < Jarrett> Look not now. Don't cop out on me Jarrett. * Mallory stands up and looks over to Red. "If you prefer." In fact, I rather do. * Mallory smiles at that. * Red turns, makes a beckoning motion, and heads for the exit. Once her back is turned, she smiles, too. [You both make it out as Jarrett starts up again.] ...and so she's giving birth when it turns out... [And the door closes You have somewhere in mind? You know, I was thinking of scouting out a place, but then I figured you'd know a few good ones. So I'll let you lead the way, so long as the location is private. * Mallory nods and leads you down the hallway for a bit until he stops in front of a picture of a table with a variety of objects on it, including a skull. Fairly classical looking still life. He stops for a moment while while getting out his wand. * Red waits to see what Mallory does, first. * Mallory taps the frame with his wand while intoning "Porta." He then starts to climb up through the canvas, the painting shimmers slightly as he does so. He ends up inside and holds out a hand for Red to follow him. While his hand appears quite real the rest of him seems to be a part of the original now. * Red smirks. She could make it in on her own, but... she accepts the hand and climbs in. * Mallory gives a less self-conscious smile and gestures to a chair to the left of the table, one that wasn't in view in the painting itself, he sits in one to the right. [The room isn't that large or detailed outside of what was in the original painting, there's a window but it still looks fairly artificial out there. The rest of the room feels more real, but still has a dreamlike quality.] * Red has a seat. "Interesting place. It feels surreal." * Mallory grins. "You wouldn't say that after seeing a cubist one from the inside. Maris insisted we try one." Oh, that'd be something, I'm sure. * Mallory nods, but then settles into a more customary distant expression. "So, what's this about?" [The hallway, incidentally, is still visible. Every now and then a student wanders by but they seem not to notice you.] Well, mostly I wanted to ask you some questions about the school. Boring stuff, but I'd like to have a few student's perspectives on these things, and you seemed like a fine candidate for it. * Malloy chuckles. "Whatever you say. But go ahead." So, what do you think of the teachers here, Mallory? Rica's fun, Hurst is an ass, the others are okay I guess. * Red makes a face. "Uhg. I hear you on Hurst." She goes back to her slight smile. "How professional are they?" * Mallory seems slightly confused by the question. "Well they do their jobs, Ms. Kinsley and Ms. Theobold both take their job very seriously, though Ms. Kinsley is way too cautious, we'd never learn anything if she had her way. Heck, even the Menace mostly just acts tough for show and looks after us." * Red frowns. "'The Menace'?" Then grins. "Is that Hurst?" * Mallory shakes his head and actually looks slightly embarrassed. "No, I mean Dennis, uh, Borland, the centaur. He's the groundskeeper. Hurst enjoys being an ass too much to act professional." Dennis? I met him on the way in. He seemed alright, tho. I suppose I just didn't get to know him well enough. * Mallory shrugs. "Just wish he didn't think half his job is trailing me." Oh, does he do that? How terrible. Sounds like he's ignoring the rest of his duties, to me. Well, he's smarter than he acts I guess, he seems to be fairly on top of things. Between him and Hurst I'm lucky to get an hour's peace." His eyes then narrow a bit and he appraises Red. * Red reclines slightly in her chair draping her arms around the back. She looks at the ceiling. "Why do they hound you so, I wonder? It seems odd. And unprofessional, singling a student out like that." * Mallory keeps narrowed on Red. "Yeah, I'm sure a SAB agent has no idea why that happens." * Red looks back at Mallory, smiling. "Well, I have a theory. But I'd like to hear your take on the matter." * Mallory looks dubious. "Look, I know Hurst is 'former' SAB, no big secret there. And Maris verified everything I've found and was told, you guys get the job done alright, even if it takes some pacts with devils and a few innocent dead. Don't know what exactly you don't want me to get off campus to discover, but your people are doing a good job of it." * Red has a good enjoyable laugh at that. * Mallory just looks jaded at that. "So, what's your theory then?" * Red is still chuckling when she says, "No, no. I'm going to correct you, first." * Mallory smirks. "This should be fun." First off, Hurst is very former SAB. Honestly, from where I'm standing we wouldn't take him back in if he asked us to. Second, if we've made any pacts with devils, it's news to me. Third, there was one innocent killed by a person who was reprimanded for it, and if she ever does it again, she *won't* live to regret it, I'm very sure. * Red allows herself to smile dangerously at that. She's having too much fun not to. * Mallory smiles. "I'll concede point three, although you're making point one. Parliament does keep an eye on you, and knows that many of your people don't have sterling backgrounds." Oh? And you don't believe people can change? * Mallory snickers. "I don't think they get employed because they've changed, I think it's because you think you can keep them on a leash." He then drops the amused expression and has more of a tone of anger. "I intend to be ready if you’re wrong." Oh? And what do you intend to do if we are? * Mallory regains some control. "I'll graduate soon enough, and I've been doing training to make sure what happened to my parents won't be repeated. And once I'm out of here I'll be able to really get ready and you won't be able to stop me." He regains some anger but mainly has utter confidence. Oh? So you'll stoop to my level, then? * Mallory looks surprised at that. "What?" Well, it