A story heard around the campfire: a young Eshu tells of putting in to San Diego in a little boat and mooring it quite near the Naval base. He and a friend (the ill-fated Georgie) snuck into the base to look at the huge toys that the Navy has, and encoutered a man wearing a black suit - that stereotypical black suit that no one really wears. He can detect them, apparently, because he looks right at them despite their net of invisibility. Then the MIB uses some sort of ray gun on Georgie - like the air is filled with iron! - and takes him to an unmarked building, protected by a field similar to the one the ray gun projected. Georgie is never seen again. No one really believes the story, though - the young Eshu has clearly watched too much XFiles.
The morning of the fourth of July dawns clear and beautiful, thought Soraya, feeling ill, opts to stay in bed for the day (or maybe she's just feeling lazy after the previous evening, wink wink nudge nudge). In any case, this leaves Miles looking for another volleyball player. He drafts Bill, with surprisingly small protest from Magda. Bill played volleyball in college (UMass, if you were wondering), apparently.
The team plays Boston, and wins the non-cheating opening game, partly due to the strength of Bill's playing - he's the only person on either side with extensive beach volleyball experience. The second game Bill suggests that they make it a drinking game becuase the Cambridge side is pretty big (and besides has Desiree the body mage) and the Boston side looks pretty weedy. Miles and Bill working together trick the opposition into going for that, and in the end despite clever cheating on their part Boston is defeated. Hooray!
After the game Bill talks to Magda and says that while this has all been very exciting, he would go back to the way he was so that Jason wouldn't be left all alone and mundane. Magda is less for that than she was the day before, though - this is awfully convenient. In the end they decide to have Miles look at Jason's fate and determine if Bill should go back to mundanity or not.
Also afterwards Victor gets a lust potion from Miles, who wouldn't normally have given one to Victor but he just seemed so depressed... anyway, he's not really going to use it, is he? Then Sir Ten shares some tea with Desiree and both of them, looking up, are suddenly smitten with each other and retire to somewhere more private. Several hours later, coming to her senses, Desiree awakens, realizes she's been lust-potioned, and slaps Sir Ten.
This results in chaos that lasts the rest of the evening. Desiree runs off (and Milton goes to talk with her) while Sir Ten wanders until he encounters Magda. At first he's confused, then thinks he must have been drunk, then with Magda's help works through a bunch of different theories for what happened, including the Desiree drugged the tea herself theory. The one that is settled on is that Victor drugged the tea with the potion from Miles and gave it to a boggan who gave it to Sir Ten who shared it with Desiree. Sir Ten is hot to go challenge Victor but Magda persuades him to talk to Desiree first.
Eventually Desiree and Sir Ten talk and Sir Ten apologizes profusely (at Magda's instruction) and Desiree tells him it's not his fault. Sir Ten tells her he will challenge Victor - one part for his honor, but ten parts for hers. Desiree tells him that such talk makes her not trust him and that if he were to kill Victor she would never talk to him again. Sir Ten leaves, unable to deal with the situation, but not before talking to Magda for a while about honor and duels and such things.
Then some of our heroes go talk to Victor who acts confused and clueless and in fact still has Mile's potion - or at least something which looks just like it. He confesses to getting it from Miles and thinking about using it on Desiree, but then realizing what a terrible idea this was. The inquisition goes to interrogate other potion sellers in the market, but one won't say who she sold to, and the other, while helpful, sold to a lot of people who could have given it to Victor (although they all seemed to have other reasons). A tincture of truth is bought.
Then the fireworks happen, and everyone really appreciates their beauty. Well, except for Desiree, who seems very distracted, but then who can blame her?
Desiree then makes Victor drink a drop of truth (without telling him what it is) and interrogates him. Victor basically repeats his story from before. Desiree also asks him what his intentions towards her are, and he confesses to loving her and wanting to make things right between them, more or less. He also promises to tell her more about the things he is doing to gain power.
Nothing more is determined before everyone tucks in for the night and in the morning most people leave for home, so the actual truth remains a mystery. Was it some third party trying to deepen the rift between Victor and Sir Ten? Was it Sir Ten himself, stealing a page from Victor's book? Was it Victor, proving that he wrote the book on manipulating people? Was it just some pooka causing trouble?
Somewhere in all that confusing Sidhe soap opera, Milton practiced flirting Sluagh-style: he hides a present for Priscilla somewhere in her belongings - a beautiful (if gothic) spider silk with moon sparkle shawl.
Everyone returns to the Duchy of Boston and Cambridge no wiser than they were before. Desiree sends a note to Sir Ten:
Thank you for everything. You are a true knight, and your honor is undiminished by anything that has happened today. I am sorry that I am unable to avoid causing you pain. I hope you find a happy ending.Desiree
Player Notes:
Some amusing quotes from after the run: -MIN
Marleigh: How can someone angst so much over someone
who's so clearly a bad guy?
Andy: A Sidhe needs angst like a fish needs a
bicycle, but a bicycle that it really, really wants.
Marleigh: You know, if you ever feel the need to truth one of your suitors, you should probably reexamine that relationship.
Quote from Sir Ten: "Unfortunately, a woman's heart is not a Senate." -ALH
Victor actually did not admit to loving Desiree, but to wanting her
to love him and not knowing why. -ALH