Play@YSDC

Friday 11 April, 2014
AM 10:30

The Reading Room, MU Library -

In a windowless corner of the reading room, housed under a catwalk library overpass, Audrey Duprey sits in a high backed, black, corner leather sofa tapping away on a widescreen ipad. She's alone in the den which is spaced for 9-12 people utilizing the various couches and sofas. End tables in dark oak are placed out intricately. On the two walls, dystopian vistas from sci-fi movies fight about the space. Currently, Ridley Scott is close to outnumbering James Cameron. The newest addition to the walls is Prometheus 2.

Julianne Darling enters the reading room, her laptop case slung over her shoulder. She looks over the posters on the walls, noticing the new one. I can't believe they're making Prometheus 2, she thinks. The first one had an excellent cast, but the writing was so...meh. You'd think people actually in the characters' positions would have reacted more...I don't know, competently? Well, maybe they'll do a better job on the sequel. She heads over to the sofas. "Hi," she says to Audrey.

Audrey slowly looks up at the disturbing person. "Mmm, yes?... Who might you be then, darling?" She doesn't wait for a response and the tone of her voice is drenched in disinterest. "I'm sure I'll be picked. My father will see to that." She studies Julianne's blue eyes. "How are you making them accept you?" She lets her eyes wander the full length of Ms Darling's body, stopping at her shoes. She bats her eye lashes and awaits an answer.

"I am Darling," says Julianne with a grin. "Julianne Darling. I'm not about to reveal my game plan to the competition, but let's just say my father can be persuasive too, in his own way. I'm not too shabby at it myself."

Julian Winter enters the Reading Room too, he is dressed in a smart suit, a black umbrella in one hand, a leather briefcase in the other. He leaves the umbrella at the door and walks straight-backed towards the seating area.


Giving a brief nod and a calculated smile, he greets the two women.

"Good morning, ladies."

"Oh, good morning," says Julianne, turning when Julian speaks. She smiles as she looks him over. Well, he's sure a looker, she thinks.

"And here comes another one..." the dark haired girl in the sofa says while putting away her ipad. "I guess you two would need directions to Fairview?" "Ah, and have you considered what we are doing for the picnic excursion Friday 18th?"



Audrey Duprey seems to have no doubt of being accepted to the club. You are all aware of Professor Duprey's recent trip to the Valley of the Kings. The professor is currently preparing his next expedition taking him to Turkey.
The expedition leaves on Monday 21.

The competing university of Arkham, G.U.E. Tech has been doing pranks at MU for the last twenty years or so. The pranks are rumoured to stem from a grizzly run of murders on G.U.E. Tech campus where students were being found murdered on the grounds and in the tunnels below...

At MU campus, Prof N.E. Brown is holding a meeting in his office regarding a coal mine incident in Pennsylvania. The Bendix Coal Co in Gibsville is looking for help from the university. Interested parties may join for extra credits. The meeting is at PM 2:30 today.

I enter the room and cooly survey those in attendance ... my rivals to the arms of ... no my rivals to this most exclusive of clubs here on campus. First to the good-looking guy in the smart suit ...

'no too aloof; but he does have potential. Then there is the women.'

I think to myself.

'The blonde is dressed very classily, you can tell when people have it and those who need to buy it - and she definitely has it. The brunette though - now where have I seen her before ... erm no Cannot place her. Let's deal with the women first.'

"Hello there, I take it that this is the waiting room for the Sunday Club. I move towards the settee where the women are seated. I am Felicity, Felicity Hyde-Young." I say as I move forward extending my hand towards the brunette, a big wide grin on my face.

'I'm here at last, don't rock the boat now Fiss!'

"Great, this will be perfect. Welcome all of you. Now, as I was asking before Fine came. What for the picnic-event? Are we breaking in somewhere for a bite, or just a cat burglary for a good book? Ah, I don't have a clue what they do for picnics, but we have to have something fab for a suggestion when we are in!" She beams a radiant smile at Felicity, "Audrey Duprey, your host for Sunday." She waves at the other two. "This is Julian and Julienne."

"Julianne," she says. "Julianne Darling. It's nice to meet you both. Funny that we have such similar names, Julian. Do you and Ms. Duprey already know each other? She knew your name, but you never said it."

I shake the hand of Audrey, Julianne and Julian in turn, trying to make my handshake firm but not overly so and my smile never wavering ... or at least I hope it doesn't waver. "Duprey you say, one of my professors is called Duprey, is he any relation at all?" I ask Audrey. "Sorry, we seem to be bombarding you with questions Audrey."

Miss Audrey Duprey seems to be well informed of her competition before this informal meeting. You all recall being sent written invitations to the wifi-den from Richard Potter.