sounds to me like you're ready to kill everyone in SAB if you think it's warranted. To keep us from doing any more terrible things? It must be, because quite honestly, nothing short of it would work. If we're as bad as we say you are, what else could you possibly do? Stun us, thwart our plans, and run off, hoping to earn no reprisal? Please. Get us arrested, assuming we don't manipulate the courts already and don't have 'get out of jail free cards'? Don't make me laugh. * Mallory looks startled at the first suggestion, he then regains his demeanor. You've got power but you're not omnipotent. Mostly your mistake seems to be thinking your more powerful than you actually are. ::He then glares at Red:: Unless you're one of the leashed ones, I'll bet you are. * Red grins. "Now where did I give the impression I'm omnipotent?" * Mallory just looks at Red for a minute, as if he's trying to figure something out. * Grysar seems to put it together. "So, you're here to intimidate me then?" (Mallory rather) No. Try again. * Red is still grinning. Come on, surely you can do a better job than that. Right, mind games. Okay, you can believe what you want about SAB, but see if you can get the parliament records on that whole Chunnel mess if you're so sure about devils. * Mallory actually looks slightly embarrassed at that admission, but he tries to regain his air of juvenile badass before he finishes speaking. Mallory, that was a human criminal. She acts evil enough, but that doesn't make her a devil. At least, not last I checked. And to put it bluntly, the mission to save a bunch of people couldn't have succeeded without her. She was a tool, and we had a competent person - I don't like him one whit, but he is competent - watching her. * Mallory grins. "All devils worse than humans, Ms. Kinsley (Jaida, should have called her Ms. Kinsley consistently) would call that a speciesist attitude." But he then loses the grin. SAB standard procedures seems to be employing evil people they seem to control. That illusion of control is what gets a lot of mage's an early grave. Oh, it's not default. We normally prefer trustworthy good -- or, at least, loyal -- people to get the job done. But if we have to choose between using an evil person to save a large number of innocents, and letting those people die, we choose using the evil person. * Mallory nods. "Maybe you're right, I don't think so, but maybe you are. I'd like to be ready if you're wrong. Is that a problem?" Oh, I know I'm right. I have insider info. I know the people you're talking about, and only three of them would qualify as 'evil' to me. * Mallory has joined #sab2020 Being ready is all well and good, but you're watching the wrong people. From what I've seen so far you're goading yourself into taking action against a bunch of basically good people. Sure, the three that parliament has official records on, but what about the efreet that I'm sure has nothing to do with that rash of supernatural arsons in the past year or two. And your pet vampire that went rogue in downtown London. Experienced wizards can't testify to things in court, but they do know about them. We don't have any efreet in our rosters. And the only vampires on a rampage are the ones I've shot, and they most certainly were not SAB. I think you've been working on bogus intelligence, Mallory. Not a good place to be, that. * Mallory looks caught off guard. "Why should I believe you? They don't have anything to gain if I believe them. You could be trying to cover your butt." Now, I wouldn't saw we have nothing to gain from it. * Red is still smiling. She seems to be enjoying the conversation. * Mallory snorts, but he doesn't disagree. Of course, you still we're the 'dark side', yes? I'll give you irresponsible grey if you prefer. Well, there *is* something you could do to make sure the Beaureau's up to your exacting standards. Being? * Red continues smiling. "I'm not telling you. Not now, at least. Later, perhaps." Right. So, still, what do you want from me then? Or that a secret too? Actually, it is. But I'll settle for an evaluation of the teaching content at the school. * Mallory shrugs. "Can't see what harm it'd do, not like any of my favorites are incompetent or anything." Your favorites? Well, teachers? That'd be Rica. Her classes aren't boring, she's actually been out adventuring. Aside from Hurst, I think all the rest would be happy to stay in ivory towers. She also doesn't waste our time with spells we won't use. * Red nods. No real other favorite's among the teachers. Ms. Theobold means well, though if she had her way we'd have no time to study magic. * Red nods again. "So none are dangerously incompetent, then. Mmm-hmm. And what about the grounds? Are they constantly crawling with monsters or anything dreadful like that?" It sounds almost like a joke when she asks it. Oh, a few. I think they try to hype it some. I mean really, whose a Unicorn going to hurt? They keep an eye on us whenever we're really out exploring, two on me. But the only students who could slip past that aren't going to be at risk from some mostly tame magical beasts. * Red nods. "So, do they tell you to keep out of the forest? Because if they do, I'll bet it makes a great make out spot." She nods sagely at this, as though she were saying something wise. But it's probably just another joke. * Mallory laughs. "Course they tell us to keep out, wouldn't be any fun if they didn't. But it'd actually be kinda creepy I think, who wants to make out with the unicorn watching. Heck Maris is the only one that hasn't gotten bored of it by her third year. She probably just reads there." Probably, yeah. I've never read in a forest before, but it's probably relaxing. Anyway, that's it for the official interview. I think I'm all done here. Thank you for your co-operation, and all that. Sure. * Mallory chuckles as he stands up. Hmmm? Oh, she's