⇨ 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

[fragileandsoft]

"Don't. Move."

Greg's voice tends to get a little pitchy and strained when he's worked up, but there's no doubting he's serious about it; he has a toy gun aimed at her and everything. A curling mass of ivy has burst out of the seed packets in his pocket and wound tightly around his arm.

Any other week, Greg may have been able to react a little better to this kind of surprise. He probably wouldn't have been great with it, no, what with it being more or less exactly what he's been dreading for the last four years and specifically what he got the dog for. But he wouldn't come in with magical weapons primed and face red with frustration.

Rita's face is familiar, but he can't quite place where. Right now, she's an invader, going through his stuff on a week where he's been doing a LOT of things he shouldn't.

"What are you doing in my home."

[anti_nonsense]

He sounds agitated, but that's to be expected. Rita broke into his house. If it happened to her, she'd have blasted the intruder to bits, no questions asked. She was counting on Greg having more patience than she would in the face of a bald-faced intimidation tactic, and fortunately, it looks like he does.

She turns in the chair to face him, but doesn't stand up. Instead, she leans back, arms folded and legs crossed. The toy gun in his hand receives a raised eyebrow. Is that a weapon? It kinda looks like a joke. Of course, in the hands of a magic-user, it might not be.

"I was waiting for you. Got some questions," she replies calmly. Glancing back to the desk, then to the toy gun again, she can't help but add, "You've got some interesting hobbies, even for a warlock."

[fragileandsoft]

"Everyone has interesting hobbies! That's why they're hobbies!" His are a heck of a lot better than breaking and entering, that's for sure. "I'm not messing around here, all right? Don't move, or..." His eyes flash in recognition.

"You--jeez, you're one of Pearl's. She really can't come and fight her own battles..." Has she started sending her crew after him now, as well? That shouldn't sting as badly as it does. Why does he keep expecting any better of her?

Greg shakes off the moment of perceived betrayal and squares his shoulders. "I swear, if you hurt my dog..."

[anti_nonsense]

"What!? No." There goes Rita's composure. "Pearl doesn't know I'm here. And I didn't hurt your damn dog!" Or she didn't try to, at least, as she dragged it to the bathroom and tried to pry it off her leg before slamming the door in its face. If anything, the dog's been assaulting her ears nonstop ever since, with its incessant barking.

She rises to her feet, straightening her back as she tries to face him eye to eye. She's not quite tall enough to succeed. "I'm here because your master attacked me, kidnapped my friends, and screwed everything up!"

[fragileandsoft]

"Well, her hobbies are pretty interesting too," Greg mutters darkly. "I don't get a lot of say in them."

In spite of his warnings to Rita to hold still, he's only half listening to her as he picks his way over the mess towards the bathroom. He keeps that little pellet gun trained on her as he opens the door and lets the frazzled mass of fur dart back out. Lil firmly plants himself between Greg and Rita, his growl hoarse and faint from all the barking. "Shhh, shh boy, I'm okay. Good boy, lemme see you, little man. Did she hurt you? Shh." For all intents and purposes, Greg seems far more interested in checking his dog over than defending himself from Rita's accusations.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita doesn't move once the dog's free, her feathers ruffling a bit in apprehension. Fortunately, it doesn't look like it'll attack her suddenly this time, with Greg there to calm it down. Too bad Rita's not so easily calmed.

"I told you I didn't," she huffs at him. But, no, that's not what's important here. He can't just brush off everything she said like that! "Are you even listening to me!? Look, you're gonna tell me right now, what happens to changelings after she takes them?"

[fragileandsoft]

Greg takes a deep breath, finally looking up from Lil. The dog hasn't taken his eyes off of her.

"I dunno who told you to come here," He's willing to bet Pearl mentioned it even if she wasn't directly responsible, "but I don't really get called in on the Queen's changeling business. We don't see eye to eye on the subject."

He straightens up, properly sizing up Rita now that he's taken a moment to breathe. He's still annoyed, but she's just a kid, and she didn't break in here for fun. "You've probably got a pretty good idea of what she gets up to in there already. What do you need to ask me for?"

[anti_nonsense]

They don't see eye to eye on the subject of changelings... Rita's gaze wanders to one of the photos in the room, of Greg and his son. She can probably believe him when he says that. He wouldn't keep so many pictures if he didn't care about Steven, or what happened to him.

Rita shakes her head. "When I was in the Summer Court, I was in someone else's care. I never saw much of how the Court operates, or even met other changelings, usually." Steven had been the first one in years. "But more importantly... your name's come up a few times in my investigations. What can you tell me about a rescue operation involving an angel, and someone named Amethyst?"

[fragileandsoft]

That makes him visibly nervous. No one's supposed to know he was involved in any of that. "Wh, what, some angel saved some girl? I dunno, I don't--I didn't hear anything about it." He sometimes really wishes he were better at lying.

"But... you know, just, guessing, based on, uh, context, uh... if someone tried breaking in to the Summer Court to rescue a kidnappee..." Hypothetically, and definitely not him, "Well, they sure wouldn't want to go around bragging about it."

[anti_nonsense]

Oh, wow. Looks like she asked the right question. Rita barely knows anything about the incident, but Greg's reaction is pretty telling in itself.

"Uh-huh," she utters flatly, clearly unconvinced. "So, hypothetically, if someone were looking to bust in, maybe break a few things, get a few kidnapping victims safely out... what do you suppose they'd need to know?" Sure, she might be showing a little too much of her hand here... but Rita doubts Greg's going to rat her out to the Rose Queen when he's already this nervous about his own deeds being found out. If anything, it looks like they could both benefit from the Summer Court being brought down a few pegs.

[fragileandsoft]

Greg hesitates a moment, anxious. Not just over being not-quite-found out, but this girl's attitude. He gets the feeling she's ready to put herself in some serious trouble.

"Ahh jeez. Look--take a seat on the couch, would you? Away from..." He gestures with the little gun at his work table, which she's already messed with plenty. "You want something to drink? I hear breaking and entering works up a real sweat."

[anti_nonsense]

All things considered, his visible discomfort isn't too surprising a reaction. Greg knows how powerful the Rose Queen is, probably even better than Rita does.

She raises an eyebrow at the offer, then shrugs, seemingly accepting. She steps forward... then stops, exchanging a wary look with the dog. Giving both the pup and its owner a wide berth, she walks around and sits down on the couch. "I'll have whatever." Rita's not picky, and Greg doesn't seem like the poisoning type. If anything, it's a bit audacious of her to start acting like a guest after breaking in, but Rita's not easily shamed.

[fragileandsoft]

Most people wouldn't start treating her like a guest after breaking in, either, but Greg's a fair bit more accommodating than average. While he searches for a clean glass Lil stays and watches Rita, punctuating her every movement with a squeaky growl. His pride as a guard dog has been shattered this day, and he takes her continued presence in his home as an insult.

Finally Greg comes back with a couple mismatched plastic mugs full of soda. He offers one to Rita, and reclaims his seat by his work desk across the room.

"All right. You really want my advice?"

[anti_nonsense]

Rita accepts the cup, taking a sip and then setting it on her lap. Most people wouldn't consider it wise to drink something offered by someone she just wronged, but Rita's willing to take the chance, both to keep up a confident front, and to show that she thinks he can be trusted, in a way. Of course, that trust has only existed for all of a couple minutes, so it could be a hasty judgment.

"That's what I'm here for," she answers flatly.