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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Jul 16, 2021 21:10:47 GMT -8
Lucas was in a mood. The last time the Fairest had felt this emotionally volatile was when he discovered that Yasmin was still alive. All of his plans back then had been mucked up because Gavin couldn't keep his mouth shut and had to prove to everyone he was the smartest person in this room. This time around the situation was deeply person. There was no escaping the cluster of rotten magic that had burrowed it's way inside of his heart, constantly serving as a reminder of Riley's betrayal. There were only a couple of individuals he wanted to talk to about it and that was because they were on a need-to-know basis. He didn't want to get into the knitty-gritty with them. While Fire wasn't on that particular Need to Know List, he had shifted her to another Need to Know List. Fire deserved to know that their partner was a scorpion who was wildly swinging their stinger around. Riley needed to be forced to face the consequences of their actions. No getting to keep secrets from their partner and waiting until they are by the court exit door before dropping a bomb. In the meantime, he needed to keep himself busy or else he was going to drive himself into a mad fit of rage. There was too much going on for him to sit around, cursing the Bright Ones name. There was one other Lost Lucas could think of offhand who he trusted wouldn't push to get more personal information out of him. Rowan struck him as the type who wanted to get down to business and make sense of whatever was going on. Plus, he was involved in the messy ordeal with the ghosts and was likely in need of a distraction. There was only one way to find out. Lucas had contacted Rowan and the two of them agreed to meet at Rowan's hollow. Around 9pm or so in the evening, there was a knock on the Darkling's door. Rowan |
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Post by Rowan on Jul 16, 2021 21:36:26 GMT -8
The door opened with a creaking sound, revealing the pine forest behind it. Rowan carefully looked around, making sure they were alone. Satisfied, he leaned against the frame and checked Lucas. "You look like shit," he said with a dead pan tone before pushing off the door and allowing his guest to come in. His little corner of the Hedge was seeing a lot of traffic lately and the Darkling was considering moving it somewhere new.
The walk back to the rotten cabin was silent. Rowan kept his hands in his pockets, too tired, or too preoccupied to even consider it a social faux-pas.
The interior was in better shape than the last time Lucas had visited, with signs of recent cleaning. There were new wooden coasters on the table and a bowl of fruit in the middle. The small cottage gave off a feeling of coziness in its small size. Rowan gestured to one of the chairs before sitting down himself. His Mantle spread across his place of power as he waited for Lucas to talk first. Petty would be one way of describing it. He still remembered how the Fairest had abandoned him when Linden tried to thug him, only to go talk to Riley, of all people.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Jul 16, 2021 21:45:51 GMT -8
"I've had better days."
He shrugged nonchalantly.
"We all have." He gave Rowan an appraising look but he didn't care enough to try and get a read on the Darklings emotions if Rowan was choosing to keep them under wraps. Neither of them seemed to be in the mood to engage in small talk to satisfy social decorum which was fine by him. He would rather get to the point and see if they could come up with some kind of business arrangement.
"Usually you're the one tapping me for my expertise, I have a need of yours at the moment. Well, maybe a need, but your skillset would be useful. As you're well aware, we are down our Sunbanishers." Lucas paused to let those words intentionally hang in the air while taking a seat the table.
"Everyone is running to Summer to keep themselves safe. Which we can all understand. However, I have my doubts on how discrete all of those new recruits are going to be in addition to their veterans being overwhelmed with training."
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Post by Rowan on Jul 16, 2021 22:14:22 GMT -8
"Want something to drink? I have water, cold brew, whisky."
He stood up and moved to the ice box without waiting for an answer. He would be able to hear anyway. He poured himself some cold brew and added a splash of cream. Skillset? He almost arched an eyebrow.
"My skills are what got me in this mess to begin with." What was Lucas' plan here? Leverage Rowan's guilt to make him do his dirty work? The Darkling was tempted to throw him out and be done with it. "I don't understand your tone." It was a statement, not an accusation. "What is this? Business? A favour?"
"Because I don't know what it is you think I do, but I'm just a janitor that happens to know just enough about the weird shit to get people killed."
He wasn't sure how he was supposed to act in this situation and his anxiety was rising. Maybe he came across a tad harsher than he had intended to. He took a sip of coffee, while waiting for Lucas' drink of choice.
It was an opportunity, maybe. One that was knowingly being delivered to him? A way to stack the odds in his favour for his trial. Did the Fairest think that far?
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Jul 16, 2021 22:37:14 GMT -8
"I'll take whiskey, thank you."
Lucas watched Rowan begin to fidget, his usual urge to soothe someone when they were anxious was lacking at the moment. Maybe a stiff drink would help him get back on track.
