Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

[DragonParadox]

Managing Magic ​

6th of October 2006 A.D.

As you explain what you had seen Olivia listens in wide eyed silence. "My father definitely does not know about any magic. He doesn't even believe in this stuff. Even I've tried to talk to him about it, he just trots out these studies about how I have 'imposter syndrome' I think it's called where I'm supposedly putting myself down because I think I don't deserve to be noticed, it's a mess. As for the rest of my family... we don't really get along that well."

Family trouble, it's always...

"Oh," she must have noticed the look on your face. "It's not anything bad, just hard to have a relationship with people who barely notice you're there most of the time, you know?"

Privately you still think that sounds sad, but it's really none of your business. The rest of the meeting is given over to explaining the Fourth and the Fifth Laws, not that Olivia does not know them of course, all the members of the Ordo Lebensis know the gist of the laws of magic, but if half of magic risks seriously infringing on them she is going to need a finer understanding of the matter.

"Do you want me to look at what, who might have done this?" you ask in parting. "I'm pretty good at divination."

"Just you? Not Warden Dresden?"

"Harry's not..."

"Scary to you," Olivia finishes. "Look I know you like him and he's good at his job, but people who get mixed up with get in trouble. I don't want that around my family trying to look for 'inhuman beings'."

"I've been around him and I'm probably..." you hesitate, not wanting to scare her away, but on the other hand if she's serious about fighting monsters she aught to know. "I'm more scary than Harry. The things I can do, like back at Helen's, that's old, old magic that a lot of people are going to want a piece of."

For a long moment she is quiet, looking down the lane without seeing the people passing by. "You came to us on our terms, you helped. What does the Council do? They swoop in like they are the Illuminati in pointy hats, asking neither help nor permission. If you hadn't called us would he have done the same, or would Anna have found out from the rumor mill down at Mac's? Nothing against Mac but we should not have to find out the demon-vampires are in town from from a bar, even if it has a shinny sign up front. The community should have a say in how things are handled especially when we are in the line of fire. We have less of a claim to Warden Dresden's time than some guy who walks into his office and pays him to find his missing Billy Williams autographed baseball."

"The White Council does pay him," you point out, though you do not add how much.

"But we are not paying wizard taxes are we?" Olivia stops, laughs sheepishly. "You really must have dread powers from ages long past. Only way you could have gotten me around to arguing that I should be paying more taxes when I am already tens of thousands of dollars in the hole." At your curious, or maybe appealed look she just spits out 'student loans' like a curse.

But though it all you start to get the through-line of Olivia's reasoning. She had taken Anna's and Pauline's distrust of the Council further than either of them would, more than knowing when to duck and cover Olivia wants to be able to hit back to make her own safety and from the sounds of it she is not the only one among Chicago's minor talents who feels the same. There's the Alphas at the university the shen of Chinatown banding together. It is hard not to think of all the good they could do if someone could bring them all together and it is hard not to imagine yourself as that person.

As for the matter of Olivia's power she is fine with you discovering who had bound her powers with your 'weird magic'.

Do you use the Crown of Eyes to discover who bound Olivia's magic

[] [QUESTION] Yes

[] [QUESTION] No

***​

Speaking of weird magic and its application, that evening you find Maria in the middle of what can only be deemed a cake emergency. Her catering company had canceled at the last moment because of flooding and no one would take an order for a wedding cake this last moment, at least not for any sane price. So you do the reasonable thing and offer to help.

"Are you sure...? Do you have cake magic? It's not fairy food right?"

The tone does not get any more confident when you start your preparations by pouring cooking oil in your head, but once you start to move she's singing a different tune. Flour flies and eggs whip up a storm, mils is poured in perfect pearly arcs, sugar and almonds, chocolate and oranges, all are frozen backed and flambeed at just the right time. Granted the last tool did end in a silvery skull with the flames coming out the eye sockets, but by then Maria was not arguing. This would be the best darn wedding cake in the state if you have anything to say about it beside effusive thanks that make you feel a tad uncomfortable. It's not like it had been any great trouble on your part.

"I guess we can show the cake to Alex as proof of magic as well," she laughs seeing the thing tower in its full four feet tall chocolate-glazed glory. Her smile fades a little, worry shining though her warm brown eyes. "So maybe you can just fly around a little? That's the most obvious thing I guess..."

Do you have any suggestions for how to introduce to Maria's fiancee?

[] [REVEAL] Yes: Write in suggestions

[] [REVEAL] No, let her take the lead

OOC: Sometimes the lure of the Exalted is blatant and sometimes it is subtle, Molly does have max human leadership in addition to other high social stats.

 

[DragonParadox]

Of Cold Counsel ​

6th of October 2006 A.D.

Maria's 'Alex' or to use his full name as Clippy had found it Alexander Glezos is the grandson of Greek and Georgian immigrants, the VP of a small real-estate agency, family owned a soccer and ice hokey fan and, most importantly for your purposes, a man of no particularly strong religious or spiritual beliefs. Not that being religious keeps one from understanding magic for what it is of course, but the best way to reveal such a thing is rather different. For Izzy and Alec it had been superheroes, for Cindy it had been Harry Potter, for someone who thinks of himself as a rational man in a reasonable world you're going to have to take a page out of Daedalus' Book.

"Remember it's ESP and psychic power, not magic," you coach Maria. "You can get him to more sensible terms later, but right now what you have to do is get a foot in the conceptual door and er... explain why you did not tell him any of this stuff already."

She blushes, motioning at the stacks of paper stacked neatly on the kitchen table. "So that's what all this is about? Technobabble?"

"Nah, technobabble's easy, just the stuff I told you about, this is all reports from vaguely scientifically sounding organizations about how they did tests to find psychic powers and got something other than a flat no. I'm pretty sure 80% of it is bunk, but we don;t need it as actual proof, just as rhetorical cover after we provide the proof, not to mention...." you shuffle a five page stack like they were playing cards. "This is all stuff about alphabet agencies getting into looking for magic, sure it's all presented as 'look at what they have been wasting our tax money on', but it's there."

"I'm not really worried about the government," she points out, but you just shake your head.

"No, you are worried about vampires, but introducing vampires together with the magic is more likely to freak him out, everyone knows why you should be concerned about Agent Smith knocking at your door."

