She will be just fine, then.

She finds a suitable hiding spot and spends an hour settling in, and then around lunchtime heads over to the building in question, to get the most detail about what's going on there.

It's an administrative building, so what's going on there is actually for the most part handling paperwork: these areas are being considered for an upgrade to red-black, this department might need funding, this team is having disciplinary problems...

Neither Dougal nor Montgomery seem to be in the building, though.

Any rooms plausibly the one Montgomery was working from? Or failing that, how similar is the furniture?

None look exactly like his, but all of them have the same general style and type of furniture.

Also there's an entrance to the Sideways in Dougal's office.

Yeah, that's surprising.

She IMs Sadde:

<argylecape> So guess who has a Sideways entrance in his very office.

<GenderBender> And the award to most predictable observation of the day goes to this.

<argylecape> I dunno, I am a /little/ surprised.

<argylecape> Did we know Bedlam could make Sideways entrances wherever she wants?

<argylecape> 'Cause I didn't actually know that.

<GenderBender> She's a goddess in her domain

<GenderBender> I didn't know she could make Sideways entrances

<GenderBender> But it doesn't actually surprise me, per se

<argylecape> Any idea why we're not already overrun with Picassos or whatever, then?

<argylecape> Or, /are/ we - not with Picassos, obviously, but something else?

<GenderBender> Well, her domain is just the Sideways, I'm not sure she can even leave them

<GenderBender> And apparently she can't just up and turn someone into a Picasso—she never turned you

<argylecape> Yeah

<argylecape> Or at least she /wanted/ consent

<argylecape> Or the appearance of it

<argylecape> There's more to it than that, the guy I was running from when you met me didn't want to turn into a Picasso, but I don't know what the actual deal is

<argylecape> My point is more, like,

<argylecape> I guess we don't know how hard it is to make a Sideways entrance. But if it was easy, and she wanted to, she could get anybody she wanted

<argylecape> Or everybody, if she wanted that.

<argylecape> I'm curious why that doesn't seem to be a problem.

<argylecape> It can't all be from people hiding in their houses, that wouldn't save them if she can put Sideways entrances wherever she wants.

<GenderBender> Well, maybe she just doesn't remember to do it?

<GenderBender> She's not super focused on anything

<GenderBender> And it's not like she can physically drag someone out of their bed into the Sideways and turn them Picasso

<GenderBender> And we don't really understand how people get turned, like you said

<argylecape> Maybe.

<argylecape> Even if she was just doing it when she thought of it instead of systematically I'd expect that to be a thing

<argylecape> Disappearances, or people turning up with stories.

<argylecape> But maybe she hasn't thought of it, or there's some reason we don't know about why it's not that easy.

<GenderBender> Disappearances are a thing

<GenderBender> People slipping into the Sideways isn't more common than car crashes, but it's not less common than them either

<GenderBender> And there are stories like that

<argylecape> Wonderful.

<argylecape> You're probably right about her not being very focused, then.

<argylecape> And/or Sideways entrances are hard to make, if the disappearances seem strategic.

<argylecape> Ugh.

<GenderBender> Disappearances don't seem strategic, I don't think?

<GenderBender> It seems to just really be people who get lost

<GenderBender> Go out to the store someday, say, and never return.

<GenderBender> And then sometimes they do and talk about being lost in the Sideways

<GenderBender> Most entrances aren't one-way, though, so people can often just fall into the Sideways and walk right back out

<argylecape> If it's people disappearing on the way to the store she's probably not trying for specific people at all

<argylecape> Thank goodness

<argylecape> That would NOT be a fun conversation to try to have with my other friends

<argylecape> 'I thought you were safe but the DoS guys could get a Sideways entrance to your place any time, Bedlam does that'

<argylecape> Also I'd like to sleep ever again in my life. :P

<GenderBender> Yeah

<GenderBender> The first Cult was super disorganized

<GenderBender> Just a bunch of people who were halfway cubist and couldn't coordinate or plan anything

<GenderBender> This is outright genius in comparison.

<argylecape> Heh.

<argylecape> I guess my old world is kind of throwing me off, here

<argylecape> Like, the Protectorate - that's the big superhero coalition - exists at all, so if you want to be a villain it's obvious you have to be good enough at it to handle them somehow.

<argylecape> A lot of them get by on being too sneaky to catch easily and too small to bother putting a lot of effort into catching, but they can't be outright dumb about it.

<GenderBender> On the other hand here we're dealing with someone who might be a literal goddess

<GenderBender> Who is also incapable of staying on track for more than 14.6 seconds

<GenderBender> But has no real opposition

<GenderBender> Plus Picassos

<argylecape> I don't think that's quite true

<argylecape> That there's no real opposition

<argylecape> I'm not nothing. You're not nothing.

<argylecape> My other friends were working on it, too, I should talk to them about that

<argylecape> See what they might be able to do

<argylecape> But - the DoS /is/ being sneaky about this.

<argylecape> Which means there's some way they can be stopped, I bet.

<argylecape> We just have to find out what it is.

<GenderBender> Yeah, I meant, like, before us, I guess?

<GenderBender> The DoS was supposed to be the opposition

<GenderBender> But if they're in her multidimensional pocket...

<argylecape> We'll fix it.

<GenderBender> We will

<GenderBender> Any info from the offices other than that?

<argylecape> Not yet.

<argylecape> Montgomery's office isn't in the building; it might be nearby, but there's a lot to check.

<argylecape> Dougal isn't in right now either.

<argylecape> Lots of paperwork going on, which I can't do much with.