"Business. I'm not interested in bullshitting around or playing games, Rowan. There's been enough of that. You're more than "just a janitor."
The Fairest silently reflected on bits and pieces of information others had passed along to him. Kai's concern that Rowan was going to get himself killed because he was poking into Underworld matters. Except instead of getting himself killed, he got others killed it would appear. However, Lucas wasn't here to judge. The Fairest' ire was saved for another. He was more interested in shifting Rowan's poking around into a more productive direction.
"You came to me about the problems with Golden Boy. Simple Janitor's don't worry about sitting on time bombs or that "talk is cheap". " He said referencing one of the phrases Rowan used on Lucas when he was trying to spur Lucas into action.
"That tells me you prefer to be a man of action. You also told me you were able to see into Twilight too, it's a handy skill especially when we're trying to clean up a lot of messes that ghosts may complicate. As a Darkling, I'm sure you've got some tricks up your sleeve. Anyway, the point is that I'm looking to put together a crew to between our two courts to help clean up messes while the Sunbanisher's are out of commission. If Summer is in control of clean up duty on top of everything else, we're going to be entering a military state sooner than later. I could put a good word in for you to help with fostering good will with my court for your assistance. I can help reach the right ears to make sure your actions are noticed."
His voice was still largely guarded but the harshness was starting to fade the longer they talked and his voice softened after he mentioned the Sunbanisher's being out of commission.
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Post by Rowan on Jul 18, 2021 9:34:55 GMT -8
He poured the whisky, neat (mostly because he forgot to ask and didn’t want to ask again) and returned to sit in front of Lucas. He handed the etched old-fashioned glass over and leaned back into his chair. There was a creeping sensation that something was off with the Fairest. He wasn’t as smiley and bright-ey as he usually was.
Whatever, Rowan had other things to worry about.
The proposal was tempting, but his position was precarious. The last thing he needed was to do something stupid and make things worse.
[Wits + Politics + Specialization (Freehold) ‘Would Rowan get in trouble for working with Lucas on this?
Roll 5
1 success]
He swirled his own cup as he pondered.
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Post by Krakenbox on Jul 18, 2021 23:27:47 GMT -8
Right now the information is too vague. Did Lucas have the jurisdiction within his Court to cover Sun Banisher duties? Did he even have the relevant skills and training, or was he being a helpful volunteer taking this on himself? Really what it comes down to is that the Freehold would likely be excited with results and ruthless with failure—like a good Samaritan botching first aid and making the emergency worse than before.
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Post by Rowan on Jul 23, 2021 15:28:07 GMT -8
"Do you even have the clout to take on that job? Or the skills? 'Cuz I sure don't. If you fuck this up, it'll only make things worse."
"If you're trying to be a hero, or a concerned citizen, don't."
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Jul 23, 2021 15:36:44 GMT -8
Lucas reflects on the desperate state Fawkes was in when he visited him in his dreams. The deal he had tried to make was too much but perhaps they could work something out with a team that was involved, so Fawkes wouldn't work himself back to death once he woke up.
"I have an open line of communication with an authority within my court who would be able to grant me the authority to take on the duties.
I have several of the skill sets required but not all, hence why I am here. My thought is to put together a competent group who cover the skill sets needed and then contact said authority to see if it meets their requirements. If they give the thumbs down then I plan on leaving it at that. We would be reporting to that authority so you'll know who it is if we get the thumbs up. "
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Post by Rowan on Jul 23, 2021 15:47:34 GMT -8
There was a lot of things that were left unsaid. What skills? What authority? Fawkes was in a coma and Roger was MIA. Mitch had kept telling Rowan that he should trust other Freeholders, because collaboration was important and that they weren't predators to be fought off. But right now, the Darkling was finding it very hard to be warm and trusting.
"I'm in hot water already, Lucas. The last thing I need is to stick my nose into Winter's business when it doesn't belong there. You're giving me very little to work with, or to make a logical decision. I can't afford any more mistakes."
He had stated facts, things that didn't carry an emotional charge. He wasn't looking to blame anyone, but he also couldn't just accept the information he was given and rush off to help out when his neck was on the chopping block.
"How exactly do you think I could help?"
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Jul 26, 2021 2:54:17 GMT -8
"I understand. The party within my court who I am working with has expressed a desire for discretion as well. With everything going on, this isn't an effort I want to put our there to the Freehold at large or have the Freehold at large know I'm even looking to put together a group.
To help with easing the discomfort around the discretion, I am willing to create a Seal with you that has a ending condition on it. "
With the tension between the two of them fading, Lucas looked less guarded, and more exhausted than anything else. He reached up to rub his eyes before taking a drink of his whiskey.
When he spoke his voice had a touch of his usual friendliness and enthusiasm on it.
