Presenter: Milly LeCrique

[Laraqua]

She finds nothing on wikipedia on any of these men and women, though she does come across a web site that describes Daniel Carter as an excellent businessman who worked his way up from a lowly position as personal assistant when he charismatically and single-handedly defused a potential situation between the Ophidian media empire and several police officers who had been contending with Ophidian's rather anti-police stance and who had been planning to sue. She also finds that Aleksandra Romaschkova is a renowned archaeologist in Russia and that she has spear headed the Kamchatka Expedition and will be running the site inspection.

OOC: Whoops, forgot Mikhalkova and Aleksandra Romaschkova, two NPCs who would also be attending the gathering.

[Milly LeCrique]

Milly finally gives up and emails Miss Chiang:

"please forward brief bio on the following persons befor tonight's meeting: Francesca Morletti, Alexander Lozynsky, Nicolai Lebedev, Arnold Crawford - thanks so much"

Then she gets ready to meet Timothy at Malzcafe, taking the time to be well turned out. When she's ready, she calls down to the front desk to have a cab ready.

[Laraqua]

The taxi arrives and takes her to the Malzcafe once she is refreshed and ready. The Malzcafe has a large array of chairs and tables set up before the large glass doors and windows. It is already filled with all manner of people who have come down for brunch though she spies an empty table for two. The aroma of delicious food fills the air, causing her stomach to grumble in anticipation. The sun is bright overhead though the weather forecast said it would be cloudy later on today.

[LookDown]

Timothy creeps up behind her, calling out "Milly, is that you?" in a questioning tone once he is within her earshot

[Milly LeCrique]

Milly whirls about, a bright and genuine smile beaming from her face. She jumps up and wraps Timothy in a tight embrace.

"Hallo, mate, am I glad to see you!"

[LookDown]

Timothy returns the embrace enthusiastically, hoping that he had showered sufficiently.

"And I'm glad to see you! How've you been these past couple of months?"

He motions to the empty table for two. "C'mon, let's grab that one before it's taken."

[Milly LeCrique]

When they are seated, Milly orders a mineral water and a salad.

"I've been alright. I've managed to break away from my 'low companions' and have been mostly sober these past few months. Work has been dismal -- no one I can pal around with like you, Tim. Last night was the strangest thing though.

"I'd fallen asleep in front of my tv -- I'm turning into such a spinster, it'll be cats next, I suppose -- when I got a call from Gemma. You remember Gemma, don't you? That weird little thing I was rather infatuated with last year? I hadn't heard from her in ages. So she wants me, begs me to come right over. She's found her roommate dead and doesn't want to call the police because of her stash. She's there with her 'toy' and another man and someone has attacked them as well.

"What could I do? So I grab a taxi and tear across town. I go into the lobby and some weirdo comes down the stairs before I can get into the elevator. He's naked under a long leather coat and carrying a scalpel And I swear I could hear a voice like an emanation from him, begging for love. I break for the elevator. He comes at me. I bash his face with my satchel and get the doors closed.

"I get to Gemma's floor and make it to her flat. There's a big Scotsman sitting on her sofa with a shiv in his neck, dripping blood. I call the police and ambulance straightaway. While I'm talking to him, Gemma and her 'toy' just disappear. I mean it, Tim, the front foor was locked and I find the dead girl and check the rest of the rooms, but Gemma's just... gone. So the Scotsman gets unpleasant -- as they are wont to do -- and then he leaves me alone in a strange flat with a dead girl. At least I watched him go down the hall.

"So the police get there and ask me a bunch of questions and I tell them all I know. I try to call Gemma and the connection is crap, but I can hear her say don't talk, it is listening and not to listen in the clubs just go home. And she says that she's sorry.' Then I take a taxi to a cafe near my hotel and wait until he's gone before I walk across. Weird, innit?"

[LookDown]

Timothy orders a coke and a sandwich. He tries to conceal a grimace at the mention of Gemma's name.

"Shit, are you sure you're okay? I mean, that guy didn't get you at all? You were lucky. I always thought of Berlin as safe, but I guess it has it's fair share of fuck-ups. From what I know about Gemma she seems the type to make a runner. Maybe she wanted to pin blame on you, who knows."

He leans back for a moment, tapping on the table with his right index finger.

"You say you could hear an 'emanation' from that guy, and he wanted love? No offence Milly, but are you sure you were completely in your right mind? I mean, hearing psychic voices from murderers isn't the most normal of things. Maybe it was the shock? Anyway, when Gemma called again she was probably on some weird drug trip. I know from personal experience just how fucked up things can get if you make a bad mix."

[Milly LeCrique]

Milly chuckles.