"I'm sorry all this feels really cold." She shuffles uncomfortably in her seat.

Maybe you should have asked advice from someone warmer then, you bite your tongue on the annoyed retort which Usum calls 'coddling her'. "If you want to cover everything in a manner someone entirely mundane can deal with in days rather than months or years you have to meet them where they are."

So it goes, like clockwork, like code being compiled. Absent the emotional investment of dealing with your friends or the sympathy you felt for Cindy the whole situation from doorbell's ring to clink of whiskey glass, you do not talk about your age or your inability to get drunk, feels almost scripted. No, not quite. It feels like a video game. Prod Maria just so with a joke or a hint and she will tell a story of her childhood that sounds funny rather than scary to the man across the table. You might not be looking for his darkest heart, but you can still read him in every gesture, every blink, every breath.

OK so maybe I am a cold bitch, you think behind a carefully calibrated smile as you say your goodbyes, but I'm the cold bitch that got them talking without a hitch. Maria and her fiance had started talking about magical kids, giving you sideways awkward looks, hence why you are leaving. That's got to be worth something.

"To them it is worth the world majesty," Usum says, sounding wistful, almost nice. "The whole of their narrow world." Almost

***​

7th of October 2006 A.D.

The next day both you and Lydia are invited to the wedding, the decorations are pretty, the cake is delicious, if you do say so yourself and the people are nice, even if they don't quite know what to make of the two of the two girls not related to anyone nor known friends of bride or groom. Despite that both of you are such wallflowers you might be mistaken for a floral print, in her case because of shyness and in yours because you do not want to draw a target on the back of some guy you met at a wedding and danced with twice. Really that is another argument why Harry is perfect for you, he is used to that kind of attention and he can take it.

"I finally got emancipated," Lydia half-shouts over the loud dance music.

"Oh so that's why you were so happy, I was starting to wonder if I should be seriously questioning Daniel."

She rolls her eyes. "Speaking of Daniel he's..." You do not think the pause is just from a swelling of the music . "Well he's feeling a bit left out with all this stuff that's going on, He wants to help, he wants to be there in the next fight not just be left wondering if we'll come back. He's trying to learn as much as he can, but there's only so much power you can get out of a book. There's a part of me that worries that I'm pushing him into this just by being near him. What do you think? Am I being selfish?"

Your first impulse is to say no instantly, but the thought you just had about Harry comes back to you. Daniel is brave and he is clever, but how much more ready is he really than Maria's second cousin to fight vampires, ghosts, fey and worse things?

What do you reply?

[] Assure Lydia that it'll be OK

[] If the problem is power maybe you could make some stuff for Daniel eventually, they'll probably help Izzy and Alec in an emergency as well

[] Write in

OOC: Since you guys rolled 10 successes for perception and for coaching Maria and this was a normal human with normal human amounts of willpower I thought I'd do something different and show just what it feels like to have that amount of control in a social situation.

 

[DragonParadox]

Gifts of One, Gifts of Many ​

7th of October 2006 A.D.

You could theoretically whip some stuff up to help, but you really do not know what you are doing with people. Or maybe I know a little too well, you hug your jacket a little tighter as though against the fitful autumn breeze blowing off the lake, though in truth more against the memory of how easy it had been to play the smartly dressed man waiting at the end of the outdoor aisle of flowers and well wishers. For every question he asked you had an answer, but for the ones in your own head your power is silent.As much as you hate to say it, this is something that they should actually speak to your mother about, she's been at this for a lot longer than you have.

Lydia nods, looking grave, but not unhappy with the answer, the stark midnight blue of her dress making her eyes seem bigger and darker, the ankh glittering at her throat like a spark of starlight in the dusk. "Nice talking to you Molly, I'm gonna drag my boyfriend off to dance."

Sitting back its hard to miss the way the crowd instinctively parts for her, not so much from fear as deference as though some subconscious awareness of power guides the other guests even in the midst of mingling, drink in hand. Or maybe the drink even helps, after all diviners the world over foretell in swirling sweet smoke and at harvest many gave themselves to revelry for a glimpse of the other world. Sitting here and looking out over the crowd you do not feel alone at all, but connected to the others, blind fingers brushing against the veil they do not know is there.

Out of the corner of your eye you see leaves moving against the wind and flashes of light reflections in things that aren't quite there, the little folk had come to spectate, drawn perhaps by you and Lydia, perhaps by the presence of so many member of the Ordo Lebensis with the bride being the strongest of them.

From the place within you where the power dwells, there the fire kindles, where the shadows spin something strange rises, something you had not felt before: sadness. They should not be left out, the little spirits of the land, and the people should not be denied the sight of the wonder all around them

Such is the veiled world the Age of Lights had made.

***​

"What's with the long face?" Matthew asks as you walk walk into the quiet house that night. Mom had not waited up for you which you take as an encouraging sign that she's starting to trust you a little more

Unable to come up with an answer, at least one made up of words that do not make you sound like a crazy person you make the universal shooing motion of elder siblings who do not want to deal with younger ones and take the steps two at a time up to your bedroom. Might as well see about divining Olivia since you can't sleep.

Between the earring, the lock of hair and the picture representing Olivia herself you can ask all of three questions, a veritable plethora.

"How was her magic twisted?"

A forest stream, somewhere warm and wet, tropical, raging against its banks, threatening to drown the people along its shore, then the same stream bound with dikes and sluice ways, the water turned to growing rice. But if you knew what ropes to pull, what levers to push it could rage again.

Channeled not amputated, that is good for her prospect of actually using her magic as more than a mental veil, but the implication that someone shaped the river of her soul is not exactly comforting.

Moving on to the lock of hair you ask quietly: "Who has done this?"

The answer comes in strings of horsehair and the thrum of bamboo: Dutiful Preserver. The first word echoes with sublime purpose the second with protean might that should be discordant, but is not. A temple filled with light, with song and prayer flashes before your mind's eye and of all the words upon its walls in a tongue unknown to you one reads clear: Vibhishana

It does not take a very long internet search to figure out who that is... or guess why he might care. Pious brother of Ravana who chose for his own the gift of unwavering virtue and who thus opposed his brother's malice and was made king of Lanka after his defeat. As is the way of kings he had heirs and they had heirs of their own bough from bough until newest shoot.

