Seeking Sanctuary
3nd of October 2006 A.D.
The detective, you note with some amusement, struggles to control her face as you return to the group with a cat in your arms. You speak in response to the unspoken question in your father's eyes. "Detective, this is Tuzi. She got a visit from our friends. I need to get her to a place of safety in case they decide to return."
She perks up at her name, though you notice she isn't exactly pleased at the sight of the CPD badge.
Trouble there? you wonder. On the one hand spirits have little reason to think themselves bound by mortal laws, or it could just be something mundane, maybe she just got an unfair parking ticket. Does Tuzi drive a car.
Focus Molly, you tell yourself. As hectic as the night has been it is only likely to get more so . "Lydia, dad. I'll meet you at Harry's place with Brother Devsimar. Tell Harry that...." you pause, and then extend your senses into the surrounding night for a long moment."On second thoughts, let me write that down so you can read it in the car. The night has ears. "
Turns out the glove compartment has nothing to write on besides the back of Black Rider's paperwork that you had gotten from the auction so you borrow the detective's pad writing out the whole story in tight curling script that looks less and less like your hand the more you write. Some part of you, the part that is a demon once bound in Kakuri, really wants to put the whole thing in code.
***
Alas Tuzi... does not have the best impression of ghouls. 'Grave robbers and carrion-feasters' is what she calls them not
inaccurately granted, but there is so much more to them than the blood of Lamashtu. "They are what the world made them, better choices obscured by the fog of the world's disdain. I won't say most ghouls have no choice in the evil they do but the rest of us do not make is easy for them to do good. Who knows maybe you can teach them something while you are there."
A feline head cocks to the side, like she is trying to set to right a world you had tipped over ever so slightly then she gives a huff, more contemplative than affirmative, but you know she'll be a good guest at least. The law of hospitality runs deep in the hidden world and not as you had once assumed, just because no one wants to call down the ire of Queen Mab. The roads, overland or under it are dangerous. At any moment some monster or peril could fall upon one, the akuma, the Skinwalker. Knowing that guest and host at least can trust each other once the words are spoken makes the fears more manageable, the lights shine just a little brighter along the way.
Speaking of lights someone had managed to rind and rig up an old spot light at the entrance to Jade dog territory, possibility as a way to help deal with veils. Cruder attempts at magical illusion fail when confronted with strong light and sharps shadows, especially if one combines that with... yep there's a mirror, chipped and spotty, but it will do the job.
"Great work," you congratulate Adam, on guard slouched against a wall, though anyone who would take the position for slacking would soon be dissuaded. He's just about ready to push himself off the stone with his left hand and his legs all at once leaving only his right to sharpen into deadly claws.
"We live to serve," he answers, as reflexively as someone else might say hello.
Trying not to let the inward wince at the expression show you lead Tuzi into the main sleeping area. She seems surprised at the colorful sleeping-bags everywhere and the savory smell of curry coming from the pot on the campfire stove, but nowhere near as much as she is at the sight of mortals... including a mortal baby in a sturdy crib among ghouls and vampires.
One of said vampires practically jumps out of his skin when the cat turns into a woman.
"Calm the hell down Jack, it's a cat not a bloody wolf," another of his companions laughs.
Had your new allies gotten into trouble with the Alphas, you wonder.
For her part Tuzi heads straight to Deborah and starts chatting her up.... which has to be at least a little weird since she is only wearing an blanket. Maybe it's a cat thing.
In any case after assuring yourself that your new guest is as comfortable as you can reasonably make her you make your way out of the sewers alongside a quiet Brother Devsimar.
"You don't approve?" you ask once the sounds of the Last Station had faded behind you.
"Hmm... it is not my place to approve or disapprove, but it is a dangerous thing you are attempting young one. As the Veil lies between earth and the havens,as holy places are hidden behind screens of bamboo so too is the world of man and the world of spirit sundered even as they walk side by side. Such is the way of the age. To break it is to set your eyes back to another time that shall not be returning."
"Or to set your eyes forward to the age to come," you counter with quiet conviction.
Silence falls again until you reach the surface and Black Rider with Lieutenant Murphy in the passenger's seat looking impatient under the professional mask.
"Can you drive. He can do it on his own but it looks a little freaky you know?"
"Where are you going to..." she cuts herself off as you pour a cup of bleach set it in the coffee holder and pour yourself into it to drift and rest in the embrace of tainted liquid.
One advantage of your new state is that the detective does not hear you when you giggle at the muttered. "Shesh... I thought Dresden was bad."
Regained 2 Essence -> Now at 8/12
***
You find the wizard in question in on his doorstep, duster flapping in the chill autumn wind, the odd leaf catching in his hair as the eddied of magic from his shield bracelet send breezes flying in unexpected directions. "Murphy where's Molly?
Stars and Stones!"
So you like startling people with the new flavor of bullshit power. What's Harry gonna do sue you?
"That wasn't a spell?" The words are only half a question.
"Just an insight into the nature of water," you answer innocently. "Can you help with the ley lines?"
What follows is a technical conversation that leaves the good lieutenant looking like a layman at the plumber's convention when the new kind of branch fittings come out, but the gist of it is easy enough to understand once you are done. Harry can use the model in his basement, Little Chicago, to try to alter the flow of the ley lines from behind the relative safety of his apartment wards, but if he gets caught there will be no doubt in anyone's mind who is messing with them or he could go to Ping Tom Park, even South Works to unknot it on the spot, leaving a longer list of suspects if he did get caught and you managed to get away in time, key being those last seven words.
Where does Harry try to undo the snarling of the Dragoon Lines?
[] His apartment using Little Chicago (Safer, but guarantees giving away his identity if caught)
[] Out in the City (More dangerous, but can hide involvement if you manage to leave fast enough)
-[] Ping Tom Memorial Park
-[] South Works
[] Write in
OOC: I had Michael go with Lydia so help keep her safe since it seemed to make sense. 
, but the dude has survived for two thousand years of drawing aggro and being hunted by Sword wielders. I would suggest that he's doing something right.