Professor Duprey holds a handful of lectures each term but his main focus is heading the Turkish expeditions for MU.

"Yes he's my dad. Clever of you Felicity... You might have heard his lecture on anthropolpgy from Asia Minor as he stubbornly calls Turkey. Anyway, wait till you see the piece he brought from Egypt. It will blow your mind." She smiles wickedly back at Felicity. To Julian, she says, "Do you care for hypnosis? I overheard the girls of the club discussing 'speaking with the dead' " She makes a dead-eye face and laughs madly. Composing herself she says. "No really do you believe in spirits and such?" She seems to curse herself under her breath for dropping her guard for a second.

Ooc- Hmm my bad on calling her Aubrey - that's another character another scenario. No
Penhew here! Move along! Stay calm!

My laptop had a seizure and I'm doing my best sitting in the cabin writing on my phone... Slooowly. No fancy formating, no pictures. I'll be pimping the pages when I get back home.

Btw. Is Audrey coming across as a spoiled brat? That's what I'm going for. A little unsure of proper phrases and such. I guess you caught that judging from your replies.

Cheers!

Julian shifts in his seat, leaning back comfortably, or is it arrogantly?

"Your father is right to call it Asia Minor, at least that was the name it bore when it was still the centre of exalted culture."

He almost sniggers.

"At least they still spoke Greek back then."


He picks a speck of his suit, smiling an almost patronising smile at the new girl, she was a bit girly, wasn't she?


"That would depend on what you'd call spirits, Audrey, but I doubt our definitions synchronise."


He then smiles at Julianne.

"Yes, imagine what ominous Fates must have brought us together on this auspicious hour."

He laughs lightly, amused.

"Though I'm almost sure someone of your vim is more frequently addressed as Jules."

"Well, sometimes," says Julianne, grinning back at Julian, "but most folks call me Juli for short. I don't believe in coincidence either. The two of us must have been meant to be here."

OOC,Yes, she's coming across the right way. I haven't noticed any incorrect phrases, just a couple of misspelled names.

"Juli", he pronounces the name almost as if he's savouring it.


"I've never been called anything like that.", with a smile he adds: "But I can't say I consider that a bad thing."

When Julian is talking to Julienne, I turn my attention to the Brunette ...

'what was her name again?' Audrey that was it.

"Do you mind if I sit next to you Audrey? You are of course right - I was at your fathers lecture on Asia Minor." I look over towards Julian. "Or Turkey as we would call it," I turn my attention back towards Audrey.

"Very good lecture if I remember rightly, certainly one of the better ones I have been to. It's funny how we should look to the past as humanity tends to fall into the same traps time after time. I think this is what attracts me to Anthropology, looking at other civilisations and making comparisons to our own - totally fascinating don't you think?"

"I was at that lecture too," says Julianne, still able to follow the other conversation, though most of his attention is devoted to Julian. She feels a genuine connection with him, and he seems to be reciprocating. "I've mainly studied psychology, but I'm also taking courses in history and anthropology. What are you studying?"

"You were at the same lecture Julianne, what a small world. My major is Anthropology with other studies in Archeology, and Ancient History." I return my attention to Audrey. "So Audrey, what are you here for today, why are you interested in joining the Sunday Club?"

"And what courses are you taking, Julian?" asks Julianne.

"I had Archaeology and Ancient History, but my subjects mainly focus on Classical Languages, Philosophy and Art Histoy now."

He gingerly leans back in his seat, his legs crossed as he pulls a pocket watch from his waistcoat to check the time.

"I've studied my share of history, both ancient and more recent," says Julianne, leaning forward with interest even as Julian leaned back. "We've interests in common, and perhaps we'll be taking some of the same classes too. That's an interesting watch. Not many people wear pocket watches nowadays. There must be a story behind it."

"I'm sure there is."


Julian smiles amusedly at Juli and pockets the watch.


"Considering the goal of our being here, I gather most of us share a few commons interests. However, to uphold some spirit of competition, I don't think it would do to throw all our cards on the table."


To take any possible edge of his words, he lowers his voice and adds with a smile.

"Perhaps we could discuss it at some other time."

"I'd be delighted," says Julianne, grinning back, "and I understand completely. I was just saying something similar to Ms. Duprey before you came in."

Having been virtually ignored by Audrey I give up on that line of query. No that's two questions from me that's she's ignored ... and I operate on the two strike rule.

Obviously thinks herself above the likes of me - well to hell with her then! The stuck up mare! Have to remember my goal is to get into this club though so keep trying girl.

So I instead talk across the room to Julian and Julienne thinking that

they should maybe get a room, at least on her part.

