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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I.

In the early evening, after sunset but while the sky is still light from the gassy giant behind the horizon, a mother and her three-year old child are the only occupants of a small playground in a small park somewhere in a better residential area of the city.

Those who can see through masks will notice something about the picture not being quite right - unlike the woman*, who for all that a fae can tell is a perfectly normal baseline human, the child is definitely a Changeling, hair, back and legs being covered with what looks like the back segment of the woodlouse, tiny grey antennae poking out from her forehead, a grey, chitin-like texture to the skin where her body seems otherwise normal and a grey tone to her body all over. Which doesn't keep her from acting like a perfectly regular three-year old that is currently sitting on one of the toddler swings and being pushed into motion by the woman.

Who will look up and greet everyone who walks by with a brief smile and a nod, though tension can be scented or, for the very perceptive, otherwise noticed on her, and generally just watch the area closely. Those who have powers other than that of the fae that let them recognize fae beings will notice that this woman is indeed not as normal as she looks. There is something distinctly fae about her, it's just concealed from those who are in contact with the Wyrd.

[*Not that the woman is really a normal human. Magic forms of perception that aren't fae magic will reveal her to be something else.

True Sight will show that Louise isn't made of bone and flesh but of A) primarily teeth. Primary, secondary, even the odd set of tertiary teeth, made of gold or other replacement materials, the only thing they all have in common is that they aren't pretty - malformed, or with cavities or fillings, or modded (filed into pointiness, etc). B) dentistry tools (made of wood, stone, bronze - notably nothing approaching iron) from all ages of history, likewise ones that look damaged, worn out or tarnished and C) dental floss.]

II.

A bit later, they're on their way. The child sometimes walks, sometimes sits in her stroller, and they make their way downtown towards the local Freehold.

Whenever the girl is out of the stroller, she might escape to the left or the right for a moment to stare at strangers with intense interest before her mother is at her side and scoops her up to place her back in the stroller, apologizing for the child having bothered them - "sorry, she's just having a phase where she likes to look at what people are wearing, I hope she didn't bother you".

Eventually, they reach the freehold, though, or rather, stand a small distance outside of the location they were given, and Louise picks up her phone and calls a number. Someone should pick up, she was told, most likely Summer court, most likely someone higher up. Nobody really could give her specifics, though.

Their case is a bit unusual, after all, and thus the fetch tries to not throw nervous glances around too obviously and almost jumps when Lottie climbs out of the stroller and wraps her arms around her leg, trying to comfort her. She only manages to force herself not to because having Lottie recoil from her is really the absolutely last thing she can use at this moment. Good first impressions, as good as they can be...

Edited 2017-09-06 15:24 (UTC)

"This is Aikawa." The voice on the other end of the line sounds like it belongs to a slightly irritated man who maybe doesn't have time to be answering the phone right now but is doing so anyway. There's an unspoken don't waste my time here.

"Liselotte Beck." She reaches down to lay an arm around Lottie's shoulders, or rather, the shoulder-height part of her stony exoskeletonal scales, and hopes that this guy got the briefing, whoever it is. And that the irritation won't hurt this encounter too badly. Her eyes follow a homeless guy wandering by for a few moments, but she quickly focuses fully on the call again. "We moved here today and were told to call this number before dropping by for introductions."

Hajime could delegate. Delegating would be so easy, hand this off to someone else...and yet he's curious. "'We?'"

Shit. But Phillip knew of them, shouldn't that mean - "Lottie is three, she could hardly come or call alone.

...I had been told that a notice about her situation had been sent ahead of us?" She is not going to spell out what she is to someone who might consider her not only a threat but also acutely hostile.

"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."

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Trial of Trials : Act 2

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