"I was in my right mind when I left my suite, Tim, beyond that I can't be sure. But we've both seen stranger things than that. About Gemma, I'm just not sure. She decidedly did not want to face the police and maybe that's all it was. She didn't seem unusually stoned when I saw her, but who knows. She didn't make much sense, but she rarely does.

"You know, I didn't even look this morning to see if any report had made it into the news."

[LookDown]

"I haven't heard anything about it. The police are probably still sorting out the facts. It sounds like you had another wild night, in any case!

Have you met any of the others coming on this trip? I haven't even met the cameramen yet. Still, suppose we'll meet them tonight, eh?"

[Milly LeCrique]

Milly mops up the last of her salad dressing with her bread.

"Actually, yes, I have. I was at the Pergammon museum yesterday to check out the Kamchatka exhibit and one of my guides was Natasha Chaikovskaya, the one who translated those Liltian Tablets. She seemed rather socially inept, could hardly respond to the visitors' questions. Obviously bright though and," a smile plays around Milly's lips, "a rather attractive girl. I bought a couple of books about the Liltian Tablets and all, if you want to check them out.

"I've spent the morning trying to get some information online about the others, but couldn't even seem to find any official biographies or Wikipedia entries. I think that's odd, don't you? do you know anything about any of them?"

[LookDown]

"Nothing on Wikipedia? But everything is on Wikipedia! Seriously though, that is a little strange. These people are all meant to be important members of their respective fields, you'd think that there'd be something, wouldn't you? Maybe it was something to do with your computer's search engine . . . but even then that isn't very logical.

How was that exhibit, by the way? I'm curious about those tablets, what exactly did this Natasha have to say about them?"

[Milly LeCrique]

"That's exactly what I thought!" She roots in her bag and pulls out the list she made at her hotel. "See if any of these names mean anything to you. Aleksandra Romaschkova is the expedition leader, from the University of Moscow, Nikita Mikhalkov is the Russian government's advisor, an Italian helicopter pilot coming along, Fransesca Morletti, two Russian scientists, Alexander Lozynsky and Nikloai Lebedev, and Arnold Crawford, a seismologist, I don't know where he's from. And I told you about the Russian epigrapher, Natasha.

"Ring any bells?"

[LookDown]

(OOC: sorry, Timothy's Know is 85, forgot to put that into the roller)

Timothy pauses for a moment to think.

"Actually, I have heard of some of those people . . ."

[LookDown]

He continues:

". . . but the only one that I'm able to recall anything of interest about is that Natasha girl that you met at the museum. She's meant to be some kind of prodigy or something, the only one able to deal with those Liltian things. The weird thing is that for other people, the Tablets have the effect of non-replicability (if that's even a word)," Timothy laughs, "and yet Natasha is able to recall and redraw them from memory. At least, that's what I've heard.

She's meant to be an odd one, she is; how was she with you?"

[Milly LeCrique]

"That sounds right. She was very... spaced out is the term I'd have to use. And she seemed... wounded, I'd have to say. And you know how keen my radar is for chicks like that." Milly chuckles. "I'd guess some sort of long-term abuse or unresolved trauma. It sounds cliche to say it, but she seemed haunted."

Milly signals the waiter and uses her American Express card for the meal, but leaves a generous tip in cash.

"Okay, let's get you a room here and then, if you're doing the exhibit before dinner, you'd better get to it. Keep an eye out for our girl Natasha. I'm going back to my hotel to study up and grab a nap. Then I'll pretty-up before the dinner. Can I pick you up here?"

[LookDown]

"Sure, I'll see you then. Won't take much to pretty you up though!" Timothy smiles and goes to try and get a room, planning on heading to the museum afterward to check out the Liltian Tablets.

[Milly LeCrique]

Milly gives Tim a hug and a sisterly kiss and gets into the taxi.

Back in her room she rests and looks over the materials she got from the museum, while waiting until time to leave for the dinner.

[Laraqua]

OOC: Timothy, return to your thread.

Sitting, she goes over the museum shop items. A plastic version of a Liltian tablet whose symbols are crude and bear little resemblance to the photograph that sits on the back of the tall, colourful hard-copy book with KAMCHATKA written on the back. The hard-cover book seems to be a kid's book. It describes in very little detail the various creepy findings: thick cloud cover obscures the mountain from satellite feed; it has been off-limits through several changes of government since a failed expedition in 1786; the writing has only been translated by one woman; the language cannot be replicated by hand, only by machines, as people always remember it wrong; the tablets state that there is a city up there somewhere; the tablets were all found in rather haunted locations.

The much smaller paperback appears to have been a translation of the Kamchatka diaries. A series of other odds and ends that may be part of the same set of merchandise include a key chain; a ruler; several tablet stickers; and a post card.

Prop 6 gained.

[Milly LeCrique]

Milly Googles the translator of the diary, Mark Kailer.

She's using the post card as a bookmark - what does it look like?