So Merlin phones his Mum, letting her know he’ll be coming round, and to expect 5 additional guests in total: Him, Nora, Ella, Ursa, Alkahest, and Raoul. She needs to send his Dad out for more ingredients though. She also drops the phone several times when Merlin mentions bringing several women over. Merlin says he’ll bring dessert as a thank you.
Before that, though, Nora wants caffeine, and as such they end up back at Neutral Grounds. Ella wants to apologise, so Nora decides to get some cash to pay for repairs and lost business, and go in with her. She invites Alkahest in, as he knows the owners. Merlin and Ursa stay outside, because Merlin is still banned. Before that, though, Nora spots Laniakea and Adagio watching them from around the corner, Scooby-Doo style. She ignores this.
On the way in, they see Stiletto being escorted out by Roche (the dragon), having still not ordered. They order drinks, with Chiasme (the angel) dealing with the coffee, and Miasma (the demon) dealing with the tea. Miasma also reveals that Alkahest had tried to do a union rally disguised as beat poetry here, on one of their open mic nights. He brushes it off and mentions the chilli cook off, and then is like ‘Can I get a uhhhhhhhh’…
Nora hands over cash, and Ella apologises for causing a fuss. Roche comes out to see what’s going on (at Miasma’s calling), and basically says ‘never apologise for something you were forced to do. You don’t have to pay us for repairs. However, you were with that Gnome so I’ll take your money in exchange for unbanning him.’
From there, they pick up cakes and Raoul from the copy place. There’s a conspicuous green jaguar (the car, not the type of dog) with a dragon and an angel inside watching them, but it drives away when Merlin approaches. From there they take a tram, spotting a weird Spring guy putting larvae be-Neith the seats on the way (this is a fun reference to the one-shot Sami ran!!).
They arrive at Merlin’s parent’s. It’s very nice and very green. Merlin asks that everyone be polite and not cause a fuss. He introduces everyone to his Dad, who is in fairly good spirits considering he was recently kidnapped. Alkahest goes to help in the kitchen, Raoul runs off outside, and Nora takes Ella upstairs to Merlin’s old room to get some space.
Downstairs, Merlin checks the front and spots Laniakea and Adagio doing more top spywork, and just Messages asking if they want to come in for lasagne. His Mum is very concerned about this, and drags him upstairs to give him a telling off, and ask that he maybe not hang around with this crowd anymore. Is his job causing this? Is it drugs? She knew someone who got on Dewdrop and it ruined their life. Sam is her Son and she just wants what’s best for him.
Nora has gone to sit outside, after noping out of talking to Laniakea, who is chatting amiably with Albar with her feet up on the coffee table. She hears the noise from the room Ella’s in that Merlin didn’t catch; a kind of heavy rasping breath. Arriving upstairs to check, she spots a tiny, rapidly-vanishing patch of auditor-grey on Ella’s chest. Her Paladin Divine Sense activates, and senses a little seed of something still left in Ella.
They all go down for Lasagne and Laniakea reiterates her job offer. Nora tells her off, saying they’ll meet her on Friday to discuss. Laniakea actually accepts this without complaint. The food is good, and everyone likes it, but it’s bloody awkward.
Then Ella’s like ‘I’m going to take the job! I’m part of this world now and I want to actually face it!’ Both Nora and Ursa are like ‘NO, BAD IDEA’ but Ella says she’ll take it if they draft up a new, clear contract that Laniakea also signs promising not to, say, defenestrate her or anything. Laniakea asks Nora if this would help patch up the relationship between Open Sky and the Caliber Institute, and when Nora affirms this, she agrees, and even offers to draft up a new hiring process with input from the Institute. She admits – after three glasses of wine and a speech about the ‘bonds of lasagne forged’ – that she’s much diminished in power after everything with the Infernomicon, and with Pyrite’s involvement still being unprovable it’s even worse. She says the party are no longer ants beneath her, but are instead more like mice or possibly voles.
She’s also making a real effort to be more considerate because she doesn’t want Adagio to get fed up of her again. They talk about how Laniakea could have just spied on them using the Green Dragon bird-vision thing, but Adagio wanted to see too so they went out together. Anyway, Nora says they’ll meet about it tomorrow and hash out the new contract then, and Laniakea accepts and then leaves.
Raoul turns back into full-hellhound form and runs off to the woods. The others climb into Alkahest’s car and drive back to the safehouse.
Roll History 