MagicPenguin
One Thousand Club
Roland Fairchild
Lock Tavern Bar and Venue -> Roof Stage Area
The group spent the time before Elena's show catching up and swapping stories about their first month on Earth. He laughed so hard that his drink nearly came flying out of his nose when Roland heard the story of Arryn and Daniel's first night on Earth; Daniel chuckled along with him, but, despite Arryn's attempt to hide his humiliation behind his usual neutral mask, he couldn't stop the crimson from coloring his cheeks. Roland could only imagine the shock on those police officers' faces at finding them all tied up like kinky BDSM fetishists. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall of that interrogation room. All things considered, though, the three of them had done a far sight better than he and Marcus had at surviving Earth that day, thanks in no small part to Elena's help.
"Don't feel too bad. Our first few nights were not nearly so successful. We spent an obscene amount of money in an expensive B&B for a week, not realizing how much we actually wasted until it was too late, and after that, before we found our place, we spent a few nights sleeping in parks and alleyways. It was not a good time, as I'm sure Marcus could tell you." The boy was lost in thought; Roland wasn't sure if he even heard what Roland was saying. A little annoyed, he continued on, "We looked for information about you two and Lucrezia in bars all across London. It's very fortunate that Elena was there to help you through the process of getting ID; we ended up getting ours from a shady forger we met in one of our bar crawls. They're accurate and useful for the most part, but if we ever found ourselves arrested or in a hospital, where people would take a closer look, we would find ourselves in hot water very quickly. So, you see, Arryn, there's no need to look so embarrassed, my friend. You've adjusted far better than we have."
Arryn just looked even more uncomfortable. "Right..." he said, noncommittally, his green eyes roaming to the floor. Roland didn't know how it was possible, but Arryn might actually have become even MORE uptight than he was on Aether. A wonder, that.
Roland tried to learn a bit about Elena, but she was fairly self-contained, sticking to one word answers and quiet smiles. He sensed a bit of lonely sadness from her, which he supposed was only natural. These three had come to depend on her in many ways and now that they'd all met up again, she must think they would forget all about her. He didn't think they would--he could tell that she had become a very important person to Arryn, Daniel, and Ana, all three of them--but he wondered if it wouldn't be better for everyone if they actually did. They wouldn't be on Earth for much longer anyway, and hanging around with them would only put her in unnecessary danger, whether she took their true mission seriously or not. Worse, he could tell from the way Arryn and Daniel glanced at her when they didn't think she was looking that they were both smitten, to various degrees. If Lucrezia found out about that, it would become a weakness, a vulnerability. It put not only Elena herself in danger, but if the witch used her as a hostage as she used Ophelia against him at Blackrock, Elena would jeopardize their mission, putting himself and his friends in deadly danger as well. Roland would have to find a way to put a stop to the burgeoning feelings, at the very least. He felt some shame at the callous thought, given she seemed like a nice girl, but, knowingly or not, she was an obstacle, and he couldn't let his enemies have any advantage, couldn't let anything get in the way of killing Lucrezia. Instead of voicing this idea, though, he tried to shoot her a reassuring smile, doing his best not to let any of his pity for her or his friends, nor any of his worry about her, show too clearly. He would have to find the time to have a private chat with her later.
Their friendly chatter was cut off when a man came and whispered in Elena's ear and beckoned her upstairs, so the group followed Elena to the roof of the building, where the stage took up about a third of the place's surface area. The rest of the roof was occupied by a dance floor, several tables, and an open bar. Elena hastened off to the stage, where a group of musicians were waiting for her. Roland led the rest of the Aetherians to a large table where they could eat, drink, and converse while they listened to her performance. She had a decidedly nice singing voice, he decided; Arryn and Daniel, wide-eyed and slackjawed, looked completely enraptured by her, as if they were Ulysses and she were a siren trying to lead their ship to its rocky doom. His mouth gave a wry twist at the potential aptness of that comparison, even if the poor girl didn't actually know that's what she might be doing.
He put that out of his mind; now that they were alone, it was time to get down to business with his Aetherian companions. Roland fished the drawing of Lucrezia he'd done before he came here out of his backpack.
