The path to the hotel is a windy one, keeping anyone that might be following far behind. Once they reach the room Genny allows the metamorph to fade back to her normal mein. She gives herself a shake before pointing him towards the couch. "Settle. Patch jobs before food." A soft laugh follows. "And I think that went damn well. Jackson’s gonna have a hell ‘f a time explainin’."

Like Jackson will get to explain. The Soothsay said Eric would kill him if he delivered the message, he’s dead either way. And yeah, there's blood left, but it'll be hard to tell if any of it is from them. Look at how much Rod and Jackson both left spread around.

Either way, Chago's only sign of how badly he's hurt on the way back is that he doesn't say much. Soon as they're inside, he's shucking the spelled gauntlets and then his jacket and showing the rather bloody shirt. It wasn't fatal, but it was a nasty shot he took. If he'd gotten to finish it, it -might- have been fatal. Slowly fatal, but still. The twist and rip he didn't get to do would have likely led to bleeding out. As it is, he's a touch pale by the time he's down. "No shit it went good. I got that son of a bitch at last. Backstabbing, arrogant, prick. That'll hurt Eric almost as much as if I'd got to him. He leans on Rodrigo a lot. Same with Jackson. We cost him good." He lays his head on his arms and goes still allowing her to get a look at the damage and decide what she can do for it. "Careful of the Gauntlets." he says softly. Another sign of how bad he was hurt. He just dropped them on the floor instead of using his usual care with them. He got hit hard for being cocky.

"It was more than time." This is gentler, her features softening as she sees the blood and mess. "Dammit." Genny knows how to be careful around the the gauntlets, though most of her attention is for his injuries. She leans down and kisses the savaged skin, power touched healing flowing with each breath. They're both going to be tapped for glamour after this, she may not even have enough to heal herself for a bit, but totally worth it. Her healing is all warmth with a soft spicy scent as the skin knits. After a while she slows, resting against his back gently. "There, yer good. Gonna need ta eat up and drink a good bit 'f water, bu' worth it."

She slips her arms around him, squeezing gently. "We should have a day 'r two, then will need ta move again 'r we'll lose the advantage."

He can't help it. As he feels how she selected her bunk, Chago grins a little. "I got some swelling on the other side might need a kiss too." Yeah, even just starting, he's feeling better. Then again, victory, them together, and things going well for the moment seems to be plenty of reason to be feeling good, right? When she slips the arm about him, he turns into her and draws the satyr closer. "Sounds about right. Probably best to head into the Dreaming tomorrow for a little. Eric might have something that Pyretic caster can use to track me by. I don't think he had time to get it with all the shit he left behind, but you never know." he says with a small shrug then. "They won't be here tonight though. Not unless he's gotten something serious since he left. Not without Tex and the Old Man. He'll be edgy and want to learn what I know first."

The comment gets a soft snort of amusement and as he folds her close, she snuggles against him, resting her head against his chest and her wounded leg up over his hip. She'll fix it later. "Want ta know what ya know an' is gonna try ta figure out how many folks ya got with ya. He'll never buy that it's jus' two 'f us, which is another advantage, long as we can keep turnin' it that way." She's quiet for a moment, considering. "Inta the between dream is a good idea, at least long enough fer a recharge. His bully boys will start movin' in at least pairs and somethin' down there..." She chews her lower lip. "I don' think findin' him is gonna be easy either. I couldn't get a good feel, but somethin' down there is twisted up."

Chago nods slowly. "I'll see if we can find something in the Dreaming too then. If it's that bad here, it may reflect there too. Might give us an edge to know what the hell is going on." As he speaks, he idly strokes her hair and her horns with one hand. Then his hand drops lower, to trace through fur and to gingerly feel the injury she's got. "You should at least let me bind that up. I know how to bandage a satyr." he reminds. Then he lifts his head and kisses the top of hers where she's curled up. "One more thing to do before we go to the Dreaming too. I want to lay a couple of tags down for him to find. I know Ben's style well enough to fool Eric. Make him think we got our shooter here."

She makes a soft noise as he encounters the wound. No, it's not deep fortunately, but the touch allows a line of blood to rise. "Mmm...was planning on letting ya, bu' yer all nice to be leaned against." Hah...yes, even with all his piercings and all, she loves him she can say it. "An there is a swellin' ta deal wi..." Yep, satyr...though she doesn't do anything just yet. "Had a couple ideas on that too. I borrowed some fur off Khev an' that cologne Alice wears. We can lay more'n a few deceptions. Keep ol' Eric guessin'."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Chago snorts softly. "Satyrs." he mutters with an affectionate tone. Yes, a redcap cares enough about someone -else- to actually be affectionate. "I'm the one that likes pain dammit." And he's clearly teasing about it too. He does take a moment more to be sure it is as small, if tender, as it seems before he relaxes and lets it wait for the moment.

