[VR HQ - Blanca Mountain - gate room] Katze appeared in the middle of the lab. Malaclypse didn't even look up, instead continuing to ready the 'Gate. He did, however, point towards a garment bag hanging on some random piece of machinery. She opened up the garment bag. Inside were petticoats and a frilly dress. She looked at them incredulously and turned towards Mal, who was wrapped up in getting the 'Gate ready. "You can't be serious," she said. Mal continued to work, smirking slightly. "Well, from what I can tell, based on a quick reading, is that you're looking at Victorian. From that, the only other option I can see is dressing as a man." He turned to another console and typed some commands. He paused for a moment. "You sure you want to do this?" Pulling on the dress, Katze said, "With Owsen running around like this, I need to make sure that the light 'Slayer is still fine. When I know that it's safe, i'll feel much better. I'm sure you will too." She smoothed out the dress. "So, what do you think?" Mal looked up. "No, you're right. I--" "What," she said. Mal adjusted his glasses. "Well, you probably aren't going to want to wear those jeans under the skirt." [A few miles south of Ankh-Morpork, Discworld] Katze stepped onto the grass. She set a metal suitcase on the ground and unlocked it. She pulled a canvas sack out of the case and set it on the ground open. Looking up briefly, she noticed a cow staring dumbly at her. It chewed on some cud, blinked, and bent back down to eat some fresh grass. Katze removed some small taped bundles from the case and placed them into the sack. She opened the last one in the case and placed the contents in her-- Wait. She didn't have any pockets. She looked all over the dress, but couldn't find anywhere to put the small silver coins. Taking a quick check of the area, when she was satisfied no-one was around, Katze put the coins in her bra. She pulled out a book and consulted a small map in the front cover. She looked around and started walking towards a road in the distance. [Unseen University - Ankh-Morpork, Discworld - the courtyard] Katze walked through the open gates to the courtyard. Awestruck, she paused and stared at the abstract tangle of towers, parapets, balconies and mobius loops of Unseen University. "Wow. Pupp sure knows how to pick 'em." She continued through the courtyard, not noticing the shocked stares and muted exclamations following close behind. As she approached the door she was grabbed around the shoulders. "Aye wouldn't go that way, may gel!" The large woman aimed her towards the side of the main building. As they were walking, she talked about this, and that, and how the Dean was doing that, and how they were doing that with this, and oh yeah, the Bursar. See, he was fighting with the ArchChancellor and they-- Right. Anyway, Katze was shown to a non-descript side entrance from which she was guided into the kitchen. Some kitchens are prominent in their distinct lack of use. You know, the squeaky clean pots, perfect floor, empty sink, and the acute lack of smells. Not this one. The University kitchen was full of smells, some good, some bad, some unintelligible. The only way to tell that the black dripping mass hanging from the ceiling was pots would be to use a metal detector. A broom was pushed into her hands and she was directed to a hallway. She tried to protest but trying to get a word in while the woman (who Katze found out was Mrs. Whitlow) talked constantly about all the goings-on in the University was like trying to nail a noodle through a two-by-four. "Now you just go ahead and start sweeping this hallway, gel! If you see hanything that might disturb you, just close your eyes and hwait a few moments." Mrs. Whitlow turned and strode back down the hall. Katze looked at the broom, then at the rapidly moving figure of Mrs. Whitlow. "Wait, but--" The older woman fluttered her hand and continued walking. "You will be fine may gel! Don't warry, aye know you'll do me proud!" She faded into the distance. The hallway was empty. Katze shrugged and started sweeping. At least no-one was going to question what she was doing there if she was cleaning. She leaned the broom against a wall and lifted the canvas sack off her shoulder. Katze reached inside the sack and pulled out a JihadLinker[tm]. She punched in Pupp's address and hit 'trace.' I hope he's left it on, she thought. [Office Q23, Unseen University] Underneath a large stuffed alligator, left behind by the room's previous occupant who as the result of an unfortunate magic misunderstanding, the Unseen University's newest faculty member carefully positioned a medicine dropper over a bubbling cauldron. The slightest wrong move could be highly inconvenient. He wiped a stray sweat droplet from his forehead. Carefully... caaaaarefully... almost... aaaand... "PUPP!!" ...ohshit. *WHOOMPF* Lifting the blanket off of Pupp's head, Katze cautiously smiled, "So.. bet you weren't expecting to see me, were ya?" She handed him a mug full of what she was hoping to be water, which he promptly poured over his head, dousing his still-smoldering hair. "Katze? Wha-- Kat! What're you doing here?" Pupp grabbed her and hugged Katze tightly. He let go and held her at arms' length. "This has to be the first time i've ever seen ya in a dress... not too shabby!" He paused for a moment. "Wait. What ARE you doing here," he said. "Well... it's a long story." Katze explained the situation, putting extra emphasis on the parts involving the Owsen's rampage and subsequent multiple killings of Maenads. "Wait. Owsen? Big guy, kilt, really awful accent?" Katze nodded, "that's the one. I don't know if you remember him or not, but he disappeared in a nicely vague puff of smoke when all the mucky-mucks tossed Charn-el out of this dimension on Pacifica." Pupp was recruited into the jihad in the brief period immediately after Operation:Phoenix and just before Pacifica. He remembered hearing through the grapevine about the events on that island, but never got many details, even after having become a Trium Adjunct. The only solid thing he knew about the operation was that it was where the BarneySlayer was shattered, bringing about the events leading to his and JPV's holding on to the remaining half of the sword. He reminded