#anywhere

Continuation...

Panting, he drops back onto the pillows. "Oh my. Dearest."

in the afterglow of the passion fire, the embers of the somewhat mildly destroyed bed reflect merrily in her eyes, 'Guess I missed you a wee bit" a snuggle

"And oh, I missed you too." He gives her a stern look. "You have not been caring for yourself."

Her brow knits in that way when she has no defense but hates losing anyway "Weelll"

"You have -not-. After I told you to. Dearest...." Scolding.

If her horns could turn down contritely they would. "In my defense I missed you, Not just the sex. Don't get me wrong, I'm not like some sappy sidhe boy pining and watching the trod for sign of your return" she sniffs delicately "While you're off on some quest, but it is hard to not think about your favorite meal when its suddenly not on the menu"

"Mmmm...." Somewhere between scolding and a purr. "I hardly have the same needs but... I can understand." More gently. "Now... I propose room service when we wish it, and if you like, I can fill you in. On the details." He waggles his eyebrows.

"Please, the rumors that got to me are... evocative to say the least. "

He chuckles and shifts to lean up on an elbow, facing her. "Well. Will you tell me what these rumors are?"

"That a certain hold of Varich had their own chemical chernobyl, the results were death, deformity and insanity..now that i suspect is not far off the truth. Speculation gets wilder. The Varich conducted a ritual that backfired when they tried aa working beyond their ken. They were attacked by Unseelie renegade of House Gwydion called the Iron Paladins. That they finally got on the sluagh's nerves!"

"OOooohhhhh.... " A soft moan. "Delicious."

She laughs "Oh, it will get wilder fast I'm sure, you know better than I that rumor can be very creative fiction. Were I an outsider, I might give the sluagh one the most credit as justified"

"Well, yes, it was I and my merry band of misfits that did the deed. And there were sluagh involved very peripherally. "

"I'm sure recruiting from that particular kith went smoother than it might otherwise for anyone else" A curious tilt "So...the details?"

"You knew it was Varich from my phone call." He nods. "Actually, it was keeping the whisperers -away- from it all, ironically. Well, to the beginning, then."

A smile at something

"I decided the key was to avoid the House's habit of seeking and finding patterns. I wanted to come back to you, not spend the rest of my life hiding from those Russian maniacs.... what's funny?" With good humor.

"Just the thought of you having to wall off a horde of inquisitively sluagh. I keep imagining you with some plunger and calk sealing gaps to keep them from wiggling in before you're ready"

He chuckles. "If it came to that, I would have been prepared."

"Well, the sluagh come in, or rather, don't, later." He pauses to trace her face and shoulder with his fingertips. "To avoid Varich's awareness, then, I was able to indulge a sense of chaos. Two main thrusts to the plan; pharmaceutical and biological."

She enjoys his touch eyes fluttering then, "Oh?"

"I stole a technique from an 80's superhero movie. I infiltrated the party food with compounds that would be harmless apart, but lethal in combinations." A satisfied smile. "Very random, depending entirely on who ate what when, and how much."

"I let them poison themselves."

She laughs at that, "And bypassing food tasters if they don't sample everything"

"... even if they did, each taster would have to sample each dish."

"Which is not going to happen" A nod "Very clever dear"

"However, I wanted another layer. So, biological; chimerical diseases, illnesses that would incapacitate, disfigure, blind, destroy, maim...."

"I had a specialist for that."

"Let's not invite this specialist to dinner" Wryly

"Baby, forgive, not to insult you and the specialist- but did you take precautions against starting an epidemic?"

"I specified it to be a short-lived concoction, virulent but not lasting in the wild. I suppose the Varich could spread it but they seemed.... occupied. When last I saw them."

"Screaming and dying?"

"or was there yet more occupying them?"

"Screaming and dying." He confirms, then sighs. "You recall no plan survives contact with the enemy?"

"Yes, there are too many variables. groups can be predicted, but individuals in groups? They can lurch everything"

He nods. "And House-bound Inanimae even more so." Another sigh. "It seems there was a group of warriors in a steam bath in the lower levels. There's a spirit of the House that tends those places especially, and gave them notice that things were going oddly upstairs."

Sourly.

"Oh dear, what are the odds of vengeance coming back to you?"

He shakes his head. "I doubt it. I shall be careful, of course, but I was careful in my planning and execution. The steam-bathers charged upstairs and, being unaffected by my efforts, were in a shape to lend those affected aid and succor... So."

"Mind you, a great deal of damage was done. The healthy were able to contain the damage but not mitigate it entirely."

She nods musing it over, "They're vulnerable now. Others will take advantage"

"One can hope so. For my part, I had planned not to be there. And as we know, no plan survives. This is where sluagh come in."

She raises a brow "Go on"

"At the 11th hour, I discovered one of my operatives that was going to be on the ground at the party had a sluagh lover in the past." Disgruntled. "So, they had to be replaced and there was no one else available.... so I did it. And that put me on-site."

POKE

Finger stab

"William" She stretches the name out, "What did you assure me of again and again?"

"That I would not be there." Tiredly, and he takes his poking. "It was genuinely an emergency! It was a critical spot; he was to over see a section of the food's tampering. It had to be someone who knew what they were doing, and I couldn't have him there."

"oh you are lucky you're cute" A growl, "And that logic's on your side or I'd kick your butt. And you would deserve it. You should have brought me in at that point since one of us was compromised anyway."