"Why was this done?" You have a guess, but it is only a guess.

Prayer for safety within and without spoken from mother to daughter.

At first you are left blinking in shock that you managed to find another divine scion and one so far from afield, but the more you think about it more it starts to make an odd kind of sense. Olivia is not Lydia, she is not the daughter of a god, but a descendant as distant as this age is from the days of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. How many other talents great and small are scions of a part so small as to be entirely of humankind, but bequeathed with the smallest spark of power? All the teaming billions of mankind might by now descend of gods and demons uncounted.

Improbably you think of the Incredibles in all its animated goofiness. "I guess everyone is super after all, most just don't know it," you muse to yourself or as the case would have it to Usum.

"Tis all the sadder then to have been blinded to themselves as much as to the world," the demon whispers as you fall asleep.

Tomorrow is carrier day and you have been asked among many other things to prepare an elevator pitch for your future employer. What will that be?

[] Goofy: Hello, I am Molly Carpenter, cook-mechanic extraordinaire

[] Serious: Bring up your athletic aptitude and fencing

[] Write in

OOC: So you know how scions are a lot more common and integral to Dresdenverse than most fantasy universes, as in literally the descendants of supernatural beings? Well I figured why not take this unique element and weave it into deeper parts of the quest world building. Hope you guys enjoy.

 

[DragonParadox]

Mischief Magnified ​

8th of October 2006 A.D.

In the movies they always seem set the makeover to perky popin' music, but to you sitting in front of the mirror pondering what you're gonna look like today has always had the comfort of routine, empowering but in a quiet sort of way, something people who know your usual style might find surprising. But today... ah today you have another thing in mind, all your natural color and a French twist at the back of the head, little stud earrings that you have to look for and then look for even more carefully to realize they are diamonds, changing out your usual purse for one that;s black and square enough to give the impression of a briefcase without being one. "Money may not be the best superpower, but it sure is a fun one," you shoot to the demon in your head as you step onto shoes made for the boardroom not the classroom.

"Glory and power onto you, Dark Majesty, wealth and grace," the demon replies caught in your good mood, even if he does not quite get the point of Clark Kenting .

As your smile grows you turn on your heel to show Clippy that you are done and the door clicks open as Margret Carver, CEO of Abietarius Analytics walks out of what the Jade Dogs had started to call your laboratory, just because it's freezing and had an electronically controlled lock.

"Standards have slipped. alas," Usum jokes.

There's no way to be sure you are going to pull off 'Margret Carver' as well at the school as you had here so instead you decided to introduce her before turning back into Molly for the 9 AM bell the better to fix her in the mind of Mrs Mulroney who runs the panels as well as in the minds of still sleepy students queering in a shambling throng only distinguished from the undead by the buzz of complaints and gossip that always hangs over the school.

Other than the big bulky thing in the parking lot covered by a tarp like a particularly chunky urban ghost there aren't many overs signs of what day this is, but there are certainly a lot of other strange adults for the students to ignore, and ignore you they do, even the ones who have known you the longest and best. Very satisfied with how they all seem to take it for granted that you are just as you appear a speaker for one of the panels you make it as far as the second flood corridor that leads off towards the staff room when a soft voice calls out from behind you. "Love what you did with your hair Molly."

"Hello to you to Isabela," you rolls your eyes. "Congrats for noticing."

"I almost didn't," she offers falling into step behind you into the empty corridor. "If I didn't recognize your heartbeat I would have missed you entirely."

"My heartbeat? Why does it sound strange?" Wouldn't be the first thing strange about you.

But the vampire just shakes her head. "No, but it sounds like you, one heartbeat doesn't sound like another even when it has as many beats per minute. Mortal devices have nothing on a well honed ear," she laughs, an unexpected edge of self-deprecation to it. "At least that is what Uncle Leinth says. though something tells me he has not tested than on too many of those devices. So what are we doing here? Malice or misdirection?"

"Malice?" you give her a stern look. "What did I tell you about hurting people here?"

"Well it's what you told me about hurting people for one," she points back, as far as you can tell sincerely. "For all I know you had something in mind of your own that you did not want me to spoil."

"Well it's not," you grumble, knowing that she would not take pity well at all. "If you really want to know... mischief."

After you had laid out your plan Isabela nods thoughtfully. "Make sure you get your panel done by 2 PM."

"What's at 2 PM?" you ask warily.

"You know those three marks you asked me to shepherd from the path of bullying their younger colleagues?"

"Yes...?"

"That's when they unveil the new equipment for shop class before they roll them in... only it's not that. Someone... a trio of someones really that might be known to you hot-wired the principal's car the one he is afraid to bring to school most days because he's so scared it will get scratched up, painted it pink with some choice words on top of it and turned it upside down. The last bit took some doing. They are of course planning to put the blame on Jim with the three inch glasses, far too into cutting up steel pipes or whatever they do in shop class. But our intrepid trio left quite a lot of clues, you know fingerprints, hairs, the kind of thing that wizards used to make use of and mortals have of late learned how to make use of. A concerned citizen made a anonymous call to that effect, once the cops snatch up their phones it will be all over."

"What...?" you snap your mouth closed. "It's going to lead back to you you realize."

"I never send a single electronic letter... er... mail. It would be Tyler's word against the new girl whose kept her nose clean and entranced all her teachers."

"You didn't actually...?"

Isabela rolls her eyes. "It's a figure of speech. Anyway even if the cops somehow fail to sieze their phones I made sure two other girls overheard them talking about it but not me. They will either get expelled in which case they can hardly bully the students at this school anymore, or they will play out their remaining years here under a magnifying glass, either way job done."

How to you react?

[] No one's physically hurt and Tyler and his buddies are assholes, good job

[] You did not mean for her to get anyone expelled, you need to fix this

[] Write in

OOC: And we finally get to the vampire, I rolled for this three updates ago.

 

[DragonParadox]

Serendipitous Schooling ​

8th of October 2006 A.D.

Isabela had followed the rule and done the job as you asked her, as harmless a bit of the arts of the pari as she could have used. Odds are even Harry would be pressed to find magic in her works, just a pretty girl egging on idiots. Wait... "How much of a bitch did you have to pretend to be to get an in with the?"