"We will both agree to not speak of your interest in participating in this matter to anyone else with the exception of the third party I have spoken of, who, I, as member of the Onyx court have credible reasons to believe said third party has the authority to sign off on us assisting with Sunbanisher matters. There's no obligation on your end to commit to anything in the meantime. When I check in with them next, I'll see if they are willing to share their name as part of recruitment efforts. "
He held a palm towards Rowan, indicating Lucas didn't need a response from Rowan in order to answer the question Rowan asked him.
"I bring a variety of skills to the table. I have established Goodwill with all of the Courts in the Freehold. I can tap them for leads and assistance if there are incidents that pop up in other court territories.
I also have a variety of skills that allow me to be discrete while gathering information, infiltrate mortal buildings and hubs of activity, and soon I will be able to infiltrate most mortal organizations.
One skill I already know you bring to the table is being an occult consultant. There are a lot of strange things that we come across here that I want to understand before I poke at them. If I'm not mistaken, you're even more connected with the magic of Autumn court than when we first spoke, yeah?"
The Fairest spoke in an encouraging manner while gesturing towards Rowan's mantle or at least he was doing a figurative gesture towards it. The Darklings mantle feels different than the last time they spoke. He dropped his hand back onto the table.
"I admit, this next part is more of a generalization. Since you're a Darkling I'm hoping you've got a few mirror contracts up your sleeve that will help with gathering information more that mundane means can't pick up on. The less time we have to run around figuring out what the heck happened and the better.
The last couple of pieces are likely something we need another party for. Contacts, allies within the medical and law enforcement communities , and computer skills are essential as well. "
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Post by Rowan on Jul 26, 2021 15:23:01 GMT -8
"I... have some bad news for you."
His palms were pressed together and pointing toward Lucas, in his best imitation of a meme.
"If we exclude my kith shifting ability, I know exactly one contract that can help with information gathering. I'm an occultist, yes, but I'm not an investigator." What he was was probably the worst Darkling ever. "I could help with sneaking and I'm the CEO of throwing hands though, if that helps."
To be honest, the monologue had been a little tedious. Rowan didn't care what Lucas could do, or thought he could do. If they worked together, he'd see it soon enough.
Rowan's involvement felt more and more like a pipe dream.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Jul 27, 2021 1:00:25 GMT -8
Ope.
Having someone who was combat capable was helpful. He was not expecting Rowan to be the CEO of throwing hands but this was why he wanted to gather information being making any proposals to Fawkes. Lucas leaned back in his chair looking contemplative while he took another sip of his whisky. He didn't sound discouraged when he spoke up again.
"Being able to throw hands is another role that I'm looking for. There's no shortage of violence these days and given that Fawkes helped run the underworld, I imagine a mortal is eventually going to get froggy to try and prove they should have Fawkes' job within the cartel. How savvy are you when it comes to being streetwise? "
What he also wanted to get a sense of was how interested Rowan actually was. He could work with someone who had some of the requirements he was looking for if their interest was strong enough that they would solider through shit hours and risky situations to help get the job done. Plus with everything not being on fire yet, they had time to scope out the streets, get a feel for what was going on, and work on filling in whatever gaps they had until they could get Fawkes back.
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Post by Rowan on Jul 27, 2021 17:23:09 GMT -8
"I'd have to check in with Icarus. I've given him enough of a headache, so I need to know that this isn't going to make things worse for him."
Wait. Rowan frowned at Lucas' words. "Why do we care about Fawkes' mortal life if we're doing the Sun Banisher's work? I know enough about the streets to know that the cartel has nothing to do with me and I don't think Loki would like us poking at it either."
He liked the plan less and less. Either the Fairest was really bad at explanations or he had no idea what he was doing.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Jul 27, 2021 17:40:58 GMT -8
Lucas sat his whiskey down after he was done observing Rowan. At this point it was like trying to fit a peg into a square hole. He couldn't fault Rowan for his hesitancy however he didn't want to take the time and energy to explain why certain skills were necessary when Rowan wasn't making any attempt to put the pieces together himself. Especially when Rowan didn't have the skill set he had been hoping for to begin with.
"I get it, under your current circumstances having a name and more concrete things would be helpful. Unfortunately, it's not something I can really expand on at the moment.
I appreciate your willingness to hear me out and the drink all the same. I'll keep you in mind if I need an occult consultation. The other stuff is more complicated and the last thing you need at the moment is more complications in your life. "
His voice remained friendly and he offered Rowan an empathetic look.
"I don't want to keep you from the rest of your evening. If there's anything I can do to assist you in the future, feel free to reach out. You heard me out tonight so the least I can do is hear you out in return. "
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