maskeddarkness | 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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"Notice had." Which was part of the reason Hajime is far too curious--he wonders just how many of his Court realize what an absolute pushover he is for children, much as he might try to hide it. "Just confirming it." There's a pause. "Someone will be out to meet you shortly." With that, the line goes dead.

It is not long at all before an unseasonably warm, strong wind blows through the area, circles them once, and then reforms into a Changeling standing there before them. He looks not unlike a wind oni under his fairly unassuming Mask, with perpetually windswept white hair and light green skin.

His Mantle is very strongly Summer; there's always a sense of a warm, dry breeze around him, and he's definitely giving off a little heat. He waits to see what the unlikely pair before him will do.

Oh, good. She pockets the phone and then they wait - not for long, not even long enough for Lottie to grow impatient.

The Changeling's arrival makes Louise both tense more and relax, because while he's here now, and obviously on the stronger side, it's also clear which court he belongs to and that he is strongly affiliated with it, and... well. She's always gotten along best with summer courtiers, for some reason. Probably because that were the first ones she met and then remained the ones she spent the most time with. Such things work in circles more often than not. She tips her head in greeting.

"Good evening," and gives Lottie a little nudge of 'say hi'.

"Good evening," the girl echoes. Her back from forehead to ankles is covered by scales resembling those of a woodlouse, and her skin is grey with a chitin-like texture to it, and her expression portrays mostly cautious insecurity at the stranger. She moved when Hajime arrived, not letting go of Louise but bringing herself in front of her and clinging with one hand to her trousers instead of her whole leg, now, effectively shielding the fetch by standing in front of her. Or well, her legs.

The man doesn't look too hostile, but she can feel how nervous her legal guardian is and understands enough to know why.

Hajime gives them both a nod. "Hello." He's not the best at social things. Maybe he should have delegated to someone less awkward. "I'm Hajime. The one you spoke with on the phone."

He crouches to get on the girl's eye level. "It's all right. I don't mean any harm."

Lottie still holds on to Louise's trouser leg, but relaxes a bit, nodding very earnestly. "Good. Because M- Louise is very nice. She only hits bad people."

It's okay, they can all be bad at social things together.

Hajime looks back up at Louise, and then returns his attention to Lottie. "I only hit bad people too, so we're in good company."

He rummages around in the pocket of his trench coat (which sort of billows majestically in the breeze behind him no matter what he does), and removes a small packet of gummi bears, which he offers to Lottie. "Here."

Ohhhhh. ~~Better prof that he's summer than his mantle tbh.~~

She'll snatch them up immediately with a thanks but then just hold onto them. There's more important things than eating gummy bears now.

"Hitting bad people is good. ...I can't do it yet, though." The best she can do is run away right now, really.

"You're still small," Hajime says, "but we have people who can teach you a few things you'll be able to use as you get bigger." He thinks a moment. "And a few things you can use now, just to protect yourself better."

"Like what?" She looks as intrigued as she is. Louise always tells her to run and find a friend (fora given definition of "friend") and has shown her a trick or two for getting out of someone's grasp, but this sounds like more. Like she can down what the big people do.

"Well, we'll have to try a few things, but we could get you a little contract or two. Nothing too dangerous..." That last bit seems like a sort of hasty, parent-placating addition. "And it's never too early to start learning to throw a good punch."

Ohhhh more contracts. The child likes the sound of that. She looks back at the woman she came with though, because the methods of attacking a person that she's been told so far didn't include punching (they were more along the lines of 'stab them in the eye').

"I don't think she has the weight yet to throw a good punch," Louise points out from where she's stepped away a bit to give the two Changelings room. Lottie is certainly heavy for her size and how old she is, but ...relative to her age and size is the key here. "Nor the height."

"Good punching technique can be learned now, even if she can't yet do much damage." Hajime says, almost absently. "Stops bad habits from forming as she gets older; she'd be less likely to hurt herself in a fight later on that way. Think of it like a foundation."

"...True." The fetch still sounds reluctant to admit that, though. Because if Lottie knows how to punch, what if she tries it when there's no point in it instead of getting to safety? Children aren't very good at judging situations...

"As long as you make sure that she still knows to run when the situation is serious instead of trying to punch someone."

Trial of Trials : Act 2

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