"Pretend?" She bats her eyebrows at you dramatically.

"You know I have to hang around with you?" you shoot back, though you can't quite keep a smile off your face.

"Relax, if there's one thing Mean Girl's taught me it's that people really want to redeem teenage girl. I'll come to Jesus or something..." At your warning look she corrects herself. "Come to Elmo then."

"Elmo?" you laugh, oddly charmed by the speed of her chatter. Or maybe not so odd. Not every White Court's allure is the same after all. Isabela feels something like a social chameleon filled with the superficiality that knows that it is superficial, like verbal cotton candy over a core of something sharper and more purposeful.

"Like a red shaggy lar that teaches children how to be good. A lar's a household god, concerned with the protection of..."

"I know what a lar is," you interrupt. "People don't worship Elmo." After a moment considering some of the more intense fans you had seen online you add. "Not much at least."

With that somewhat odd conversation you bid farewell to your minion for the moment and make your war to the Principal Clark's office and introduce 'Margret Carver'. It is a little strange to shake the hand of the man you had only known as a distant if little invoked representative of school discipline, as an equal, but you get over it quickly and just as quickly duck into a bathroom to become again Molly Carpenter.

This would be so much easier if I could still make a veil, you think hands flying through the familiar gestures to removing and reapplying makeup. There's nothing to be done about the hair, but that's fine. You do wash off the streaks sometimes, mostly when trying out some new hairstyle. No matter mom's occasional grumbling you put quite a bit of thought into what you look like when you walk out of the house, you just don't apply other people's standards.

"So you have no elevator pitch then?" Izzy asks as soon as she sees you again in your own guise

"She'll just make up some bullshit up on the spot," Alec says confidently.

"Gee, thanks for that," you roll your eyes. "I'll have you know I've worked for hours yesterday on my pitch." After they have enough time to simmer you enunciate. "Nope, not telling you, it's s surprise."

Step three is getting away from Mr Mendoza who wants to talk about your college prospects 'in a more informal manner' since he had notices you are not paying as much attention to it which... yeah has been happening, but you also had to deal with the servant of a demon lord. That's a bit more important than making sure your admission form had a well rounded feel to it. Do I even want or need to go to college? Shaking off the far too serious thought you get back into your Margret Carver persona and march confidently into the auditorium.

In spite of what you said to Izzy and Alec you proceed to bullshit, in the most dazzling manner. What would that look like, your mind flies with whimsy even as you recite the words you had prepared, each verse and intonation perfect, building one upon the other. Maybe like a bull who had eaten his fill of gold nuggets.

The last nugget is the best and the wisest "The most important skill you to have in business and in life is communication, it is how you motivate your subordonates to act and how you convince your customers to buy what you are saying, it is how you trick the competition and how you keep your allies close. Make no mistake though it's not just me talking to you all with my words, but the site one builds for the company, the instructions one gives to one's secretary, it is emails send out far and wide, even as far as this wondrous school by the lake," you wait for the giggles to subside. "It is how you present, the timber of your voice, the manner of your body language, the daring in your gaze. It never hurts to be a bit audacious."

With that you stop in the middle of the stage. The best thing about a french twist as far as you are concerned is how easy they are to untwist, dispelling the keystone of the illusion of Margret Carver. "Hey guys thank you for coming to my talk, can't quite hire you now. "

First are whispers, like wind through the grass, then muffled laughter the mark of the brave and finally Izzy shouts the obvious until at last the teachers get to you, their expressions running the gamut from serious-faced and looking to lay down the law, Assistant principal Weis, to Mr James the new Arts teacher who is trying, not very successful you might add to bite back his laughter.

"You made your point Carpenter," Principal Clark sighs. "Jesus the things you kids will put work into," he mutters under his breath. It sounds less like taking the Lord's name in vain and more like an honest prayer for for patience. Seeing as you had bequeathed upon him a auditorium filled with hopped up highschoolers you feel a little guilty.

"Come on if I can pretend to be a CEO you can pretend to be good for a bit!" you shout to the crowd, just the right words at just the right time.
What do you want to do next?

[] Restoring the Last Station: Restoration efforts have been going well and according to Adam some more of the people down in the tunnels have shown interest in their newfound wealth and comfort (3/8)

[] The Bridges of the Spirit, continue your training with Brother Divsimar not in the ways of the spirit but the mind, the Bridge of Dreams

[] Get ready for your meeting with Queen of Winter Fae: prepare a suitable meeting place, and preemptively gather intel with your crown. Lydia's library and treasury probably have something that can be used as a focus; Harry might be able to suggest something too

[] Write in

OOC: And done, hope you guys liked this less serious interlude of Molly using phenomenal cosmic power to goof off

 

[DragonParadox]

Clearing the Way ​

10th of October 2006 A.D.

There are, you find over the next few days, limitations to even the powers you have been bequeathed when it comes to renovations, for one you only have two hands and even running full tilt fast enough to make the wind whistle in the ear, you can only move them so fast. But that's OK you think, you have friends...

"Subjects," Usum points out, with the weary sigh of someone turning over in their sleep to get some obvious correction out of the way.

Whichever, point is the Jade Dogs provide plenty of hands to do manual labor with, but that just leads to another problem. When you had been working alone you could work with just a cart full of supplies and whatever you could scavenge down below, metal can be reformed, plastic can be recycled, even concrete can be ground down and reused. However now that you are working with regular people, most of whom do not have much experience in the restoring a subway station, you are going to need a lot more stuff to do it with. Paints, plural, varnish, glue, mortar, the list goes on and on.

"Yeah we are going to need an actual entrance all our own to get all this stuff down there," you conclude setting aside Clippy as her screen goes dark

"When I swore on to a dark power able to leash the Hunger 'contractor for a pile of boulders' is not what I had in mind," Isabela grumbles. She is the only one wearing overalls out of the two of you

"Lucky you we have far more exciting things to today, real-estate." You go on to explain Chicago Synthetics, the diamond trade and how you make your money, though you keep Thomas out of it, just in case she might have a change of heart about her loyalties. "We are going to buy some land on the old Southworks plot, there is a way down into Undertown there that's been cleared up recently."

