Affairs of the Dead, Turmoil of the Living
11th of July 2006 A.D.
"Lucian of Cephaloedium," you say resolved to push things a long at least a little bit, to help where you can. Knowledge unused might as well be unknown.
"Pardon?" Father Forthil cuts himself off.
"That last Fallen, Thorned Namshiel, the name of its mortal bearer is Lucian of Cephaloedium. We that is my dad and I captured one of his confederates a few days ago and got the name." You wonder with an inner smile if this is how a faerie feels like when they lie without lying. It must make them really smug after a while.
Lost 1 Essence
"How sure are you of that fact"" the priest, or you guess you could think of him as the inquisitor, though that name conjures an image not at all like the kindly Forthil, asks, reaching for a pen and notebook.
"Certain enough to share it," you answer. "We, that is my dad and me, captured one of his underlings last Sunday trying to steal some sacred bones and he was... a a lot freer with his tongue than his master might have wished him to be, you know like a wannabe Bond villain." You briefly consider implying that you had roughed Gorfel up a bit for the information, but Usum is quick to point out that information gained under duress is actually less not more reliable than what you trick out of someone.
"A prisoner will lie as soon as tell the truth to make the pain stop," the demon says with chilling certainty. You do not quite have the heart to ask what side of that he was on, but he hears the thought anyway.
"Both my princess, both."
How screwed up is it that I'm more upset at the thought of him being tortured than doing the torturing? You shake the thought off.
Later I'll deal with it later.
Grabbing a piece of hard candy from a bowl on the desk you continue: "There's one other thing I wanted to ask you about, ghosts and spirits. I've er... heard that they often gather around hospitals and I have a friend in the hospital, she's not in a good place right now and she's
sensitive to..." you wave your hand at the countless eyes of your still blazing anima. "The spiritual, she had nightmares about me being kidnapped, true ones."
Father Forthil is quiet for a while, gathering his thoughts maybe. "That is true, many dark things are drawn to hospitals, by the presence of fear and pain and hopelessness, by the nearness of death most of all. When dealing with spirits it is unfortunately very hard to be proactive. A ghost will be banished for a time with salt and prayers to the dead, but it's iron you would need against a malicious fey and prayers of exorcism and God's judgement against a demon. Ideally one calls upon those who can speak and bear witness to the dead, but a true medium us a rare thing."
"So all those people on daytime television are frauds?" You shake your head dramatically. "Shocking."
A smile twitches at the corner of his mouth, though it does not last for long. "Being able to see and hear the unquiet dead does not make for a happy life, they beg for help and often it is more than any man can do to help. Not to mention some of them are just angry and full of hate, they want others to hurt as they've hurt. There's a man here in Chicago, Mortimer Lindquist who can see and speak to the dead, other spirits as well I would imagine. He does seances."
"Real ones?" you ask doubtfully. Just because you can see the dead doesn't mean the specific ghost you want to talk to is hanging around to forgive an estranged relative for that one fight they had just before they died.
"Of late more often than not," Father Forthil explains. "I would not judge the man too harshly, his is a burden heavy as it is uncanny."
"And the fake seances are probably the ones that pay the bills..." you trail off. "Wait Lindquist? He wrote Ghosts of Chicago, didn't he? That is a good book with some cool history in it."
"I wouldn't know, he may have," he smiles at your enthusiasm. "Be sure to tell him I sent you if you do visit, ever since last Halloween he's been very worried about dark and uncanny things. Maybe you can help put his mind at ease."
I don't have any warding magic, but maybe I can give him some advice and he can give me some, that sounds fair. "Thanks for the advice Father," you say sincerely.
Heading home thoughts and plans swarm about your mind like a flock of magpies, each with a bright treasure in their beaks.
***
12th of July 2006 A.D.
The next morning you wake up stretching luxuriantly in bed, the last of the soreness and stiffness had gone overnight leaving you none the worse for wear and ready to face a new day. As if in counterbalance to your good mood you hear mom scolding Daniel downstairs, never a good omen to hear her this angry this early.
Gained 4 Essence
All Wounds Healed
"...and another thing, what do you think I would say to the girl's father if he called and asked what you were doing alone with his daughter all night!"
"
Mom!" comes the reply of one deeply maligned as you come downstairs. "Lydia and me weren't
doing anything, we were at the party and then we crashed at her place because her folks are out, so we would not be waking anyone up. And no one is going to call you to ask about what I was doing on account of this isn't the eighteen hundreds where you needed to be sown into a sack to be alone with a girl."
"Lydia and I," Leech corrects cheerfully. You wince in sympathy for Daniel.
There is going to be so much teasing about this later.
Do you try to distract Charity?
[] Yes, you're feeling generous
-[] Start talking about how you want to meet the ghost whisperer, that should make her only mildly annoyed
-[] Write in
[] Nope, none of your business, Daniel didn't even confirm he had a girlfriend to you before this, he's on his own
[] Write in
OOC: I hope the transition isn't too abrupt. 