"Isn't it strange how our studies seem to overlap in certain fields, though our majors vary" I throw out to the room in general.

'I wonder if that's by design?'

I muse to myself.

"Like I said," says Julianne, "I don't believe in coincedence. We're all here for a reason."

"Yes Julienne, I am inclined to agree that coincidences just do not exist. Things happen for a reason, and maybe it's just that we do not see that reason at this time."

"Yes, yes, sure looks fine. We all having something in common. Just remember to bring wine and be on time. Sunday, 7PM Fairview Manor, OK. Ah...Sally had something she had to show us. That will be hilarious. And remember - Nils is mine." Audrey seems to be satisfied with having seen the new applicants to the club. This leaves time to spend Saturday doing some mischief or even study.

Audrey smiles at the three around the table and wrangles past heading for the exit.

"Wait till you see dad's statues..."

"See you there," says Julianne, waving as Audrey leaves.

I´ll be moving this along to the night at Fairview Manor.
The current time is 7PM and Audrey stands on the impressive stone stairs holding up a somber woodcut front door with a huge glass pane rimmed with lead borders.

During the week professor Duprey had been busy preparing for the next expedition the next day. He´s out of town to visit some colleagues before the departure, leaving Audrey in charge of the manor.

As a get in-to-the-mood topic, she asks the first Sunday Club member or would-be member that arrives a welcoming question.
"What do you think of the picnic the other day? Fabulous, right? I still got sore knees from that one..."

OOC:   And, what did you do for hazing on Friday? What prank did you play?

Last Friday night, 11PM-
A slight fog hung almost non-moving over the ditch trailing the road exiting Arkham to the West.

"It was fantastic!" says Julianne. "I've never had so much fun!" She fondly thinks back on the amazing prank she pulled, tricking many on campus into believing that an alien invasion was underway in a 21st century update on the infamous War of the Worlds broadcast on October 30, 1938. Using a series of tweets, social media postings, and news alerts directed to students' cell phones, with accompanying photos and videos ripped from the Internet to support her fabrication, she had managed to slowly build the tension until sheer panic had erupted. It started out seemingly innocent, with astronmers supposedly discovering a large object headed towards Earth, though they were confident that it would miss by a wide margin. Later, more objects were detected, a swarm of them. Then the objects made a course correction, heading straight for Earth - something no natural space object could do. Then they accelerated. Before long, they were coming down all over the world, including one not far from Arkham. A nonexistent noted professor that everyone would be too embarrassed to admit not having heard of led a group going out to examine it, giving live tweets as he did. A panel in the object opened. Then something horrible emerged. Death rays soon followed. The climactic scene was the fictitious Battle of Boston, where the city was laid waste in dramatic fashion. And then came the anticlimax, where the supposed aliens that were kicking humanity's collective butt were stopped by humble Earth germs. "You'd have thought that everyone would have seen through my prank, but few people even tried to confirm the story through other sources, and those that did and protested that it was all a hoax were drowned out by the masses who were running around in a tizzy waiting for the aliens to come and kill them! People can be so gullible. And they even knew it was prank night, and still they believed! Not only that, but it's been done before, albeit over 75 years ago. I almost feel guilty about abusing the power of the media."

"That was the bomb, Julianne. Having that loop showing on the inter-network was brilliant. Guess what you get when putting to much testosterone in campus. Too much war games and naked chicks, too little history and whos´s who. Now it´s more, who´s who in video games or Guns and Curves." Audrey nods to her new best friend to enter. A welcoming Afghan rug is trailing a long hallway past a pedestal with a chessboard on top. A huge mahogany mirror takes up the left wall above a bench where a pile of leather bound books are stacked. A walking stick and two umbrellas are placed in a terracotta vase directly to the right of the front door. A floor stand with tentacles sprouting from the top acts as a clothes hanger. Only a pair of scarves serve as decorations, mimicking water falling from the "branches". The hallway ends with a pair of open glass doors. The panels in the walls are a dark green hue. From the ceiling comes a soft yellow sheen from a mosaic glass chandelier. At the end of the hall, there´s a small round table holding a heavy ashtray. A wooden box sits next to it. Visible from the other side of the open glass doors is a set of stairs surrounding a small plaza of checkered marble floor tiles.

"You´re the first to arrive!" She says, too eagerly to hide that she wasn´t expecting anyone to show up.

"This place is very impressive," says Julianne, admiring the decor - though the tentacled floor stand seems creepy. Still, her father's got nothing on Ted Turner. Now that guy is off the wall! I don't know how Dad stands being around him.

OOC,Cearlan and DrPeterson both disappeared months ago; they were in one of my games too. Cearlan has logged on a couple of days ago, however. We may need to bring in new players.

