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Subtle. Very subtle. No one will ever think something strange is going on here.

Tim only has to cast a simple “somebody else’s problem” field over the area and it will be just as good as invisible!

He’d better. A boatload of people standing in line, in the dark with lights overhead, in an overgrown patch with walls and a closed gate around, to get into what looks like someone’s smol tool shed, with lit windows looming from a neighboring building, would otherwise be the antithesis of inconspicuousness.

Maybe calling the club something other than “Underground” could help?
“Yes, officer, we’re all standing in line to get into The Outhouse, why do you ask … ?”

To be fair, they’re in a run down part of the harbour district, there’s not going to be a lot of people passing through at night, and those who do probably shy away from both crowds and the police. If the lights in the distance are indeed windows, they probably belong to an office or warehouse where no one bothered switching them off as they went home.

Most of those lights seem to be on the street and sidewalk outside the fence. I think the only light inside the fence is the one Tim is standing under, at the tunnel access door. So, most of the people standing in line are in at least semi-darkness. And that won’t look suspicious to anyone who notices it /at all/…

Complaining about the cold but didn’t bring a proper jacket… Sounds like the consequences of our own choices

“We’re going to a great muso pub with good beer” does not usually equate to “We’re going to stand around outside at night, sober, in the middle of a quiet empty field”, cut them some slack.

Just realized I am worried for Michelle in a diff way. It’s probsbly hard to hold all of a species magic in a single body.

How is she going to find more sphinxes to pass the magic around, as it were, so she doesn’t die from brain trauma?

I get the idea the magic is in the phoenix egg, not the sphinx itself.

But she could always test that by having kids if she wants any, I guess.

The sphinxes are definitely highly magical themselves, and the characters have been speculating/stating that they draw from a common magic source which gets stronger the less sphinxes there are around. I don’t think this implies that the magic is stored in their bodies, only that it’s something they have direct access to it.

That said, I don’t think Skin Deep magic operates on Rivers of London logic either. When people have used a lot of magic, they just appear very exhausted, not brain-fried.

also forgot to say – I expect this plan is going to lead to a lot of spontaneous turnings as humans-who-assume-they’re-human come into contact with magic and break inherited spells, a-la-Anthony. Fun !

You make it sound like Madame U is going to show up in the Underground with a selection of the medallions that she has for sale (or send a few with somebody else). That would be /such/ an irresponsible thing for an Elder to do! Do you actually think she’s that dedicated to making a fast pound? Of /course/ she’s not…

And /nobody/ would think it’s funny to buy a medallion and touch assorted outsiders with it…

“And nobody would think it’s funny to buy a medallion and touch assorted outsiders with it…”

I see that I’m not the only one to think of Lily (she does appear on the chapter title, too) … ;-)

… but depending on what music/dances will take place (and whether the locals will exceptionally tuck their medallions under their clothing, just to be safe), crucial contacts will be made nonetheless, methinks …

Claimed medallions don’t cause turnings through incidental contact. The ownership of the medallion would have to be intentionally transferred.

Tony’s situation is unique because od the specifics of the spell on Iphelia *it NOT being medallion magic). Unintended Turnings are highly unlikely.

Malicious ones, maybe less so

Ah … well, that explains why Tony had to visit Madame U’s to run into problems, rather than Blanche’s medallion having caused the same by accident before.

But speaking of Tony being a special case, it was also pointed out that usually, a turning is something that happens instantly. The perp would quite likely get seen red-handed on his first success. And he would need to carry medallions of various species to increase the chances – extra medallions that would probably be confiscated at once. This starts to sound like a very expensive way for a bit of mischief …

Maybe the hypothetical mischief-maker could rig up a scheme to not actually be near the medallion when it makes contact with people. The most workable idea I had would be to hang a bead curtain across a doorway, and tie medallions to it ostensibly as decorations or noisemakers. You’d just need to be able to rig it up without anyone noticing your involvement, and be able to keep it there without one of the mythicals noticing. And of course then you need a good vantage point to watch the chaos unfold.

It would take a huge amount of work, but I bet someone could embed a medallion in a doorknob. Has it been established somewhere how much damage a medallion can take and still continue functioning? Well, even if you can’t bore a hole in one, you could still do a knob without a lock, and keep the medallion in place with metal tabs on either side. That could take a long while to be detected even if someone turned because of it.

Hrm. Integrating a bunch of expensive medallions into some sort of camouflage that you might very well be unable to get back at the end of the night? Just how much money does Lily have to burn for her pranks … ? Not to mention that someone buying a number of medallions for species other than their own can probably get found out after the fact as well.

Damage a medallion to affix it to the camo? Dis no! Damage to the medallion translates to an imperfect disguise for the poor sap who finds himself bound to it (a la Greg or Myra). That’d be plain cruel.

(Let’s not discuss that one of the objects in a club that people get in actual touch with are toilet seats, ‘k … ?)

… on the other other hand, with the “really old” medallions reportedly having very visible wear and tear, and the imperfections of the disguise (so far) having some similarity to the medallion’s damage … there aren’t a lot of mythicals with old medallions whose human forms happen to look outright skinned, are there? >:->

This is an unlikely possibility, a real long shot, but that person complaining about the cold reminds me a bit of Vera, what with the purple and pink color scheme and the earing that looks like her spade tail.

We were told the wards were too good to let a demon sneak into the Avalon. Is it possible Vera is trying to get in the back way to bypass that?

Looking at the size of that line, and adding in the regulars, it looks like the Underground is going to be */PACKED/* unless Tim turns away most of the outsiders.

Back in “Exchanges”, Abby told Paulbert that Tim had devised a spell to distinguish people’s intentions. Of course, we all know where good intentions lead…

Wait…. it’s October 2006.
Observe and Release happened in 2005 September.
How are Michelle….?

Was looking for a comment to review the dates.

Seems time in Dis flows differently. She’s back a year later for them / us, but what have they perceived?

We don’t yet *know* how long she’s been back. The weather when the trio emerged from the hellmouth looked summerish, so it was apparently either September ’05 or summer ’06, assuming she’s already back, as implied by the promo pic. With that assumption, she’s been back at least a month, and maybe over a year.

Does the doorman have horns? Is there some “hide in plain sight” shenanigans going on?

Doorman’s presumably Tim, and he can’t hide his horns.

Tim’s hat is apparently supposed to make it look like the horns are part of the hat and not part of his head. If he wanted to actually hide them, it would take something like a huge 1970s-style afro wig. Can you picture him in a disco getup, at least for Halloween?

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