"Take a good look at this, everyone. This is Lucrezia, exactly as I remember her from our attack on Blackrock. I didn't have time to color this, but the most distinctive things about her to me were her yellow eyes; they seem to pierce you, pin you to the floor and hold you where you stand. Suss out all your secrets and all your fears at once. It is...unsettling to have her look at you. Of course, she probably looks far different on Earth, but who knows? Maybe she knew some way to keep herself in her true form, with all her true powers. Keep an eye out for any human who looks even remotely like this, in any case."
"...I see," put in Daniel Payne, the first thing he'd said since the group met together. "Have you found anyone that looks like that yourself, my prince? Or anyone who might serve as her accomplices?"
"I'm glad you asked," Roland said with a confident smile.
Roland told them all about finding Silver in the tattoo parlor, going over every part of his day that had led up to that. "I intend to follow her until she leads me to Lucrezia," he said in conclusion. "She must have allies in this world, and I will track them all down until they lead me to my target."
Arryn took on a thoughtful look as he listened to the whole story. He adopted that pensive stare and the curious twist to his mouth that Roland remembered so well on his Aetherian form. It looked younger on his new face, but no less potent for it. It meant that he was thinking things through from every angle in his usual way, going over Roland's plan again and again in his mind. Arryn's thoughtful, cautious nature was something Roland had always admired about him and something he relied on him heavily for. He did things slowly sometimes, which, along with his size, often made others think him slow-witted. In reality, though, his level-headed, deliberate way of approaching problems made him one of the most brilliant strategic minds Roland knew of. He'd take Arryn's advice over some of Alcamoth's most decorated generals' nine times out of ten.
"A problem, Arryn?"
"No..." he said thoughtfully after some time. "It's a good plan. Uncharacteristically careful, really. It's just...maybe you're not the best person to do the sneaking around. Not when we have someone like The Spider working with us. If we need a spy who's good at gathering information and not getting caught while doing it, we should look to Ana."
Roland chose not to respond to the 'uncharacteristically careful' part--more like Arryn was just sometimes TOO cautious--and looked to Ana, who had been very quiet to that point. She was throwing furtive glances around the rooftop venue as if scanning for threats and planning out emergency escape routes. Old habits died hard, he supposed.
"Not a bad suggestion, actually. Anastasia, what do you think? You can follow me to work on Monday and I can point out Silver for you. Can you follow her around and find all her contacts without getting caught?"
koala
LoneSniper87
WillfulWren
ReverseTex
Lock Tavern Bar and Venue -> Roof Stage Area
The group spent the time before Elena's show catching up and swapping stories about their first month on Earth. He laughed so hard that his drink nearly came flying out of his nose when Roland heard the story of Arryn and Daniel's first night on Earth; Daniel chuckled along with him, but, despite Arryn's attempt to hide his humiliation behind his usual neutral mask, he couldn't stop the crimson from coloring his cheeks. Roland could only imagine the shock on those police officers' faces at finding them all tied up like kinky BDSM fetishists. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall of that interrogation room. All things considered, though, the three of them had done a far sight better than he and Marcus had at surviving Earth that day, thanks in no small part to Elena's help.
"Don't feel too bad. Our first few nights were not nearly so successful. We spent an obscene amount of money in an expensive B&B for a week, not realizing how much we actually wasted until it was too late, and after that, before we found our place, we spent a few nights sleeping in parks and alleyways. It was not a good time, as I'm sure Marcus could tell you." The boy was lost in thought; Roland wasn't sure if he even heard what Roland was saying. A little annoyed, he continued on, "We looked for information about you two and Lucrezia in bars all across London. It's very fortunate that Elena was there to help you through the process of getting ID; we ended up getting ours from a shady forger we met in one of our bar crawls. They're accurate and useful for the most part, but if we ever found ourselves arrested or in a hospital, where people would take a closer look, we would find ourselves in hot water very quickly. So, you see, Arryn, there's no need to look so embarrassed, my friend. You've adjusted far better than we have."
Arryn just looked even more uncomfortable. "Right..." he said, noncommittally, his green eyes roaming to the floor. Roland didn't know how it was possible, but Arryn might actually have become even MORE uptight than he was on Aether. A wonder, that.
