2.11 The Chain is Broken (Interlude)

Quotes

Raveena: "I don't like your place. I go there to train. It would be like mixing business with more business."

Gabe: "I've got a scar to remind me not to do that again."
Chase: "Like Harry Potter?"
Gabe: "More like Paul Atreides."

Gabe: "I've used it to find my keys."
Stefan: "He uses the spell to find his underpants!"
Gabe: "Sometimes they're not in the room."
Raveena: "Your underpants?"
Gabe: "No, my keys."

Raveena: "Tell him you got somebody pregnant."

PeanutGalleryGabe [sings a la Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh]: "Hello Bannon. This is Veena ?"

Deaver: "You could start at zero and end at z." [Observation from ArchivistChase: If you start at zero and end at z, aren't you technically ending where you began? ... Think about it. You'll get there.]

PeanutGalleryGabe: "How does that happen? The creation of stones with a 'no trade' clause?"

Gabe: "She called you 'Alex', man."
Deaver: "That's my name."
Gabe: "But she massaged it."

Raveena: "Can you follow from a ways behind?"
HomieVamps: "Yo, slayah bitch, we come to clean yo' ass up!"
Raveena: "Are you guys the band?"
Stefan: "I never liked rap anyway."

Surprise, surprise, the gang is collected at Geoff and Chase's place the next morning. For one brief, shining moment it looked like they might actually go somewhere else [can you tell who writes the summaries?], but Veena shoots down Deaver's apartment as an undesirable locale, and tradition holds.

After discovering the jade pentagon on E-bay, the group decided to have Gabe make a go at acquiring it, you know, his way. He tried, and got a magical punch in the nose for his efforts that left him reeling. He still isn't feeling well.

Back to the drawing board. The next most obvious course of action is to buy the jade legitimately. [Maybe this should have been the first most logical course of action, but hey.] However, the crew needs to know what they are ultimately up against financially. Veena calls her roommate Kelly, the ace CS major, to try to hack her way into E-bay and find out the max bids on the piece (and potentially who is bidding behind the names 'arthound' and 'gatekeeper'). Kelly asks for a few hours, and says she'll get back to them.

In the meantime, there is Scooby discussion on the diamond in the possession of the DoH. Overall, they figure it would be best to get it out of the easy reach of Trisha Boyd-Townsend. But no one is sure just how to pull it off. Before conversation gets much further, Kelly calls back. Apparently, E-bay needs some more stringent security. The max bid on the jade Illetar is sitting at five grand. Unfortunately, she hasn't found the contact info for the two bidders ... yet.

Still wondering if there's another way they can get the jade without going broke, Gabe and Deaver make a quick run to Gabe's dorm room for some spell components. When they get back to Geoff and Chase's, they are ordered into the backyard, where Gabe performs a spell to pinpoint the location of the jade on a world map. The flame leaps off of the candle he lit, landing on the map directly over Devonshire, England (and setting the map on fire in the process). Not yet satisfied, Gabe goes inside for a detailed map of Devonshire off the internet, returns to the yard, and casts again - he gets the location pinpointed to a spot on Old King's Road.

Stefan takes a different approach; he picks up the phone and dials his family in Paris. His father answers the line, and Stefan straightforwardly asks to borrow the money (despite Raveena's creative suggested excuses). When his father is finished having a heart attack on the other end, they come to a different agreement - Stefan's family will bid on the item for him, topping out at $10,000. If they win the auction, his father will see to it that the object winds up safely in Stefan's hands. Little can be done with the jade now but to wait.

Still unsure how to tackle the diamond, talk turns to the geode. Chase feels they should warn Bannon to keep a close eye on it. Since no one wants to actually tell him what is going on, the question arises of how to manage that feat without having to answer too many questions. Chase insists that she be the one to talk to him, but no one, especially Geoff, wants her to go alone. Raveena eventually gets the vote as her escort (the two of them have chatted with Bannon before), and they head for the library as a logical starting point. Chase confesses to Veena that Bannon didn't actually tell her where to find him, so they settle on a different strategy. Chase writes a cryptic note and puts it in a book on the fifth floor, leaving it in a markedly wrong location - Bannon knows every inch of this library, and gets annoyed when anything is out of order. Mission accomplished in much less time than they expected, the girls decide to take the opportunity to sneak in a movie. They end up at Shaun of the Dead. They laugh a lot. Checking back later that evening, the note is gone, and Bannon has left an acknowledgement in its place.

Stefan's father successfully purchases the jade, and it is on its way to France. After more consideration, and with the jade firmly in their control, the group decides not to go for the diamond - it is likely to be complicated, magically protected, and would raise the alarm that someone new is looking for the Illetar stones.

That means it is time to prep for something really important ...

Homecoming weekend.

Raveena and Harrison agree to "meet up" [cough] and patrol the fairgrounds, while Chase fills Stefan in on what is effectively the biggest ALUMNI weekend at Phillipi College. Picking up on her meaning, Stefan is antsy to get a few punches in. He decides the opportunity coupled with a good dose of Americana is too much to resist, and plans to spend his weekend at the festival.

