A Few Words In The Right Ear - Whitehall

[milkbonesoldier]

The door, this time, does not open to Harry Wells' house, but to another London location instead. It's not far at all to Whitehall from here, and the weather's quite pleasant- high visibility in all directions.

Harry does not appear to like it, but then, the occasion calls for him to wear a suit, and he hates civilian suits. That may be

Comments

[nitro_is_ace]

Sometimes it's easy to bluster through officialdom on sheer willpower and momentum.

Sometimes, however, you have to at least pretend to look the part.

Ace steps out onto the rough pavement, the heels of her sensible flats clicking. Ace hates suits. They're so bloody uncomfortable. But even psychic paper needs a little help, and the smart dress suit she found in the TARDIS wardrobe will help with that.

She's going to torch it when they get back.
"As I'll ever be." She decides, hefting the conservative bag she brought along. It almost looks like one of those bags for laptops, except she stashed everything she wants in easy reach - psychic paper, wallet, jellybabies (you never know) in the outside pouches, and the inside... Wells did say she could bring along tomatoes for throwing.

[milkbonesoldier]

Disgruntlement all 'round, then. Wells nods. "All right. Arithon, Cooper? I know you're out there..."

[prince_arithon]

It really doesn't matter what Arithon was put into, he's uncomfortable. Modern clothing gives him psychic hives. Not really, but still. Uncomfortable.

His hands can't decide if they should hook in his pockets or in his belt, so he shrugs;

"I am here. Where should I be?"

[milkbonesoldier]

"Somewhere you can get a good view of the roof of that building there," Wells says, indicating a white, formidable-looking building some distance away. "I'll bet you any money you like there's snipers up there waiting for us. Not for on the way in, maybe, but on the way out. I just can't give you an idea how many."

A Few Words In The Right Ear - Ace, Harry

[milkbonesoldier]

Bureaucracy is bureaucracy no matter where you go. The entrances to the Ministry of Defence are guarded, as is only to be expected, but there is still the reception desk to get past.

"Excuse me- have you got an appointment?"

Re: A Few Words In The Right Ear - Ace, Harry

[nitro_is_ace]

"Pardon me, are you speaking to us?" Ace replies in the most upper-crust accent she can manage. She might not be Gallifreyan Time Lord with the gift for accents that provides, but she has had to deal with bureaucratic bullshit for five decades.

With a regal sort of disdain she stares down her nose (thank the small fluffy gods the clerk is sitting) at the poor boy left to deal with visitors.

Re: A Few Words In The Right Ear - Ace, Harry

[milkbonesoldier]

The reception lad does his very best to keep it out of his posture, but there are parts of his body that just want to crawl into nice dark places and hide. He swallows.

"Ah- sorry, ma'am, but I've got to note down all the visitors in the computer, y'see. Security purposes?"

He didn't mean that last to come out like a question.

Re: A Few Words In The Right Ear - Ace, Harry

[nitro_is_ace]

Too bad. He should work on that, really.
"You don't sound so terribly sure about that, young man." She sniffs, chin up, eyes dark. "How long have you been working here?"

There's a definite tone of 'your superiors are going to hear about this, don't think they won't.' in her voice. It's the kind of tone that suggests that he really doesn't want his superiors hearing about this, not from her, because very bad things will happen to him if they get a bad report from her.

A Few Words In The Right Ear - Arithon

[milkbonesoldier]

This part of London is crawling with government offices. Downing Street isn't that far away, either. It's a wonder there aren't more gunmen on rooftops, really. Possibly they reserve those for special occasions.

There's trees, though- people do like their shade- and there's the Banqueting House on the same side of the street as the Ministry offices. It looks awfully small by comparison. But then, almost anything would.

Possibly this is appropriate.

Re: A Few Words In The Right Ear - Arithon

[prince_arithon]

How to be invisible, two ways.

Way the first; look as though you belong exactly where you are, doing exactly what you are doing. People tend to avoid people who look like they are very busy and on their way someplace.

Way the second; magic. Just follow people going about the way you want to go, with an illusion of non-existence wrapped around yourself.

Arithon picks the building with the best view of the ones he's supposed to watch, makes his way to the roof with a grin on his face, and then settles to watch.

Re: A Few Words In The Right Ear - Arithon

[milkbonesoldier]

Today is an excellent day to watch for people, although not so excellent a day for keeping track of time. The sky is clouding over rapidly, as is often the case in this part of the country. There is no ominous sense of impending rain or lightning, though. That won't come until nightfall. Someone familiar with London might be able to tell how the time passes by the people surging in and out of various businesses, but Arithon, as we know, is not familiar with the great city just yet.

It's enough to know that after some while, motion on the roof of the Ministry building catches his eye. The men who are stationed there are quite skilled at not being seen much, but are making no especial effort to employ the arts of mundane invisibility. They mostly rely on people not being inclined to look up.

Re: A Few Words In The Right Ear - Arithon

[prince_arithon]

He starts counting them. Every motion, every possible motion. There may be some really unhappy pigeons in a little bit, but he doesn't want to miss any of these men.

He himself has dropped his invisibility. Better now than to accidentally lose it while in the midst of something dramatic. So he just looks like a guy taking a breather on a roof. Nope, nothing to see here. Move along, move along.