Making an Impression
19th of November 2006 A.D.
Thick brown paper scrunches under your fingers, the sound as unpleasant to the ear as nails on a chalkboard. Information... it is all about information. You have the chance to take out Duchess Arianna because you know who she works for and what her flight plans are, but the White Council it is bleeding information right from the top. It is bleeding more than that.
People are getting hurt, people are dying in the war because they don't know who the traitors are... and I can't tell them. No matter how you game it out, what you dress it up as you cannot get around the sheer terrible power of the Crown, the depth of your regard
"Clippy, play the conversation with the Merlin please."
She does and you ask a question: "Who are the traitors to the White Council?"
A list of names just appears in your mind, some are plain, others fanciful, some feel recent, others far older. Some you would probably have trouble pronouncing and none of it matters.
Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 11/15
Gained list of White Council Traitors
Gained 2 Essence -> Now at 13/15
As you open your mouth to dictate the names to Clippy something stops you. This isn't something you can entrust to her, not because you cannot trust Clippy but because you cannot trust her safety and the sanctity of her mind. Even having to think in these terms makes you want to smash something, but most stuff around you is part of Black Rider so you ball your fists tight take a deep breath and consider your next move. Dad, you can talk to dad about this.
"So how do you feel about high stakes diplomacy?" you ask flippantly.
"With who?" There is a lot of worry packed into those two words. specifically about the person you had just spoken to.
"Arthur Langtry he's..."
"The Merlin of the White Council, I know him," your dad breathes a sigh of relief that it isn't more monsters and demons. "Proud and prickly but a good man deep down I think, certainly one whose fighting a good fight."
***
And that is how an hour later a Knight of the Cross and your own self at least not outwardly glowing green walked into Mac's pub to me met with seven wizards including Harry a little to one side nursing a beer. The regulars had long since cleared out. So after offering a nod to the first angel you met, grabbing what might be the world's best lemonade in the world's plainest lemonade glass you take a good long look at the man who had described himself as first among equals within the Senior Council and give him the chance to do likewise. Snowy-white hair and neard frame a long solemn face marked with lines of worry as eyebrows still grey as thunderclouds hang above bright blue eyes.
Lost 1 Willpower -> now at 7/9 (ATB)
He is wearing a suit, a bespoke one you think from how fine the cut is, but no one could mistake Langtry for a businessman who had just lost his way, even discounting grey-cloaked bodyguards, not with the silver-thread embroidery around the cuffs, matching cuff-links and belt buckle.
Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 12/15 (Empathy Excellency to read him with)
At first glance he seems less like Gandalf and more like the kind of fellow who would be giving the Three Musketeers, their marching orders: clever, ruthless and probably has an agenda. But then you start to notice a thousand little signs, the way he deliberately avoids leaning back in his seat out of concern of what that might reveal, the way his right hand, covered in spell rings lies flat on the table with deliberate intent so he would not pick at the rings, an act which might be interpreted as hostile, but would instead be no more than another mark of worry Worried, tired and... you catch a dark look in Harry's direction... blaming the Warden on the spot for keeping him in the dark
It looks like pushing dad ahead like a social battering ram is working like a charm, it gives you more time to study him and pushes the notion that your eighteen year old self is willing to defer to age and wisdom. Of course you are willing to defer to your father under certain circumstances, but that is not what he's here for, mostly that's to reassure the Merlin that you are not actually a demon
After being introduced to the Wardens, none of which match your mental list thank God, the time has come to explain what happened yesterday, to offer proof of the same, and if you are lucky gain some allies.
What do you focus on in your explanation?
[] The conflicts you have had so far, including against Outsiders, make it clear that you are on the same side as the White Council in the broadest sense
[] The fact that you are a leader of your own realm, contained within your soul, a fact which you discovered yesterday
[] Your membership in the Order of the Cauldron and the broader plot against minor talents. Sure it had been stopped this time, but something needs to be done to allow them to organize, to keep themselves safe
[] Write in
OOC: It's a bit late for me, but I managed to pull this off. Hope you guys enjoy. 