The process is painless and discrete, the 'Margret Carver' look gets put to more serious work and if the people you are actually buying the land from thing you are some rich kid with a hobby once it becomes clear you are too young to hold power of attorney.

Not of course that you buy all the land. Blue Waters LLC holds vast swaths of what can now only be described as post industrial wasteland which they hold for potential resale and tax purposes more arcane than actual magic according to Clippy, but the point is no one will know or care about the trap door behind the rusting hulks of industrial material. All you have to do is make sure the lock you install is as sturdy in function as it is decrepit in form.

"You know that guy would totally have gone down a few thousand dollars," Isabela whispers as she empties the bowl of mints on the desk before leaving. "What? If he didn't want me to take them he shouldn't have left them out!"

You raise an eyebrow even as you give the slightly harried looking secretary a smile, enough to be remembered fondly, not so much as to be remembered well. "One I don't care about the money enough to haggle and two I could have gotten you more mints."

"What would have been the fun in that?" she laughs, wicked and free leaving you feeling a little envious but mostly worried.

"Is that what you want to do with your life, hunt mints?" you ask seemingly idly, though that could not be farther from the truth. Even though she has never killed anyone Isabela is by far the most dangerous of the vampires sworn to you, she has options if she ever gets bored, her great uncle at least is really fond of her, as much as an age steeped in death and treachery allows you imagine.

She stops dead as an ambulance passes by on the street, its wailing siren compressed then expanded no nothingness. "We are parasites you know, not just in how we feed, but in how our arts work. Even now, even with whatever you did it doesn't change the fundamentals. We would go mad pretending to be humans, as though the wolf set horns upon her head and tried to join a herd of goats."

"Mhm..." you hum. "A wolf's and animal you know, living in the woods with no thought past their next meal. Not the best comparison for someone who can walk, talk make tools all the stuff that goes into making this." Sweeping your left hand over the visage of Chicago in the fall from the street food cart to the pair of office workers animately talking about last night's football game to the elderly lady wearing enough flowers to keep a greenhouse in business for a week. "Seems better than the forest don't you think? Whether one is wolf or goat."

"They call it an urban jungle," she shoots back, weakly.

"Well then 'they' have very basic taste in metaphor," you shrug. "Come on let's get all this stuff down below..."

***​

13th of October 2006 A.D.

Much to your relief Isabela gets along well with most of the rest of the Jade Dogs, not to say she fits in, from the soles of her sneakers to the tip of her head shrouded under a grey hoodie it's clear she does not need a home in undertown, but she is willing to chat people up, her easy charm like a brisk morning rain. Might not go very deep but it is refreshing.

To be honest you had been worried how the other vampires would take her presence, but they seem if anything most eager for her company. It is almost painful to see how happy they are to meet someone who has never had a need to feed, someone who had the good fortune to not kill. It's a little hard to tell but you suspect it even makes Isabela herself uncomfortable at times, one would hope with how lightly she had taken the prospect of killing. By contrast Bones and Lockjaw are more standoffish, but nothing you would call a real problem. They just have a lot more experience with how White Court Vampires work.

So it might be a bit surprising hear her awkward cough behind you as you're reconnecting the pipes in the bathroom, but you put that down to the fact that you are scraping off and atomizing decades old feces. Not a lot of ways not to be awkward about it.

"So... er.. hypothetically what's the process for joining up for other vampires like me, I don't just mean White Court, but someone who still has connections up top, holds down a job the whole nine yards, just doesn't want to be bothered with whatever bullshit Madrigal Raith has cooked up. Not people who owe him Favors or anything..." You can hear the capitalization in the words. =

"Is this about someone in particular?" you ask intrigued, and truth be told happy to have an excuse to stop at least for the moment

"Yes, but they asked me to get a general feel for the conditions and bring it back to them before bringing it back to them." She pauses thoughtfully. "I'll tell on them if you want to, but I must advise that the loss of my own perceived trustworthiness among my peers will be worth more than the information itself."

Under what terms would you accept other White Court Vampires

[] Those who are willing to live without harming the mortals they feed upon and who will pledge to do enough services to maintain Mercy in Servitude

[] Those who are willing to take up your cause, even against the designs of the White Court, if they will pledge to you then their loialty shall be yours alone

[] Write in

OOC: I figured that it made sense to have Isabela meet the rest of your minions and also help along so as to maintain the charm.

 

[DragonParadox]

Work of Hands, Wisdom of Stone ​

13th of October 2006 A.D.

"Anyone who's willing to do enough of a service for the magic to catch," you say firmly, almost instantly. The voice of temptation is there of course, to ask for more, to ask for full and true pledges of loyalty, but you are your parent's daughter and you do your best to do right by God and your fellow man. Granted there are practical reasons for true mercy as well, the lighter the duty the more will take you up on it, the less harm they will do to others, not to mention that they will all be at least inclined not to move against you or your interests lest the favor you have done them be removed.

"So like handing you tools in a sewer then," your would be 'assistant' giggles and picks up an offset wrench and presents it as a knight might offer her sword.

"No, it has to actually be useful in some way, now get back to those spreadsheets," you mock-command. The same computer skills that had seen her mentor pick her to scrum incriminating records from Sarah Greene's computer are now of far more benign use to another Sarah handling the Jade Dogs' accounting, not that he is planning to be an excel monkey forever.

'Boring as a week-old corpse,' she had called it. Almost you ask her when she had seen one of those, but then recall what little you know of Isabela's history. Better not to know.

Resolutely you turn your eyes and your hands back to the task at hand...

***​

16th of October 2006 A.D.

Resolve becomes drive, bright with welding with emerald flame, shifting stone with teeth of steel, groaning hydraulic muscles that unmakes the detritus of decades. It all fits together, an ease and grace that words alone cannot contain, a joy that bubbles deep, not only to make things of use, things of worth, but things of beauty and meaning. Roughly spray-painted dogs are into lithe watchful shapes that recall the shape of bane. In eyes cast from common tiles a secret hides, cameras carefully calibrated to see and to record under the eye of cybernetic spirits, ever watchful for another incursion. No more will your people have to risk themselves as Adam did, alone to watch for threats.

