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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Phillip smiles. "Yeah, I know what you mean... heck of a time to move, though." Most people don't know what exactly went down with BOARD, but it's still hard to hide the sudden demolition of an entire building and the vanishing of a large company. "How old's this one?" He gestures towards the carriage.

"Is it? What happened? I don't think I saw anything in the news..." But then she hadn't had enough time and peace to read the local news of any place leading up to now, so if it was local... And well, if it wouldn't have been in the news she didn't hear about it in other ways, either. Information isn't shared with her that easily in general.

"Three." Or something like that. It's not like time really worked all that straightforward for all of Lottie's life. It says 44 on Liselotte's passport, and Lottie is sure as hell not 44.

"There was a big company that had an accident of some kind. The entire building's gone now." Phillip waves a hand- nothing for her to worry about if she doesn't actually know about it, probably, or at least nothing she should go sticking her head into. But people with kids tend to do that less, he's noticed. "It's really weird to walk past where it used to be. But if you're not used to it being there, it's probably not so bad."

"Wow. Guess they probably don't want to be walking in this weather?" He glances towards the buggy with a smile. But he is very curious.

"...Just gone without a trace?" He could mean that it exploded or burnt out and parts it collapsed, people use 'it's gone' for describing situations like that all the time.

But she's seen rather more things than she'd like that make her check if it isn't just a complete disappearance. You never know.

"No, she really doesn't like the su- oh, look who woke up." The occupant of the stroller moves, and then the blanket lifts a bit. Someone is behind there, looking at Phillip or at least trying to spot him, but staying firmly within the protective cocoon of the blanket.

Phillip shrugged. "I mean, it probably didn't just vanish. I just wasn't around to see what did happen." Which is, again, not to say he doesn't know.

He looks down at the stroller, bending down so he can (hopefully) see the kid back. "Hey there."

"Hello." What little he can see of the child is very definitely a changeling. Under the mask, curious bright eyes sit in a face that mostly looks human, but has a grey-ish, chitin-like texture, and where the hair should start a large scale seems to shield her eyes instead. "Who are you?"

...Huh. Phillip glances back at the mother (this kid is too young to have gotten back from Arcadia from herself, more likely than not, but weirder things have happened) before smiling at the girl again. "I'm Phillip. What's your name?"

"I'm Lottie." Liselotte is just so terribly, terribly long, even everything else aside she keeps stumbling over it. And the S is hard.

She eyes the suitcase in Phillip's hand. "You're helping move!"

That name sounds familiar, kind of. Maybe something mentioned at the Court? They do mention when a new Changeling is moving into the area, but this kid is not old enough to have arranged for that. Her mother almost certainly knows, just... how, is the question.

"Yeah, I am. It's a long walk. You're pretty lucky right now."

"Liselotte," the 'mother' supplies helpfully after a moment. She half hopes that it won't ring a bell or at least won't pull up any proper information, but the other half... she is kind of worried if the message that Jeremy said would be sent out really was sent out, and if it was received favourably enough. Better find out here, where Phillip is the only Changeling around within a fifteen feet radius. Well, besides Lottie, obviously. Not that it will be conclusive, but it will at least be an indicator.

"That's because the buses don't run at night," the child explains meanwhile. Or well, not the buses from where they came from to this place. Or so she's been told. She'd happily walk if there wasn't so much sun in the sky ~~she'd probably have complained after half the distance, just not after the first two steps, but shhhh~~.

"...Ah." Yeah, ok. That does click. Phillip looks over at the woman one more time, a touch... disturbed by how he literally can't tell, but yeah. He gets it now. Frankly, he's of the opinion that if you can see through a Mask you should just say something so no one gets annoyed from you hiding it, but he is also a giant hypocrite when it comes to speaking up about weird things.

He looks back at the child, laughing a little under his breath. "Yeah, I get that feeling. I don't like walking in the sun a lot either. I'm just an adult, so I kind of have to if I want to get anything done."

She relaxes slightly at both the recognition and the lack of open hostility that follow her words. "I take it the message got through?" She didn't necessarily hide it, she would say. There just was no point in bringing it up - there really only is when she's pointing out to a patient that she's going to treat their teeth for what they actually are, as far as she's concerned. Masks still feel like that big wart on Aunt Matilda's cheek to her - very visible, but it would be socially unacceptable to mention it all the time.

"You could get a parasol. Louise has a parasol." She knows she shouldn't use Mum with fellow Changelings and should with everyone else, and most of the time, she manages to adhere to that rule.

The fetch gestures to the small bendy umbrella attached to the stroller, there to provide a modicum of shade when they're in an area where security is too high to push a covered kiddie cart around. It's ...not going to help Phillip, even if he was interested.

"It did, yeah." He's certainly still not terribly comfortable with there being a fetch around, and he's certainly never met one who wants to take care of 'their' changeling, but he's not going to become hostile to her for no good reason.

Phillip glances at the parasol, before looking back at the kid and trying not to smile too widely. "I'll probably be ok. It's a good idea for you, though."

"Good." It's okay, she's not particularly comfortable around most changelings, either. She'll have to find one who'll act as Lottie's babysitter some time, though. It'll just provide a lot more peace of mind if she doesn't have to come home to the emergency car having been around because the child ate a thing that by all means should kill her, or similar incidents. ...Someone around Phillip's age, probably. They'll cross that bridge when they get there, though, there are other matters that need to be taken care of sooner.

Meanwhile, Lottie nods proudly. "It is."

And then asks impatiently: "How much longer do we have to go?"

Phillip could babysit! It would be great! (Phillip would be a terrible babysitter, Lottie would wind up knowing so many things that would make her 'parents's lives hell.)

"Not much longer. We're almost there." And he learns back to Louise. "It's this next street."

~~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.

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