Jenny listened intently as she grabbed her own water from the cooler and then emptied her snack bag on the table. Every time she went traveling, she always brought the snack bag. As she tended to augment her holding with whatever edible she ran across, the supply tended to increase rather than decrease over time. The table rumbled with a flood of cookies, peanuts, pretzels, chips, hard candies, and other such sundries. "Please, help yourselves."<br/><br/>As the others continued discussing, the cocktail waitress noted that there was a lot to take in here. But she managed to keep her cool, mostly, until Alex let out the word "Gods." Yes, she supposed it made sense in a way. Perhaps even more than the way she typified the arrangement as "Working for the City." She was almost taken as much aback by the lack of reaction by everyone except Carlos. Almost as if this were a joke in which the two of them were the only ones not in on the punchline.<br/><br/>For a while, she just kept silent as she took it all in. The temptation was there just to head back - to tend to her own neon garden and let the rest of the world fend for itself. Perhaps if one of the others decided to drop by Vegas, she'd swing a few comps their way - a nice meal, a free show, a room at a penthouse somewhere. An<em>Ancient Compact and Truce</em>package. Where did you put a comped god anyway? Probably Caesar's. Leave the rest of the world behind. It wouldn't be the first time that she figured that was what the City actually wanted. To this day, she wasn't quite sure if The Ring of Thorns was put there by the dark forces aligning against them to trap the people of Vegas<em>in</em>or rather a defense mechanism by the City to keep whatever it was on the horizon<em>out</em>. In the latter case, she was just another Ring then. A defense mechanism. But perhaps she wasn't. Apparently godhood didn't entail omniscience.<br/><br/>But if Jenny were to be honest with herself, she knew isolation wasn't the answer. If it was, she wouldn't be here. She knew it as surely as she felt each of the 450 miles between her and her beloved City. No, she was here because the City<em>wanted</em>her here with these people. Or gods. Whichever they really were. What was it Alex said?<em>We be of one blood, ye and I.</em>Of course, that meant the preacher in Kansas was as well - but when was family ever peaceful? There were a whole passel of people in Idaho that would just assume never see Jenny again, or at least see her humbled. And the words "City destroyin' monsters" had a particular resonance for her that it probably didn't for the others. And that clinched it.<br/><br/>Jennifer Keysworth worked for the City.<br/><br/>Her first words answered a question, or attempted to - an ironic situation since she felt that overall, she knew far less than the rest of the assembled company. "I don't think you make ley lines. I think they just happen to be where they are." Which would explain at least why she was the only one of their... kind... she guessed she'd call it that... to be beholden to a particular city that she knew so far. "But as for Kansas, well... four to one will always be four to one. But four to one<em>now</em>is going to be a lot less of a losing proposition for all the people who have the bad luck to be around that guy than four to one<em>later</em>. I think if we're going to do this Compact thing, that's something that should count for us. If for no other reason than it makes us something different than whatever it is outside us that obviously doesn't care about who it chews up on the way in."<br/><br/>Having said that, she sat back a little, glancing at each of the four others and trying to figure out what she could - as of yet to fairly little avail. "That being said, the question is how. As Carlos put it so well, this whole situation doesn't come with a guidebook. And I gotta admit that I could really use one right about now." She gave a sheepish smile, sincere, but at the same time definitely underscoring the cold, hard reality of their situation.