Roland tried to learn a bit about Elena, but she was fairly self-contained, sticking to one word answers and quiet smiles. He sensed a bit of lonely sadness from her, which he supposed was only natural. These three had come to depend on her in many ways and now that they'd all met up again, she must think they would forget all about her. He didn't think they would--he could tell that she had become a very important person to Arryn, Daniel, and Ana, all three of them--but he wondered if it wouldn't be better for everyone if they actually did. They wouldn't be on Earth for much longer anyway, and hanging around with them would only put her in unnecessary danger, whether she took their true mission seriously or not. Worse, he could tell from the way Arryn and Daniel glanced at her when they didn't think she was looking that they were both smitten, to various degrees. If Lucrezia found out about that, it would become a weakness, a vulnerability. It put not only Elena herself in danger, but if the witch used her as a hostage as she used Ophelia against him at Blackrock, Elena would jeopardize their mission, putting himself and his friends in deadly danger as well. Roland would have to find a way to put a stop to the burgeoning feelings, at the very least. He felt some shame at the callous thought, given she seemed like a nice girl, but, knowingly or not, she was an obstacle, and he couldn't let his enemies have any advantage, couldn't let anything get in the way of killing Lucrezia. Instead of voicing this idea, though, he tried to shoot her a reassuring smile, doing his best not to let any of his pity for her or his friends, nor any of his worry about her, show too clearly. He would have to find the time to have a private chat with her later.
Their friendly chatter was cut off when a man came and whispered in Elena's ear and beckoned her upstairs, so the group followed Elena to the roof of the building, where the stage took up about a third of the place's surface area. The rest of the roof was occupied by a dance floor, several tables, and an open bar. Elena hastened off to the stage, where a group of musicians were waiting for her. Roland led the rest of the Aetherians to a large table where they could eat, drink, and converse while they listened to her performance. She had a decidedly nice singing voice, he decided; Arryn and Daniel, wide-eyed and slackjawed, looked completely enraptured by her, as if they were Ulysses and she were a siren trying to lead their ship to its rocky doom. His mouth gave a wry twist at the potential aptness of that comparison, even if the poor girl didn't actually know that's what she might be doing.
He put that out of his mind; now that they were alone, it was time to get down to business with his Aetherian companions. Roland fished the drawing of Lucrezia he'd done before he came here out of his backpack.
"Take a good look at this, everyone. This is Lucrezia, exactly as I remember her from our attack on Blackrock. I didn't have time to color this, but the most distinctive things about her to me were her yellow eyes; they seem to pierce you, pin you to the floor and hold you where you stand. Suss out all your secrets and all your fears at once. It is...unsettling to have her look at you. Of course, she probably looks far different on Earth, but who knows? Maybe she knew some way to keep herself in her true form, with all her true powers. Keep an eye out for any human who looks even remotely like this, in any case."
"...I see," put in Daniel Payne, the first thing he'd said since the group met together. "Have you found anyone that looks like that yourself, my prince? Or anyone who might serve as her accomplices?"
"I'm glad you asked," Roland said with a confident smile.
Roland told them all about finding Silver in the tattoo parlor, going over every part of his day that had led up to that. "I intend to follow her until she leads me to Lucrezia," he said in conclusion. "She must have allies in this world, and I will track them all down until they lead me to my target."
Arryn took on a thoughtful look as he listened to the whole story. He adopted that pensive stare and the curious twist to his mouth that Roland remembered so well on his Aetherian form. It looked younger on his new face, but no less potent for it. It meant that he was thinking things through from every angle in his usual way, going over Roland's plan again and again in his mind. Arryn's thoughtful, cautious nature was something Roland had always admired about him and something he relied on him heavily for. He did things slowly sometimes, which, along with his size, often made others think him slow-witted. In reality, though, his level-headed, deliberate way of approaching problems made him one of the most brilliant strategic minds Roland knew of. He'd take Arryn's advice over some of Alcamoth's most decorated generals' nine times out of ten.
"A problem, Arryn?"
"No..." he said thoughtfully after some time. "It's a good plan. Uncharacteristically careful, really. It's just...maybe you're not the best person to do the sneaking around. Not when we have someone like The Spider working with us. If we need a spy who's good at gathering information and not getting caught while doing it, we should look to Ana."
Roland chose not to respond to the 'uncharacteristically careful' part--more like Arryn was just sometimes TOO cautious--and looked to Ana, who had been very quiet to that point. She was throwing furtive glances around the rooftop venue as if scanning for threats and planning out emergency escape routes. Old habits died hard, he supposed.
"Not a bad suggestion, actually. Anastasia, what do you think? You can follow me to work on Monday and I can point out Silver for you. Can you follow her around and find all her contacts without getting caught?"
koala
LoneSniper87
WillfulWren
ReverseTex
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