Drive becomes inspiration, the same cables that carry the camera's sight can be built stronger bigger, such that the spirits can at any moment spike the current a high enough voltage to burn any man to a crisp and more. Even a vampire, ghoul or unprepared sidhe would rue the day they tried to mess with your work.

Inspiration alloys with sweat and long hours of work, more than once you get back home at nine AM and sleep the slumber of the truly exhausted, but even though the jawas are curious and your friends are a little worried about how busy you are of late neither mom nor dad say anything. Dad's a craftsman after all, he knows what it's like to work on something big.

It is not the cameras, or the electrified wiring, not even the heavy security doors that make you the most pleased of all the work that filled these days. Blue-white light shines from half a dozen monitors , maybe not the best PCs you could get but even apart from the necessities of the base the people here, your people, now have a chance to engage with the rest of the world on their terms, to work and to play, be they ghoul vampire or just mortal down on their luck. Even those who do not want to face daylight world are as free as the internet can make them.

Last Station Gains

• Restored paint and tiles
• Functional Plumbing and running water
• Security System and Internet Connectivity

Progress: 3 (Previous) + 3 = 6/10 (+2 AP needed due to the decision to add improvements)

Something moves in the depths of the tunnel, beyond the reach of the light, something big, you feel as much as hear and know that it is Porter. A good thing that you know too because to eyes alone he looks.... different. Wires of molten copper now snake between the loose stones of his body line veins, his eyes glow the hard blue, familiar, though not exactly welcome to anyone who has ever used Windows before . Even the shape of his body had changed, now wider towards the front and narrowing at the back in a pleasing curve rather than the rough jumble of rubble that it had been before.

"Masterful work... soulful work... no trains yet, but soon?" He sounds so hopeful it's cute, as cute as twelve tuns stone steel and spectral flame can be.

You not with a smile then ask in turn: "The company is pleasant?" Of course you had asked before adding any spirits into the very infrastructure of the station, but you could not keep back a niggling worry that once the new roommates actually moved in something of their nature would start to rub Porter the wrong way. After all much like static made from scrapping one's feet across carpet 'rubbing the wrong way' is pretty much what the spirits you conjured are made of, dissonance and frustration.

The spirit blinks, an articulated steel covering over his glowing eyes. "They are all quite... young but most things are young... when you have lived... as long as... I. They will... be more mindful in... a century... or two."

Just then Clippy pings: "Communication attempted. Lieutenant Karin Murphy. Shall I delay her once more?"

"No, no, I really should talk to her. I'll figure something out..." You do not sound very confident even to your own ears. Karin Murphy is not only good at her job she is passionate about it and officers like her are not the sort to let go of a murderer walking free with a 'trust me I know better.'

Porter gives what you had come to recognize as a curious rumble. Not seeing any harm in it you explain without any of the sensitive details, just that you had to let some of the vampires leave for reasons you cannot share with police.

"Narrow gaze, narrow thought..." You thought he would leave it at that, but after an extra long pause he offers. "Maybe I can be... of assistance... I am not as man is in body or mind. Perhaps I might propose a riddle yes... men love riddles so... If I were to move counter one of her laws would she seek to put me in jail? Would she kill me... every offense capital."

"I don't think that will help, she's stubborn."

"If she does not have answers for... how to... address the world she seeks entrance to in the context of her duty.... then it stands to reason that world will not open... its gates to her."

What do you do?

[] Accept Porter's sugestion, at the very least he should be able to get detective Murphy off her interogation game

[] Reject Porter's suggestion. His heart is in the right place, but you really do not think a stone dragon who thinks mortals like to be posed riddles is going to solve this issue

[] Write in

OOC: Welp here we are , moving at a decent clip. I hope you guys do not mind the lack of Essence and willpower updates as you spend them, but they really are not relevent when we are moving several days at a time. Bleach baths and rest happens when necessary and you guys can be assumed to be between 8-12 motes at all times.

 

[DragonParadox]

Of Tale and Verse ​

17th of October 2006 A.D.

Even though you try your best to make the invitation as casual as possible, there are limits to how one can offer to meet a cop down in the spirit and monster haunted underworld of the city. "Should I bring rubber boots or just by gun?" she asks coldly, obviously expecting you to show her some kind of monster that you think mortals cannot face.

I have more respect for her integrity than that. Cheerfully you add: "It's drier than outside and the route down here should be safe enough, our neighbors are reasonable people."

"Alright, I'll be at the entrance at seven."

***​

That opens up a whole day to worry about what to say, but not just to worry. After getting home from school you ask dad if he's ever been in this kind of bind, unable to explain his actions in a way that makes sense to someone who is sincerely trying to do the right thing but doesn't have the tools to.

"Once..." he sighs and leans back in his chair, eyes briefly closed against some unwanted memory. "Twelve, thirteen years ago now Tarsiel's previous host willingly surrendered his coin after I confronted him with the proof that Lartessa and Imariel had under the guise of mentoring in the use of his powers been breaking down all the bonds with his old life, driving him to rage and spite against those whom he once loved. He had attacked his sister over supposedly 'betraying' him to the Church. In truth it had been Lartessa who tipped me off, altering her voice over the phone specifically to arrange the scene in which he would poison her with Tarsiel's sting."

That's... you are not sure what to say. The idea of a Denarian being able to manipulate a Knight of the Cross, to manipulate your dad,like that is terrifying, but he is not done yet.

"Lartessa did not account for the young Denarian's sister living through the posion, nor later being able to sow enough doubt in her brother's mind to make other actions of his 'mentor' take on their true sinister guise, but she had been hospitalized for the poison and in the midst of delirium named him as the perpetrator."

"So you had the police on the trail of a very real crime that the victim did not want to admit happens and you were the only other witness."

Your father nods. "The boy would not have done well in prison he had been in and out of juvenile detention for years and given the power the Order of the Blackened Denatius craved from him..." At your expectant look he tsks. "Ah, I didn't tell you? Must be my age catching up to me, he was a geomancer, could cause minor tremors. Add to that the power of a Fallen Angel and certain dark ritual and he might have conjured far worse."

"Sure dad, you look positively ancient." Even though you roll your eyes there is a chill at the back of your neck at your reminder of his mortality. This thing, this power you have is the farthest thing from mortal imaginable. I'm going to outlive...

