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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Golden Bee" data-source="post: 9619188" data-attributes="member: 7041055">The Beautiful Blue Danube / Seven Deadly by Simon Lucas“Is Koval your first or your last name?" Ava asked the royal bodyguard.“Is name.”“And when were you born?" Devi asked.“1887.”Ava spun her rifle idly. “That’s a boring tombstone. Koval, 1887 to 1935.” Normally, these stories tell the tales of brave men and women, gallivanting and putting aside their differences to save the world. This week’s main adventure was about a bunch of jealous teenagers.Former white Russian Polina invited the rest of the HAGS, a.k.a. the Honorable Association of Girl Socialites, to see her perform in Vienna. The event was the Vienna Opera Ball, the epitome of classy spectacle. So of course Devika brought her Aspergian best friend Ava, prissy daughter-of-a-diplomat Alice, and Texan stunt pilot Rosie.The girls behaved themselves (as well as could be expected), until the debutante part of the evening. Devi, being from Hyderabad, was confused about the difference between this and a bride auction. Pollina was very confused that she was announced as fiancé to her beloved Pyotr, and also the empress of the Russian government in exile. Some sneaky investigating found out that this imperialist Russian scheme was funded with Nazi money. Ava astutely pointed out that Germany had killed Austria's Chancellor last year, and that the right people to tell about this would be the police. Especially since they (the girls) were all wearing fancy dresses. Not wanting to beat up a bunch of grown men, the group agreed, skulking and sneaking and turning a fancy night out into a diplomatic incident.Rosie helped the group escape the police cordon, and the group headed (with the rescued Polina) to the airport. Alice took a few minutes and, with utmost diplomacy, made sure the Austrian army was prepared against a white Russian invasion. At the airfield, the HAGS were extremely surprised to see the mad monk Rasputin. Especially since they didn't all know who he was. Rosie alleged he was just a weird drowned-looking guy. Devi,  even though she was jealous of all the attention Polina had gotten, refused his offer to serve as 'queen under the waters'. That's when the Austrian military arrived, demanding the weirdo surrender. Instead, he escaped by turning into a puddle of water, which is a very weirdo thing to do.---September, La Cuesta Encantada! Hearst Castle to the rabble, in the seat of Pacific power to anyone smart enough to open a newspaper.  William Randolph Hearst was there, and he was pissed, because he wasn't the mayor of LA.Despite a full-court press in the press, he had been beaten by the unknown RK Stoner by 20 points. And as the most reported-on detective agency in the world, he knew the ZSS could handle it.(Even if they had sent some of their odder members: starlet stunt woman Lala Santaella, millionaire (but poorer than Hearst) Rafe Lancaster, and two mob-affiliated females, Thaza O'Rourke and New Jersey's answer to Merlin, Gia CM.)The group hit the street, finding out that Mayor Stoner had previously been an editor at RKO Pictures. And besides that, he had produced a movie right before the election. Our quartet might not be the greatest in a fight, but when it comes to schmoozing, there were a few better. A little flirting with the gate guard, some fraudulent screening forms, and the group was watching an original print of Seduction.The picture, a morality tale with Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles, was pretty dull… Except to Gia. As a master of misdirection, she noticed the movie had subliminal messaging. Autocrats bad: nerds like Stoner, good. In fact, Hizzoner had given himself a cameo as a diligent storekeeper who sacrificed everything for his small town. Also noteworthy was the executive producer, Dr. Robert Sutton. (How many doctors of film are there?) Thaza, ace burglar, made sure to grab the film prints, and with some flirting, the group got all the canisters past the gate guard. The group marshaled their facts and got an invite to LA City Hall. While they got everything short of a confession, they played it too cute. The mayor didn't like being threatened, but he did like sending the LAPD Vice Squad after troublemakers. Fortunately, the brute squad peeled off their “subtle” pursuit as our foursome left the city for Xanadu. Once there, Hearst was eager to meet them. They all sat down at his private screening room to verify the story, when news broke over the radio. Dr Sutton had been found dead at his house in Los Feliz. Well, more dead on his front lawn, with glass shards stabbed into his heart and an acrostic poem that spelled AVARICE.</blockquote>

Verification