[Rhythm of the Night] No Reason to Repent

It wasn't the approach that the Summers would refer to as 'by the book', but Eis simply held up The Plan like it was the only warrant they needed. The investigators quickly followed behind Oren, watching the mirror Elemental greet the pair like old friends and quickly sweeping everyone up in familiar beats. Kai Rose leaned on her connections with the court, boasting her accolades with the protections of the Sunset Prince, while Lucas flashed a winning smile and started recalling the Emeralds he routinely kept in close company. Gavin herded, chattering about the night life he could drag them into, the weirder places, while Oren was already on the phone and getting bodies on the street with his endless Rolodex of acquaintances. Their names started popping on lists in venues they shouldn't have been able to access without magic, and there was a certain thrill that it wasn't about being the Lost, but that they simply just had the connections to get it done.

A round of drinks were called. Who was the girl? She dropped enough information that it was clear she was part of the Freehold, but she wasn't allowed to be messing with the Strip and need to keep it low key. Whether she was joking about the curfew or not was left to carousing laughter as another round was slammed, filtering into the crush of a dance floor. Mitchell and the LA faun Hermia appeared at some point, tagged in by Komizucha. Eis dropped the question about the Bodhisattvas as a topic of academic curiosity, and the Queen of Gossip ping ponged questions with Lucas until the Ogre was flattered enough with the attention. He seemed to be under the impression that the Entitlement served the purpose of strengthening the Antler Crown by introducing explosive turns of fate, sending patterns into a chaotic energy of possibility that fed the power of the Season to further confound the Fae.

But it was Komizucha, so the explanation was something more akin to "we bring mortals and Lost out of ruts" and let the Autumn nerds apply their own opinions. He was either playing dumb or not really into giving more details beyond that, even with Hermia now recruited in learning the Freehold's secrets.

That's when Oren announced they were going to a cast party at the Nobu Hotel.

Was that a party bus?



The lack of balance on the bus was not the only indicator that things were getting tipsy. The stacking Spring courtiers bled their influence onto the bus with Oren's coworkers and associates, and one of the women revealed herself to be one of Alexandrite's masks. Eis was starting to flirt with Lucas, and created an intimidating bubble that batted back the circling mundies. Kai was doing athletic feats on one of the poles while Oren bent the attention back to them. As they split into groups and entered the penthouse, Gavin had his opening and nudged the pale Dancer Mitchell Carr about his growing power in the court while asking Alexandrite's experience with Knighthood—it must be difficult to uphold all those rites buried throughout the Freehold's defenses. Philicia had made the right call about the more nefarious duties, right? What did Komizucha think? In the din of all their celebration couched in mentorship duties, it was an innocuous enough question. Alex dismissed the weakness that poisoned the court with relying on dying traditions, where Mitchell was noticeably uncomfortable and prompting Komi to speak up on his adherence to the Old Laws under Lamassu's crown. They had a problem with the dead, so it became a necessity for Spring to inject life into their court with tapping into dreams: the other side of Spirit when it came to the elements of power. Bringing the strongest dreams into reality by weaving fate kept sustained them in a Freehold where the Low Seasons kept a pretty grim foundation.

Nimbus under his mortal mask greeted the crew with surprise, not realizing it was everyone's scene. He introduced Oren to a director and recommended the Elemental without question, getting the thumbs up from Kai. Gavin was drinking it in, not used to this many people acting like he belonged there and was collecting phone numbers. Lucas was noting everyone was getting diffused among the bodies and distracted from the small victories. Eis agreed, tapping The Plan—they needed a scene change that would clump them back together and get the Ogre to go deeper as a faster rate than just getting progressively drunker. It was easy to let go and just enjoy the company of their people than think back to Yasmin's melted face teeming with rotting life. The Snowskin's firm, icy hands started everyone from their corners. When did Oren get a tiger cub?  Kai, Alexandrite and Hermia were petting it with gusto, while Gavin found Komizucha's friend chatting up the shady trio that offered a better gambling scene...as long as they brought the ladies.

Komi's friend handed Gavin some dice with a wink.





A "Bugatti diva, or something" the Beast announced triumphantly, stumbling back to their table as he dangled the keys. They had run into a Masked Fawkes and Eurydice at some point, Kai and Oren recognizing them and drunkenly calling them over. At Graves' victory, the Elemental actually raised his eyebrows, before excusing himself to talk to a group of very angry looking gangsters while Eis stared them down with a glare that could peel paint. Kai bapped the former Sage Escort with one of the tiger's paws, snickering into his fur. A plate of The Good Shit had been handed around by Oren, Lucas losing the ten grand he had won five minutes ago. Komi's mysterious friend retrieved her dice with a devilish grin. They had lost Mitchell and Alexandrite somewhere between the penthouse party, and Komizucha was more candid without the nobility looking over his shoulder.  Did he know about the human sacrifices? Not in detail, but he knew some of the middle nobility were scared about the changes. Not because of greed, exclusively, but how Spring could punish them if they fell to the stagnation that the old regime choked the city with. There was some rumours about the practice of scapegoating, and it made sense of his Entitlement's charges (he looked visibly upset and offended when Gavin referred to them as 'projects') were being targeted. Worried, he provided a list of other names:

Chantelle Morris, her family had died in a car crash and she was left destitute and alone, her extended family blaming her own driving.
Peter Hennigar, who was the bus driver of that incident in fall that had not only hit that running hospital patient, but had fallen into a deep depression as two others were mutilated in the accident.
Calvin Martinez, who was a recovering addict who shifted his vice to gambling, which alienated his only family member who was willing to give him the time.

Did he know Damien? No, other than the fact that he worked for Piper. Yasmin had run into a trafficking situation and he had been supposedly tapped to help her. Komi had spun her fate a few times to keep her safe, apparently blind to the darker machinations taking place. Throughout the night, it had become clear that the Ogre had something slower about his countenance, but Kai quickly confirmed it wasn't related to any Arcadian sickness and more than likely a pre-existing head injury; he was very trusting and easily manipulated, his friend doing most of the work to keep them from harassing him to the point of upset.

The occultists put their heads together but even with their combined efforts, they couldn't predict what a failure in this ritual would result in. Nothing good. But no one seemed gung ho about sacrificing humanity for its potential either. It began to make sense that the rank and file would be largely ignorant to this practice, and it fall to the middle nobility. Had Yasmin popped simply because of Philicia's new decree?

Were the other three in imminent danger of being murdered for Midsummer? Was the alternative Yasmin's fate? They were big questions to ask when everyone was three sheets to the wind on varied levels of drugs and alcohol. But it had been very productive. The fact that Oren had nested the entire venture with changing clusters of other Lost, it was going to be extremely difficult to pinpoint their investigation team as a coordinated effort to peel back the dark mysteries of Spring's dirty laundry.