If he notices your sudden worry he does not mention it, continuing instead with the story. "Regardless given his powers and his past I doubted any prison could hold him and any escape would have been marked by yet more deaths. So I refused to testify, even though as the one who brought her to the hospital I was a known potential witness to the police."

"So what did you say to them?" you prompt, leaning a little over the spotless as always kitchen table.

"I should warn you that this isn't a magic formula, they did not all understand, or believe me anything other than a madman or even an accomplice, but I found the most success with Mark 12;17 Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God. The Fallen do not fall under the law of the land and it would be an injustice to judge one with such poison poured in their ear as though they had been sound of mind. Detective Murphy was raised in the Church and still attends services so a bit of theology might help."

"Thanks dad," you part ways with a smile.

Where do you meet Karin Murphy?

[] The game room/lounge of the Last Station
-[] Write in arguments and charms

[] Pretend you have something to work on in the ritual room (+2 Dice from the subzero temperature maintained there)
-[] Write in arguments and charms

OOC: You guys have mostly taken advantage of that Mentor status in fights, but Michael can do more than that. Even with just one success on the advice he gives you a flat -1 DC for social rolls to convince Murphy, since this is a conundrum he had encountered before and considered quite a bit.

 

[DragonParadox]

Way of the World ​

17th of October 2006 A.D.

Sensible people that they are the Jade Dogs tend to stay out of Porter's way when they meet him out in the tunnels, but he is a semi-regular guest in the gaming room, he likes to spectate at board games, particularly Monopoly, which he remembers fondly from the days when it had been The Landlord's Game played in parlors all across Chicago. One can hope that he does not apply his memories of old time cops to the woman across from you. There is something very deliberate about how starched and ironed the shirt beneath the dark jacket is. If she did not have to walk through a stretch of muddy tunnels to get here you would expect Karin Murphy's shoes to shine, just about everything she could do to remind you of her position and the power and responsibility that came with it short of flashing a badge.

Yet there is nothing strained about the smile you gave her. The woman had offered to run into danger not just against the servants of Kakuri, but into the Heart of Winter. In a very real sense you owe the very impulse you are here trying to curb your life. "'Evening detective this..." you motion to the arc of stone and mental that shifts into draconic shape. "Is Porter, he's our landlord. He is the most experienced one here and has seen quite a lot of the city's history in his day..."

"Rarely... one as mighty... as the.... Slave of Night," the dragon picks up the thread of conversation where you left it off. "For all the strength of the... deep earth I could not bar his way.... only weather then breath of his coming. Yet... behold I am and he is not, gone as the passing wind."

Did... did Porter just make a fart joke? You wonder, not sure if you should be amazed or horrified. It certainly seemed to fit the cadence. That long dead warden has a lot to answer for, corrupting the minds of elementals

Lieutenant Murphy does not get the joke, though to be fair to her it is the first time she met something like Porter up close, especially in a situation where she's not trying to shoot him. To her credit she wishes him a good day and thanks him for his hospitality without wasting too much time in contemplation.

"As you may have guessed there is a reason I invited Porter here tonight. He's older than the United States, a lot older, though he could not put the span down in years because he does not pay much attention to the stars being in elemental opposition to them."

"I see the point you are making and there is a lot to say about native rights," the detective replies, shifting her gaze to you. "But as long as magical folk stay hidden he can't have that conversation, he and everyone else here cannot benefit from all the services of the United States, including security. If we'd known..."

The implication hangs in the air like a hook that will work just as well if taken with aplomb or with anger. You do nothing, letting Porter say his peace.

"Suppose for a moment... that I decided to take offense at a water pipe flowing where it aught not though my domain and I caused floods... mischief... misery... not death. What then?" The elemental's acrylic blue bored into hers. "Arrest me? You cannot. Bind me? You cannot."

"I would try to reason with you over it," she replies carefully. "And if you were not amenable to reason I'd leave you be as long as I had some assurance that broken pipes is all you would do. Look," Her left hand twitches as though she'd like to run her fingers though her hair or some other nervous gesture. "I get that the full rigor of the law is not an option out here, it's the Wild West, but even the Wild West had sherifs and they did not have one for part of the town and another for the other part. For cases of clear and present danger to the people if Chicago I either act or I am not doing my job." In other words 'I'm abandoning my duty'. The good detective is making a lot more sense than you would have given her credit for even if it is by sheer stubbornness.

Thankfully you do have something to fall back on. "What if it had been a diplomat? Someone with immunity?"

"They would have been extradited and it would have had diplomatic consequences, hopefully at least," comes the wary answer. Not where she thought this was going. Good.

"There are worlds beyond this one, layers of reality atop and below our own that those with the magic and the will to breach can cross over into. You've been to the nearest of them, faerie, most like the world of men. But there are other realms, other powers. In one of these realms it is ever-night and and the eternal blizzard is heavy with ice to strip the flesh from the damned ones who turn their face towards it, their wails adding to the voice of the maelstrom, mountains rise not out of divine purpose or congruence of geology, but in mockery of its master's hated foes, though these mountains all paths lead to ruin and all shelter is false. Should the wandering souls by some cruel generosity of their bearers carry a source of fire it will burn not with heat, but pale, a ghost of itself, more ghosts to itself drawing." With every word you speak a look of horror grows on the detective's face, but she does not stop you. "Hell does not abide by the Vienna Convention"

"Hell... but that's..." As she shivers you move away suddenly uncomfortable and not with the fact that you had made her cold.

Silence reigns for a long moment as she catches her breath. Then once she is done you try a different simile. "Do you play chess, Lieutenant?" At her cautious nod you get up, reaching around Porter to grab a board from where it was stored. "Great." You say, as you begin to rapidly assemble the pieces. "The comparisons will be imperfect, but it gives some idea of the balance I was trying to strike." You pick up a black piece, weighing it on your palm before you continue. "Eiko? Eiko was a rook. Powerful, valuable, flexible, but routinely replaceable. The Daimyo of the Dark, lord of the Hell of which I spoke numbers many such in his retinue." You set down that piece and pick up another. "The Will was a queen. Each Yama King has very few such, and they represent significant investments of resources and prestige."

She follows your hand intently as you play with the rook, nods again.