always wanted privacy when she went, didn't know if there was some woman thing involved. ::He says it as if he finds that more mystifying than most arcane secrets:: But Dustin went skulking after her this one time, and, well, I taught him a lesson about spying he won't soon forget. Ah. So, how do we get out? Just hop through? * Mallory nods. "Oh, and whatever your proof is, I think Maris'll want to see it to. She had to cajole her dad for a while to get the reports, I think she deserves to know more." * Mallory walks to the portal and jumps out. Proof? * Red jumps out, too. Proof of? That you're not so dark side. Ah. Well, I'll have something for you on that ...rather soon, I think. Good night, Mallory. Good night. * Mallory walks off towards his room. * Red turns and heads off towards the computer lab. [As she's getting near it, she sees Luther Hurst, also headed to the lab, but coming from a different direction.] Ah, Luther. * Red waves to him. * Mallory is now known as Luther * Luther smiles. "Ah, just the bureaucrat I was hoping to see." It's the sort of smile that says I've got good things coming my way, but you don't. * Red smiles back, keeping as much warmth in it as she can. They say smiling comes from a bearing of fangs. o/` Yes? * Luther takes a moment to wave around his wand, and all the pictures nearby start repeating a few seconds of animation. "So, how's the *inspection* going? Finding what you're actually looking for?" No, but that's alright. You found what we're looking for, didn't you? Oh, I've found a few things. I think the question is what it's worth to you. * Red labors to keep the frown off her face. "How about twenty thousand?" * Luther laughs out loud. "My, haven't had a laugh like that since Issac, well, it's so hard to pick just one. That would barely buy you what a little bird told me, assuming you don't already know what she said." How about thirty-five, then? Enough to keep your interest? Enough to make a down payment. I rather expect it's worth a good bit more to SAB or they wouldn't be paying you lot. There's what, three agents here? That should come to at least two hundred fifty thousand pounds. Down payment it is, then. Give me your account information and I'll have the money sent to you. Right then. So want what the little birdy told me too, or do you not find that worth paying for? I'd love to hear it, I'm sure. Huh, I was beginning to be afraid my little spy was lying, good. So, here's the info you'll need. You give me the down payment on cash, I give you the down payment on information. And as I'm a man of my word I'll throw in keeping my mouth shut for free. Why, thank you. So go ahead and transfer, I'll give you what the bird said, and, let's go old school, three questions, with only one subject forbidden. I'll give you the rest when I get the rest of the money. * Red pulls out her computer pad and does the necessary work. "That'll do it. Three questions, then? Very well. Question one: What did Isaac tell you in your interview with him?" * Luther waves a finger. "That'd be the one forbidden topic. Have to give you an incentive to follow through. So, what do you know about dear Isaac, I will give you what else the bird knew per our agreement." I suppose you'll give me the same answer if I make my question "What concrete evidence do you have that anyone did anything"? No, I'll tell you everything except what I got from Isaac. Well, that's good. Well, then, what concrete evidence DO you have that anyone did anything? Well first there's a woman who takes the form of a bird and a demon scouting out about thefts. She had traced it because Isaac was seen on the scene. The demon traced a belong of his through magical means here. I had them both under truth spells, so that holds up." * Red frowns. "A demon?" Yeah, apparently they were partners of necessity. Think he was an incubus. Had an incense burner stolen from an auction house. Ah ha. And next? They suspected the faculty was involved, but didn't give any specifics. I have not found the items in question and am quite certain they aren't among the students belongings. I am also fairly certain that the faculty doesn't have it either, but harder to be sure. I see. Go on. That's what I have for solid evidence. Oh, and the woman was after a computer, odd thing to steal, might be cybermancy or some such. Never really got into it myself. Not quite what I meant, but fair enough. * Luther nods. "Number two?" Do you have anything besides what Isaac said that would aid this investigation? Although at this point I'm fairly sure the faculty wasn't involved in this, mind. I wouldn't have complete confidence in that. Isaac said some things, and he was prevented from saying others. Someone's taken precautions with the weak link. But besides what I found I'll also give you unvarnished information on the rest of the brats or faculty if you like. Three? * Red thinks for a moment. What time would you like to set up the formal interview for the rest? No formal interview, that's not how the informant games works. But I'll be on call, I'm willing to earn the money, even if it means meeting late or early on neutral ground. Fair enough. Do you have a telephone number you can be reached at? * Luther gives one. "I'll expect the two hundred fifty thousand before we talk, and within forty eight hours either way. Although if the faculty is involved, we can probably work out an alternate payment. * Red looks up from writing it down on her datapad. "Two hundred and fifty thousand, less thirty-five thousand?" Nope, thirty five thousand is for the info on the demon and private investigator. Ah. Told you it was extra. So, enjoy the rest of your evening. Oh, I won't. Well, I will, so try to take some comfort in that. Good-bye, Hurst. * Luther restarts the pictures with his wand and heads off. "Pleasure doing business with you." [End!]