maskeddarkness | Trial of Trials : Act 2

Trial of Trials : Act 2

There's something uneasy that can be felt in the city, and seemingly no end to the rumors springing up in the wake of the downtown explosion that leveled BOARD's headquarters. Stories of an odd sickness where the afflicted suddenly winds up anemic, their blood levels dangerously low, despite feeling fine that morning have already taken root, others of strange animals seen roaming at night, and horrible screams and gunshots in one of the parking garages....

The space where the ill-fated headquarters lays silent, an empty patch of dirt and gravel that seemed to attract those drawn to stories and rumors. Police have already had to shoo away opportunists with metal detectors, hoping to find something interesting in the impressively quickly cleared wreckage, and others have reported something that just feels... wrong, when they walk by the site. The ghosts of those who hadn't made it out of the collapse? Or something else? Noone can really put a finger on it to explain.

And meanwhile, under the cover of shadows, things unknown to those who still walk in the light continue to move. Whispers of the rogue mage and a treasure trove of information, of upsets in the vampire hierarchy, and sworn revenge on the mages who had used one of their own for their gain.

And deep in a hidden lab, BOARD's remains and allies continue to work, twisting all they can get their hands on to create the perfect weapon; made of the very things they wish to cleanse from the world. The loss of the incapacitated vampire elder was only a small one, with how much they had already extracted and drawn from it. And if the rumors of their knowledge being in the hands of their enemies were true? They would just have to speed up their projected timeline. Or simply slow down that of the world. After all, they were mages. Reality bended to their will, not that of those who opposed them....

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~~Sounds like a great plan.~~

She nods. "Thank you for helping." And even more for the information. She did not expect to run into a changeling first thing, but honestly? Fate is a bitch, she should have assumed as much.

But, manners. Manners are never in the wrong place (well, almost never. Actually, she can think of a few situations where they would be. But in most cases.) "Would you like to come in for a cocoa, tea or coffee? I can't really offer anything else right now, just moving in and all, but that much would be an option."

~~He has great rates.~~

"No problem." It's not like it was hard for him, and he at least knows who the local don't-kill fetch is now. Though her invitation surprises him. "Are you sure? I know you're probably tired..." He'll stick around if the kid wants him to, but he imagines the fetch is about as comfortable with him as he is with her.

"I am, and would like a shower during which Lottie isn't bouncing off the walls too much," she admits with a brief smile, "and I am sure she would enjoy taking a cup of cocoa with you." In other words nope, she doesn't particularly want to spend time with him, but manners, and giving Lottie some small-scale idea of this place's changeling landscape would be a welcome side effect.

"We can drink two cups!" Lottie pokes her head out from under the blanket, just a bit, and Louise hesitates before nodding. "Only today, though."

Ah. That makes considerably more sense, and frankly makes Phillip feel a little bit better about it. Even if he is being conscripted to be a short term babysitter. "Alright, then. Thanks." He'll go head and help them get everything inside, then.

It's a regular empty house, rather posh, in a middle class area. The rooms are mostly empty, though still rolled up and vacuum sealed mattresses by the door as well as a few IKEA flat packs by the door announce that a delivery or two has arrived ahead of the new occupants.

Lottie jumps out of the stroller as soon as the door is opened and runs from room to room, up and down, checking out everything. "It's huge!

I found the kitchen! We can have cocoa now!"

Wow, this kid's got energy. Phillip thinks he sees what the fetch meant now.

He moves to find her when she declares she found the kitchen, crouching down to be a bit more at her level. "Sort of. We need to find cups and actual cocoa too." But good try, kid.

"They're in the suitcase!" ... And she paid no attention to where that wend, but luckily Louise has trailed after the two changelings and is now placing an electric kettle, two mugs, two spoons and a box of instant cocoa on the table before closing the suitcase again. She just nods at Phillip before picking the heavy piece of luggage up easily and carrying it off and upstairs.

Phillip nods back, standing up to go fill the kettle to get it going before sitting on the floor with Lottie. "...Do you have a Court yet?" he asks her, not entirely sure she'll know what that means but if she doesn't that kind of answer his question.

She nods very importantly. "Summer.

Summer has the most gummy bears." That's. Not the reason. But it is the most important distinction, clearly. "And Louise was friends with them first." For a given value of friend, but that's the word people have used to explain the concept of court goodwill to her.

"Huh. If they'd told me that when I picked, maybe I would have gone with Summer too." Summer was kind of his second choice- he is very good at pissing people off.

"Which one did you pick?"

Going by what she'd get Glamour of the most easily, she should probably have picked Autumn- she'd just have to sit in Louise's office and wait. Dental fear is fairly common, after all. But her main reason was "these are the people I hang out the most with anyway" which is not the best reason but probably not the worst, either.

"Spring. It's a bunch of adults and a lot of them are Fairest, you probably wouldn't like it much." Please do not even considering joining Spring, small child. "I know some other people in Summer, though. I know they know you were coming to town, but I can try and make sure they've got plenty of gummy bears for you." Hajime having to deal with Lottie is a hilarious mental picture.

A bunch of adults sounds pretty boring. Not that adults are boring in general, but they are a lot worse in groups than as individuals in her experience.

"But you're just an older kid." So it's not just a bunch of adults. She nods excitedly at the plan with the gummy bears. Very good. She likes you, Phillip.

Phillip shrugs. "I guess that depends on your definition." He's not quite nineteen, so... kind of?

He looks up as the kettle goes off, standing and walking over to mix them both a cup of the cocoa. He returns to the floor, setting the mug down next to her. "Careful, it's hot."

She leans forward a bit and blows on it without picking it up.

"Louise says that we'll go to the freehold tonight." She declares, half a non-sequitur, half picking the talk about courts back up.

Phillip nods. Yeah, he can still get in touch with Hajime before then. "That's good. I'm sure they'll want to meet you." If only to know who Louise is.

"I want to meet them too!"

Chances are there will be someone who'll play with her, right? There has to be. "Are there any there any other children?"

Ah... hm. "There's no one around your age, no," Phillip says, "At least, not that I know of. But there are some kids who are a bit older than you." Many years older than her, in most cases.

"Are they nice?" She curls up a bit and starts rocking forth and back, which in her cause means that the scales on her lower half push up and around, her legs bending in the wrong direction, so that she looks like she's sitting in a bowl. She knows that's as bad behaviour as chewing on the hem of your dress, but unlike that it's okay when there's no people without masks around, she's been told. "And there's never anyone my age. Everyone is old." She understands why, more or less, but it'd still be nice if there were more children, in her opinion.

"I think so. Most of them, anyway." The kid probably needs to learn pretty quickly that there are almost always people who aren't nice around. "Yeah, I guess so. But the older you get the more people will be around your age, probably."

"There's always someone who is a jerk." She nods. "Like uncle Jeremy. He keeps grabbing my anta." Antennae is a hard word. "He thinks it's funny. "

Edited 2017-09-09 21:27 (UTC)

"Well that's just rude." That seems like it would hurt. "Well, if anyone tries that here, let me know and I'll yell at them." Phillip can be exceptionally creepy when he feels like it.

"Okay." She's not sure if she would, but it's always good to have someone who will yell at people for you. "...Do you often yell at people?"

"Not unless they're being very mean, no." Phillip grins at her. Which is not usually a lot of people.

"Good." Both because yelling isn't nice and what it indicates in this case.

She'll drink her cocoa in quiet, watching him.

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