Satisfied it is minor, he nods and considers how to best take advantage of things. "Wish I'd thought of it sooner. Could have sprayed some of that shit where Jackson was to confuse 'em already. Before we go, we should try and get in near the place and hit the back with a molotov. Screw 'em up more and leave the fur nearby. Eric knows Khev likes to burn shit."

The wound truly is small, the worst the burn from the powder. The joys of close-range gun games. She's taken worse hits from him, though and it likely doesn't bother her overly much.

Genny pushes up on one elbow, not fully, but enough to look down on him. There's affection there, and honest love in the gaze. Who would have thought that such a pair could find such a connection? It's certainly not a pairing told about in most stories, just some really old ones.. "Shouldn't be hard ta pop in and out fer that, then scamper off inta the Dreaming an' refuel. I've got a few things on a shoppin' list too that may come in handy on the next visit." No, she doesn't go into detail, apparently still working things out in that convoluted mind of hers. She reaches up, touching the vial of blood hanging on a necklace that she gave him long ago. "Ya did good wi' the Old Man, Chago." She leans down and kisses his brow and then lips. A smile shows in her eyes. "Soo...chicken or beef?"

It makes for an interesting day. Both of them still with at least some aches and pains from their previous day, despite magical healing and rest and food and... distractions. Still, far earlier than is usual for them to make it safer, they were out spray-painting tags on some of the local buildings, the Three of Swords logo with Feroz Corazon labels and planting hair and marking a few things with small fires and the like. Got to give the crew something to wonder about, right? Also got to give them something to explain the message left for dear Eric. Chago also takes care of two other small things as he's at it. First off, he does some very small Dream Craft workings to try and 'mark' the area so that he can more easily find it in the Dreaming, in case whatever oddness isn't as obvious as he expects it to be.

The second is more fun though. In fact, it's almost a labor of love. A little easy Soothsaying to find what Eric did with the bodies. He's lost all his redcaps so it's something new to deal with. Once that's done, he gives the location to Genny with an idea for a script to call the cops with: granny sort saw some huge dog with something that looked awfully like a hand and then a rant about how something needs to be done about pit bulls because they're so dangerous. Up to her if she tries to do Grandma's voice, or if she's a concerned child of the shocked old woman or whatever.

Once that's handled, whether by the call or by her coming up with a good reason not to, the real fun begins: heading for the Dreaming without being noticed as more than travelers, just in case Eric has some pull or contacts to learn who's there. "Wanna risk the Freehold, or see if I can locate a trod by Dream Craft?"

The call is a hoot for Genny who enjoys playing the worried elderly woman to an extreme. It helps that she likes the message she's delivering. That finished she turns to the question at hand. "I think a trod. More dangerous, bu' if whatever resources Eric has inside see us it tells him mor'n I wanna. I could hit us both wi' Meta, bu' there are those what are good enough ta see through it, an' I don't want ta piss off the local by sneakin' through their Freehold disguised. Jus' gonna bring trouble an' I don't really want them involved on either side." She cracks a grin. "all 'f that ta say let's jus' find our own way."

Chago is hard pressed not to laugh as she has her fun on the phone, and then does, loud and long, when the call is finally finished. The next things are more important anyway. After hearing her opinion, the redcap makes a few arrangements. Crab cakes and teas for a fast snack, and then a tour of The Rock. Why? Because of rumors he's heard. Soon enough, he's signaling her to break away from the group with him and leading toward some odd sounds that lead to evidence of a dark road to the Dreaming. Maybe dangerous for most, but Chago has been working hard on Dream Craft and that art is made for safe travel on the trodes, even ones sane folks would avoid. "I ain't sure of any others, but I heard things about a path here since the escape. They sure as hell didn't get out by the Bay." he points out as he locates the entrance to this path. "Stay close. It ain't gonna be the safest route."

With that, he leads her into a maintenance door and behind the cells, then to the dark portal into the Dreaming. Here, the Silver Path looks tarnished and dim as it passes through the shadows. Welcome home, Redcap. Welcome to the dark places.