himself to slide by the vault and check on it, as he hadn't really been worried about it since he'd arrived on the Disc. He showed Katze around the office, and tried to answer her questions about why he chose a medieval culture to call home. "You see, THIS is why I chose this particular reality to hunker down in," Pupp explained. He very casually flicked his wrist. A small, bewildered rabbit appeared in his outstretched hand. "On Earth, i'd merely create an illusion that there was a rabbit. The ambient magical energy in our universe is very faint." He stroked the rabbit between the ears, calming the animal, who now started looking around the room looking for food. With another flick of the wrist, the rabbit was gone, leaving nothing but a small puff of purple smoke. "This world is absolutely SATURATED with magical energies, so rather than create just the illusion that a rabbit is in my hand, I actually can create a living creature where before there was nothing." He rolled his eyes, correcting himself, "Well, not exactly nothing. It's actually pretty complex involving base elements from the surrounding area and chemistry and such, but because of the heavy magic saturation, it's no effort at all." Katze had noticed from the first moment she stepped onto the Discworld that she was utterly enveloped by magic. Stepping out of the 'gate, it felt kind of like walking into a heavy fog which you can't see, can't smell, and which has the effect of making a mage feel like they're taking a constant methamphetamine shower. She let him go on for a few minutes, but ultimately, the reason she was on the Disc was to check on the 'Slayer. She interrupted Pupp in the middle of a demonstration of how he was able to pull a hat out of a rabbit, a pretty bad pun once she stopped and thought of it. "Pupp. I need to make sure the 'Slayer is fine. Could you take me to it? She noticed his face drop when she stopped him. "I'm sure it's okay," she said. I mean, you have been checking on it, right?" "Uh.. yeah. It's just fine." He looked off into the distance. "Checked on it.. oh, last week or so." "Great. Let's go. I gotta get back to Earth, and I want to know that it's safe," Katze said. Pupp nodded and headed for the doorway. "It's at JPV HQ. We can take a coach." He stopped at the door. "You sure you don't want to relax a bit first?" Katze was puzzled. "Uh, no. I need to see it now." She had a moment of suspicion, and decided it wouldn't be too soon before she saw the 'Slayer. They walked out of the office and headed for the JPV campus. [Former JPV Headquarters Main Campus, a few miles outside of Ankh-Morpork, Discworld] The coach pulled up at the main building of the JPV campus. Pupp tipped the driver with a single Ankh-Morpork dollar. Katze was struck with how over-run the buildings were. What looked like years of plantgrowth had moved in on the Praxeum's space. It looked like a ghost town. "Pupp, where is everybody?" She noticed a raccoon peeking out of the window of what was her office when she was helping him get the fledgling JAO off the ground. "I know you went to the University, but didn't anyone stick around?" He nodded, "yeah, some of them stuck around for a few months, but those of them who didn't come with me to the 'U' went out on their own. Last I heard some went to other countries, and some have just camped out in small villages and towns." He sighed. He pulled some vines out of the way of the entrance to the main building. "It's still down here in the vault. There's no electricity, of course, so..." He snapped his fingers, and a ball of light appeared in front of them. the light revealed the main entrance to be just as overgrown as the outside. Katze grabbed Pupp's arm. "Tell me you've actually checked on the 'Slayer. This looks like no-one's been here for years!" She couldn't believe that he would leave the Jihad's single weapon supposedly able to kill the Purple Bastard unguarded. Her temper flared. "Pupp. You KNOW how much B'harnii and the Lyrans want the BarneySlayer! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE IT LIKE THIS!?" She disappeared. Puppeteer leaned up against the wall of the entrance. "But.. you don't..." He stepped towards the stairs. "Kat, wait!" ['Slayer Vault - JPV HQ Main Campus, a few miles out of Ankh-Morpork, Discworld] Katze appeared in the vault. She stomped over to the platform where it rested. She couldn't believe it. The glass was completely covered with dust and dirt. It was obvious that no-one had been in the room since Pupp had brought the JPV to Discworld. She heard Pupp opening the locks. Katze brushed off the dirt. The door opened and Pupp practically fell into the room, breathing heavily. "Kat, look... I mean, I know I haven't, you know... kept WATCH on it, but the 'Slayer's been safe! Look, I'm sorry, I..." He noticed Katze staring at the BarneySlayer, mouth agape. "What?" Pupp peered into the case. "The fuck? You've gotta be kidding me." Katze opened up the case, reaching in to remove the sword. Pupp just stared, not believing what he was seeing. The sword was whole, like nothing had ever happened to it! Katze pushed it into his hands. "Here. From this moment on, this sword stays in your possession at all times." She rubbed her forehead. "The Lyrans grew Owsen's shard into a full replica of the original sword. Now we have our own. You need to protect it with your life, you understand?" He took the sword from her grasp. All Pupp could do was to nod silently. As Katze turned and left the room, over her shoulder she said, "please don't let me down." [South road to Ankh-Morpork, Discworld] The ride back was filled with deafening silence. As they approached the South gate of Ankh-Morpork, Pupp tried to apologize, but Katze cut him off. "Look, you don't have to apologize. I'm not mad." She looked into his eyes. "But i'm very disappointed. I never would have imagined that I couldn't trust you in this. And what's worse is that I don't have any choice but to trust you again. I have to go back." She tapped the BarneySlayer, which was sitting next to Pupp on the seat. "I already asked you once, but just to make sure, please do not let it leave your sight. Don't disappoint me again." She disappeared, leaving Puppeteer alone with the BarneySlayer. "Fuck. Now what?"