Gabe and Deaver spend a lot of time in the library on Friday, researching everything they can find about the geode and its sister stones. What they learn is alarming - the stones actively want to be together. They cannot be summoned by magical means - something about their inherent natural properties prohibits it. The last time they were all assembled was in late fourteenth century Florence, most likely under the control of the Medicis. So maybe bringing them all to the same town isn't the best idea, after all. Gabe takes a stretch break while Deaver continues scanning documents into his laptop. He is interrupted by a woman's voice, and looks up to find himself facing Dr. Bethany Caldwell, a professor in the Anthropology department at Phillipi. They chat amicably for a while - Deaver shows Bethany the section on Tibetan tribal practices (she did field work there for her doctorate) and she can't help wondering what ever possessed a Physics professor to learn Sumerian. Gabe returns mid-conversation and is introduced to the pretty brunette. She eventually excuses herself with a smile to sink into a book at another table. Gabe starts lecturing Deaver on women in hushed tones [is outside commentary even necessary here?]

That evening, Chase is packing up the car for her trip to the mountains with Rick, Jessie and company. She grabs her bag and tosses it into the trunk, where it narrowly misses the well-loved snowboard already hogging her floor space. Slamming the door, she turns to Geoff. "Guess that's everything. You sure you don't want to go?" He grimaces at the thought. "And be the only one sober enough to worry about people falling down the mountain? No thanks." Chase tries not to lose her temper - the only one, huh? "It doesn't have to be like that, you know." He just looks at her. "Have a fun trip." Giving up, Chase tells him, "I'll be back Sunday evening sometime. Not sure if they're planning on staying over, but I've got class Monday morning." She kisses Geoff goodbye. "Love you. Be good - don't have too much fun without me." With a wink and a smile, she scampers up into the driver's seat and is gone.

Saturday dawns. The camera cuts briefly to the mountains, where Chase is boarding like the competitor she used to be, and having a great time doing it. Back in McKennit, everyone heads for the homecoming fair. It is a perfect October day. Rachel actually gets Gabe out of his books long enough to enjoy the festivities, although she seems a little nervous that he'll miss the kind of "fun" he was having this time last year. They try the witches' portion of the midway, where the games aren't so easily magicked. Unfortunately for Deaver, who got talked into the dunking booth, his post is NOT in that part of the midway. Gabe can't resist dunking him a few times, even though the beanbags he throws go pretty wide. As the evening wears on, Stefan shows up. He is unsure how to maneuver in this environment - so many vamps and so many people all at the same time - and he invites himself along with Raveena and Harrison to figure out the ropes. Raveena is thrilled. Really.

In a more shadowed section of the fair behind the main tent where the dance is being held, a gang of chain-laden vampire thugs approaches the trio, bristling with machismo and hurling insults at Raveena. Veena can't help a little giggle. She, Harrison, and Stefan dig in, making quick work of the vamps (who even brought their own soundtrack).

After the dust has settled [yuk, yuk], Harrison urges Stefan to go home and "clean up" for the party, and he and Raveena make their way into the main tent.

* * *

Stefan enters his room from the fair, where he sees a single letter sitting in the middle of his bed.

* * *

The Homecoming dance at the fair is well underway and couples crowd the floor as a slow song starts up. Harrison and Raveena are casually patrolling in between flirtatious conversation. Stefan still has not reappeared. Rachel is sitting sipping some punch and looking forlornly at the dance floor, when Gabe finally gets the hint and asks her to dance. She gives him a big smile as they move to the floor. Brandon and his date Jeanine are there, as is Deaver, who went home to clean up after the dunking. Brandon takes a moment to cue Deaver that he should never leave a beautiful lady on the sidelines and gives a subtle tilt of his head towards the far end of the tent. Bethany Caldwell is there with a glass of punch, keeping one eye on the crowd and the other on the group of giggling tikes who are amusing themselves. Taking Brandon's not-so-subtle directive, Deaver approaches Bethany and the two chat easily. He asks her to dance. She looks a little surprised and casts a quick glance at the group of children, but agrees.

* * *

Stefan sits down on the edge of his bed, deftly opens the letter, and begins to read.

* * *

Geoff is also at the Homecoming dance, having escorted Kelly, whose date ditched her at the last minute. He and Shannon are dancing with the ease of old friendship. She asks him where Chase is, and he haltingly tells her that she went skiing with some friends. Shannon is surprised that he didn't go with her, but Geoff shrugs it off and claims he's too busy this weekend, anyway ...

Harrison pulls Veena onto the floor, where he surprises her with a perfect foxtrot. But Veena being Veena, she has a little trouble keeping up with his fluid movement. Harrison teasingly starts teaching her where to put her feet, when she stumbles mid-turn and lurches forward. He catches her close and doesn't let go. She bashfully assures him that she's fine, but Harrison still doesn't release her. He smiles, tilts his head even closer, and they kiss.