"Thanks, we are comfortable enough. You want to see my room?", she says energetically. An insecure smile is replaced by raised eyebrows, "Or maybe a sandwich while we wait for the others... And a glass of wine?" She leads Julianne right past the stairs through a dining room with majestic high back chairs and a crimson red runner over a huge oak table. A top of the line chef´s kitchen meet them as they pass through an arched door from the dining area. "Red or white?"

"Red, please," says Julianne. "And a sandwich would be great! I'm not a very good cook, but I can still put a sandwich together."

OOC,DrPeterson just returned, and he was in this game before too.

"Help yourself to the walk-in. And make the same as yours. I´m sure it´s delicious."

Julianne opens up the walk-in and inspects the ingredients, then begins to assemble the sandwiches.

Julian strode down the street, his umbrella used as a cane and his leather slingbag over his shoulder.
Stopping in front of the entrance, he takes off his right glove and rings the bell.

There´s a shadow arriving through the glass front-door. When the door swings open, Audrey holding a bottle of Pinot Rosé and two wine glasses burst out, "Julienne, how nice of you to come!" She then composes herself and adds, "I knew you´d come, for sure. Come in!" She holds the door for the second guest and looks out the street for more visitors. "Not exactly The Hobboit, is it?" "A rush, I mean..." "Oh did you hear what Julianne did the other night?"

In the walk-in cooler/pantry-
Julienne finds a well stocked cheese fridge. A stocked wine stand and delikatessen from Germany and Italy for topping the sandwiches. Apparently Audrey had spent the afternoon baking rolls and small-breads. The salami smells deliciously and the peppers look tasty. A Parma ham sits on a side table with the newspaper wrapping still on. The price tag is out of this world.

Red and green grapes lay in bowls along with apples of various colours.

Everything looks just right.

Wow, these are quality ingredients! thinks Julianne, setting to work. I can't go wrong with these. Hearing the doorbell, she prepares to make three ham sandwiches.

Julian quirks an eyebrow, he didn't like being called Julienne it reminded him of childhood overmuch.

He replies cooly: "I can certify that I didn't bring a friend or two, nor did I bring a party, gang, gaggle or other unruly lot of vertically challenged henchmen."

With a roguish smile, he adds: "Now if you don't turn into a wild animal to devour us, we should get along nicely."


His eyes turn to the wine and glasses.

"I'm sure you'll tell me all about ...Juli's exploit over a glass of rosé."

"Did I say that wrong again? Jul...Julian. That´s it, I´m sooo sorry." Audrey hears a voice in her head. "You scarrrred our foood. Wees hungrry. Must be niiice..." Absentmindedly she blinks away the discomfort. "You can hang your coat there." She nods at the hanger stand with tentacle hooks. "Here´s a glass.", she beams a grin at Julian and adds. "Julianne can tell you herself, she´s much better with words than I am." She leads the way to the kitchen, past the majestic stairs and the dining room. They find the kitchen empty. Sounds of rummaging come from the pantry.

Having removed his coat, Julian follows her into the kitchen. He puts his bag on the table and takes out a bottle of Californian pinot noir.



"It would seem you have a noisy burglar in your pantry."

"Ya caught me!" says Julianne, poking her smiling head out from the pantry. "Hi, Julian! Do you like ham sandwiches?"

"The Romans found no meat finer than pork,Juli. Who am I to gainsay such austere sources?"

He sips some of the wine.

"Audrey told me you've been up to some exploits worthy of some renown."

"It was magnificent!" exults Julianne as she prepares the sandwiches. "I pulled the ultimate prank! I don't know how I'm going to top it next time. It was a modern update on the Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast from 1938. I sent a series of fake news alerts to the cell phones of the students, combined with bogus postings on Twitter and other social media. If there's one thing I've learned from my father, it's how to manipulate large groups of people. So many of them were utterly convinced that aliens were invading Earth."

As Julianne waves her arms in dramatic gestures, Sally Garfield arrives along with Nils Lindstrom. The two scuffle in the hallway almost toppling the coat stand over. "Now, now, take it easy guys!" The kitchen musketeers hear Richard Potter´s voice carry over the mansion.

Audrey excuses herself, "Ah, Richard...", "I´ll be right back!" She heads for the stairs to welcome the young man.

"Ah, I heard some students talking about it on campus. They were quite impressed. I myself steer clear from social media, so I had no idea what they were on about."


He looks in the direction of the hallway.

"It's would seem that our party is getting started..."

"Yes, and I'm sure we're going to need more sandwiches," says Julianne, carving the ham and laying out slices on the bread.

The seance is starting at Fairview Manor. Welcome!