Questioning the Notion

[Brian]

Tim, Tom, and Nathan are left alone in the palatial meeting room, aside from Molly, who is presumably there, just haunting the edges of Nathan's perceptions to decide how to proceed, and who to first question.  Some breakfast fixings remain, but most have been devoured (that tiny Bjorn can pack away quite a bit; apparently voodoo works up an appetite).

[Carthrat]

"Hokay. Let's think about where to start," decides Tom, leaning back against the chair.

"Firstly, your assaliants, Nathan. How'd it go again? They're dead, right? Did THEY leave spirits behind, or anything? And if not... any idea where they came from? They're thugs for hire, by the looks of it, so... might be worth looking into any gangs and stuff around the city."

[Halbarad]

"There's also tracing Balmer," Tim offers. "I don't have all the details of why Catherine suspects him, but he seems to have some connection with the attack on my family here - and given the relationship between Nathan and Catherine," Tim smirks a bit at this, "it seems he might have some connection with Hathoway as well. I should really fill Catherine in about what's going on - if you haven't yet, Nathan - and find out what she knows about what drove us underground."

[Carthrat]

"Well, if you're going to start by talking to Catherine, we may as well do that now... if he does have a connection with Hathoway, he's probably supplying him with anabaric tools, or something like that. What exactly was the work you were doing there about, anyway?"

[Halbarad]

"As best I understand it, the tower - and others like it - supplies anabaric power to the city. Part of what outed Catherine and myself was trying to keep up the tower output for the city defenses when the Starflare arrived."

[Rezantis]

"You might want to look into Balmer then," Nathan notes, "I don't have much on the thugs - the one they captured is dead, I killed another, and I think some others got away.  But if we can identify either of the dead ones, I have a starting point."

[Halbarad]

"I can do that, definitely," Tim replies. "The only question I have is whether you've filled her in at all about the fact that both of us are not exactly locals, if you know what I mean. It's going to look odd as hell for me to be asking about Balmer if she doesn't know, and if she DOES know there's no reason to cover the same ground twice."

[Rezantis]

"No," Nathan says, "I figured it would be wise to wait until you and I were *both* around for that bombshell."

[Carthrat]

"Just get her to explain it to Nathan or myself, if we need to preserve that particular secret," replies Tom, shrugging. "Do we need to?"

[Rezantis]

"Well," Nathan says, "We don't.  However, she's the person most likely to notice that something is wrong, and it would be damn useful to be able to ask her questions.  My biggest worry is honestly that she'll work out that something *isn't* right, and I'd really prefer to have come clean without that happening."

[Halbarad]

"Basically, yeah," Tim agrees. "From what I understand, Nathan's at least got an excuse for why he's not going to remember things he should know. I don't have that luxury - the holes in my knowledge of the world are going to show up in a big hurry, unless she's kept away from me entirely - and why should she?"

[Carthrat]

"And it'd be nice just in general to have someone who can fill us in without the weird looks, I guess. Gonna go talk to her now?"

[Halbarad]

"Probably the best plan," Tim says, glancing over at Nathan. "Since I really can't do too much on my own until I get the information about Balmer from her."

[Carthrat]

"Right. As for myself... I'm thinking of finding Hathoway and offering an alliance," replies Tom. "Fake, of course. I think I've got enough reason. I know Nathan supposedly betrayed me back in Windhurst, so there's half the motivation right there."

[Rezantis]

"He's not visibly or obviously against me," Nathan notes, "I mean, it's known, but . . . I'm not convinced that will work.  I won't stop you, though, and either way I think we need to track down Catherine and have that conversation as soon as we can."  He looks across at Tim.  "Shall we?"