"That's how diplomacy words before the conventions, even if you are facing an enemy army, even having defeated an army you have to leave someone alive to carry your terms. That's where the immunity comes from." You offer a rueful smile. "I'm afraid even the wild west is off by a thousand years."

"Then why leave so many, why her and not one of the others?" Detective Murphy asks at last and you know you've got it. She has conceded to the paradigm you had proposed, though she may not realize it yet.

"Because it had to be someone Emma-O would actually pay attention to, a servant not a slave." You consider your next words carefully. "That is not just a matter of him being a right bastard though." On cue one of the screens lights up with the footage from the hotel, Eiko shaping the perception of the staff as a potter molds clay.

"Explain what I just saw." Clipped, professional, a little stilted, not that you can blame her.

"The reason why I had doubts about J's culpability. That is called....the closest translation is Authority. Jedi mind trick on turbos. Give the target orders they obey without question. Get them to ignore discrepancies like...that."You wave at the screen. "Spill their secrets, and the secrets of others, without even remembering they did it. The Jade Court use it on each other as well, elders on fledgelings, it works almost as well as it does on mortals, that if why he would not trust a message send though one of them why their memory could not be trusted."

"Almost as well?" the words rise in concern.

Unfortunately you cannot give her the answer she wants. "Any Wan Kuei five years into unlife can do it well enough for that."

She seems to deflate, shoulders slumping forward, gaze dropping. You barely catch the words. "Well aren't we all fucked."

"There are still people willing to stand up the monsters, ones with the means and maybe the lack of self-preservation." The smile you offer is not the most sunny, but it's the best you got. "Me, Harry, my dad and when that is not enough remember there are Higher Powers at work as well."

"I didn't become a cop to try to pray my problems away Miss Carpenter." There isn't much heat left in the words. "You've made your point, I'm not going to ask you for more details on this case, but I'd like your word at least that when some trouble comes into town, even if it's the kind SI can't handle you'll give me a call. Harry is better about that than he used to be, but that does not mean he's all good."

What do you reply?

[] Promise to give a heads up of any major supernatural happening in Chicago in exchange for Murphy listening to your advice in such matters carefully

[] Do not promise to give a heads up of any major supernatural happening in Chicago

OOC: That had more rolls than some combat, but I think it came out decent. I had to change some of the stunts around and we did not get to the reveal of the demon form because there was no need.

 

[DragonParadox]

Storm and Stillness ​

17th of October 2006 A.D.

Do I trust the woman in front of you, all five feet of professional aplomb and human candor? Knowing what you do about what she's done, understanding 'why' with arcane insight it is easy to say 'yes', you do so with a light heart. Special Investigations should know when monsters are in town, even monsters too powerful for them to fight or else they might get caught in the crossfire. In fact you consider making them the same offer you made Olivia.

The one universal gift of awakening the shadow self is being harder to hurt and that is definitely something Detective Murphy and her colleagues could use if they keep looking under bridges for trolls, but looking ahead to how much of your time is already spoken for... that's not a pledge you can make even generally. Not to mention that I should probably see how the binding works before I try it on strangers with little cause to take advice from a teenage girl. They can't all be as stubborn as their boss, but that is a hell of a high bar.

So you bid her farewell, glad that you had settled things amiably. Judging from her handshake in parting you guess she feels the same. It's an odd thought but you guess that makes sense, you make a hell of a contact for someone in her line of work,

***​

18th of October 2006 A.D.

The next day's a Friday, though when the final bell sounds you do not exactly rush out the door thinking of all the parties and dates you are going to have tonight. When was the last time I was even on a date? Too depressing to think about, you decide. In any case you are going to take your lame self over to Brother Divsimar's place and... learn how to brew tea.

That actually sounds a lot less impressive than it is. For people bereft of the wizard's ability to feel magic and unable to tap into external power it is pretty amazing that the shih learned how to not only deduce the minute external signs of imbalance but to assign to each one a remedy along dozens of different scales, all without poisoning the patient. So you pack up your alchemy books, courtesy of Bob and a collection of kettles and pots made from various metals and in all different styles all set to learn how to balance chi

It's raining buckets when you arrive in Hyde Park, the gutters clogged and windows above tightly shuttered against the storm, but even with the sound of thunder in your ears you can't miss who else is there. There crouching his shoulders in a battered black raincoat is J, looking... better then when you had last seen him though not by much.

As soon as he sees you he seems to shrink into himself even more.

"Hi," you flash a smile, not knowing what else to say. Somehow you do not think asking the man if he is still considered legally dead is polite.

"Hello, are you going to see Brother Divsimar... I'm... that is..."

Once both of you are out of the rain a bit of coaxing reveals that he is here to learn from the aged monk just as you are, his lessons the same ones you seek, though he is not looking to go beyond balancing the spirit. It seems that the nearness of death that was eating at him, the one that had seen him made a pawn of the akuma is... Yin imbalance, constant by the nature of his connection to Tuzi, hard to treat, but by no means impossible.

You do not know if you should be shouting at the man or congratulating him, though in the end you settle on the latter out of respect for Brother Divsimar's neighbors.

He explains that both he and Tuzi owe you and they are ready to fulfill that debt so long as it is within their power to do so. "She'd be here herself only you know cats and rain..." The joke is kind of weak, but as he waves disarmingly towards the mini-deluge outside you get an inkling of what the senri had seen in him.

"Use the debt as leverage to persuade him to join the Order of the Cauldron, Sublime Queen of Endless Night," Usum offers as you work to grind and seep tea leaves, leaving you momentarily bewildered, before adding. "For his own protection..." Which just makes you confused in an entirely new way before he finishes: "It is that those of lesser stature gain what mastery they can over their paltry powers and are not consumed. I have observed this, so I offer counsel. May they serve you well."

Not exactly how you would have put it, but it works, though you are not sure how much the suggestion does. Having been founded by three women the Order of the Cauldron is still not entirely comfortable accepting men, though if it were just that you would probably go ahead anyway. Men or women the minor practitioners of Chicago need to stick together, but as you had found J is... not the most reliable person. Should you make him Anna's responsibility? If you don't is he just going to end up yours again?

[] Suggest that J join the Order of the Cauldron and vouch for him

[] Say nothing, he can handle himself

[] Write in

OOC: No rolls in this one since Molly has not finished her learning yet.