⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 3

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: October 15st - 22th, 2017
Where: Still in Portland
What: As all sides of the struggle gradually become informed, and the awareness of outsiders begins to spread, Portland faces a critical question - what should be done with them? And who gets to decide?
Warnings: Individually marked!

THE WOLVES AMONG US↴ ► WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS: It's fairly common knowledge that October is a special month - Halloween has always been an excitable time in the supernatural community, because its during this month that the magical energies of Earth seem to disproportionately swell in power. This peeks on the 31st, and has every year for as long as anyone can remember. The holiday of Halloween is a byproduct of this, because the magical phenomenon has gone on for ages past. It's also a pretty common time for wizards to attempt bullshit shenanigans, and also when the Severing first came into effect. ► TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL: Towards the end of the week, Prudence Jaeger will be asking her angelic contacts for a pretty huge favour - she wants them to help her and some of her associates break into the Circle stronghold that the visiting Council members are staying at. It seems that they have some kind of macguffin item that will be needed to crack the barrier cutting off the Earth from the cosmos - and, to that end, allow the angels and mysterious outsiders to return to wherever they call home. ► THE PATH TO HELL: Perhaps unsurprisingly, Team Heaven isn't the only group to clue into the fact that the Circle has what they need. On the same night that the angels go in, so will Anath's army, as the arch demon finally arrives in the city just in time to join the party. Whether the angels and demons fight each other all the way or cooperate to achieve a mutual goal is up to them. ► WITH GOOD INTENTIONS: The Circle and Torchlight aren't all bad, okay? It's entirely possible that they are just acting in the best interest of humanity - unfortunately, that has resulted in them being pretty massive pricks recently, and now the payback for that is arriving on their doorstep. If you're a member of the Circle, you may or may not realize that anything is coming in time for you to prepare. (That will depend on your threads up to the end of the week.) However, once the fight starts, you'll be charge with defending the Councillors whether you like it or not, and Torchlight is getting pulled in as an unexpected ally to ensure their safety as well. Are you going to heed their call? Or is it time to split from the pack? ► BLOOD OF ICE AND FIRE: It's been made no secret that the Rose Queen isn't the only fae trying to pull back her lost changelings - now the Winter Court appears to be doing it, as well. More than a handful of changelings have gone missing over the last couple weeks, lost to both the thorns and agents of the Count. Whatever they're doing, it's also in competition with each other - Winter and Summer will be biting at each other's heels far more than normal, to the degree that it becomes clear they must have some competing objective in mind. Unfortunately for everyone else, that objective happens to conflict with the desires of just about everyone else. Fae are, by nature, opportunists. - ✪ - These are the major conflicts that will be coming to a head towards the end of Week 3. In the meantime, your actions will decide how certain elements are set up, and what the likelihood of success is for each group. Dice rolling handily won the opinion poll where we asked for the preferred method of conflict resolution, so that will be coming into effect a bit later on to determine who actually wins and loses, with advantages based on the choices made.

Comments

[anti_nonsense]

Mordio? The name sounds so familiar that, for a moment, she doesn't find it strange that he'd call her by it. But then it sinks in, and Rita realizes that actually, it is really strange, because that's not her name.

Ugh... and he's planning on sticking around. Way to complicate things, Childermass. Rita still doesn't know if she can trust him. What if all that stuff about the Beast was just a distraction, something to get her off his back long enough for him to do as he pleases?

"Wait." There are a few things bothering Rita right now, but most of all she wants to know... "Where'd you hear that name?"

[atouts]

"From someone else, I would assume," is the answer he'll give Rita after a moment of pause, where he frowns and thinks about it. It could be he had misheard, although he still isn't even sure where he heard her name before in the first time. "Why? If I got it wrong, please, feel free to correct me."

Or don't. If it isn't the girl's true name, it's probably better she doesn't share that with anyone at all. Childermass would certainly understand that, considering his own problems currently (thanks, Strange, thanks so much).

[anti_nonsense]

"It's just Rita. I don't have any other names." Maybe she'd have a family name if she ever had a family, but she doesn't. She has a fake name for her fake driver's license, but it isn't Mordio.

So why does it sound so familiar? Wait... could it be related to those memories? But how the hell would Childermass of all people know something like that?

Rita sighs. "...Forget it. Just go." They don't have time to attempt to solve this mystery here and now, and finding the Beast needs to be her main priority. Rita has no choice but to leave Childermass to his own devices and hope for the best. If it turns out he is screwing with her, she'll just have to get him back for it later.

[atouts]

"Odd, I could have sworn..." Childermass almost wants to dispute the claim, because it still feels wrong, but then again, it's her right not to claim a name. He'll drop it, shrugging. "Fine. As you say."

With her telling him to just go, he'll take that as whatever unexpected business they had with one another to be done. He hadn't come here expecting to point another changeling in the Beast's direction, but he'll let the faerie decide whether Rita's tagging along or not. Before he does go, he does have the gall to sketch out a fairly mocking bow to Rita upon her dismissal.

"Until we meet again, Miss Rita."

And then he's gone, very abruptly falling into his own shadow and flitting away through the stacks — shadow to shadow to shadow — rather than retaking the form of a crow.