Edge Town-City of Light

Church Boys

Brynja was, indeed, a creature of the Nevernever. As soon as the nine-pointed circle of light settled around the moose, she transformed back into a human shape, very much like the one she'd used earlier, except with a different hair color. And she was laughing again.

"Oh, this feels familiar. I haven't been inside one of these in centuries! You set that up quite fast. Well done, well done indeed!"

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Alex and Anne

Delilah, maybe sensing that Anna was a bit on edge, maybe just using a little bit of that anticipation of hers, cleared her throat and spoke:

"Boss, considering what you just got involved in, maybe mailing Samson's lieutenants back in pieces might not be the wisest thing. Plus, you'd probably greatly annoy the mail service."

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Jarl

As soon as Geri started walking out of sight, Jarl went over and scratched Tjalfe behind the ears. "Hey, no need to get yourself killed on my account, boy. Be a little careful who you sneer at, yeah?" His display of affection totally wasn't covering over the fact that his hands were shaking. Nope, not at all. It's not like he just stood face to face with a wolf in human's clothing. Especially not one that could, and would, eat his face without giving it a second thought.

"Well, looks like I'm going hunting for my sister. And here I was, hoping to keep her far away from all this."

Tim stared at her, keeping his Will hard and his voice was pressed. "I hope this means we can agree that the martial elements of this get together have been sufficiently performed?"

Alexander

Alexander blinked, innocent as you please.

"What? Oh, no—I was just going to drop him off a few blocks away."

He was being honest. He didn't have a better idea. He'd have liked to get Alain drunk, or blindfold him, or do anything to make it harder for Samson to know where Alexander was staying, but...well, there was only so many ways you could walk a french giant through a hotel. The best he could do is make sure Jesse got them all a new place to stay by tomorrow.

Terry's teeth clicked on empty air as Brynja abruptly became bipedal. Well, that wasn't a resolution he was expecting but he would sure take it. He knew there was a reason he kept all these wizards around.

Shifting back into human and into his clothes with the ease of long practice made it easier for him to give Brynja a dirty look.

Church Boys

Brynja shrugged, sitting down cross-legged on the church floor, stretching her arms like she was just catching a break. She looked at Terry with a gleam in her eye. "Oh, right. I keep forgetting most mortals still haven't quite mastered the art of shapeshifting clothes, too. I think you deliberately try and avoid it. That way, you always have a plausible excuse to drop your pants."

She looked around at the circle with a supremely bored expression. "Good work, for a novice. I think I see a little bit of the Allfather's work here. Not that that's altogether surprising."

"Well, I will take the compliment. Maybe we can meet again in two hundred years and you might critique how my technique evolved." Tim countered drily. "And I have managed to secure some constructive advice in the past, yes."

Terry's irritation with this chick's illusions and general fuckery was momentarily derailed by sheer bafflement. "Why in God's name would anyone choose to stop having access to pockets if they could just keep them?"

Leon staggered over to the now bound in a circle jotun, still cradling his ribs. Or the shattered remnants of what were once his ribs, he wasn't really sure. He contemplated saying something, but breathing was painful enough already. So he just kind of glared sullenly.

Alex

Alain was still where he was before, perfectly calm and still chained up. He looked no less imposing sitting down, but the whole gesture was somewhat undercut by the fact that he was tied up.

"Hello. It has been a while." His English, however, was still pretty stilted.

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Church Boys

The jotun was still laughing when Leon eventually joined them, although by then it had at least somewhat begun to settle down. Instead, she just sat down, crossed-legged, inside the circle, resting her head on a closed fist. Terry's commentary elicited a raised eyebrow.

"Someone with the Allfather's attention who doesn't like having excuses to drop his pants? This really is a different time." She looked around the circle one more time, then locked eyes with Tim. "And how long do you suppose you'll keep me in here?"

"Well, unless we can come to an agreement to cease hostilities I have to assume until we find a solution." Tim stopped for a second as an idea came to him. A jotun, as powerful as they were, were still not creatures of the Real World. They were of the Nevernever.

Option I: Keep her in there until she runs out of juice enough to maintain her bodily form from ectoplasm. But I doubt she's weak enough for that to happen fast or she'd already shown signs.

Option II: Do something that speeds the process along.

"I assume this is still not on the table? If not...Terrance, would you be so kind to see if there is a Priest somewhere around?"

Edited by 3of4 on Apr 22nd 2019 at 11:24:58 AM

Abandoning half-formed thoughts of Viking strippers, Terry made an analyst's salute and trotted off to go find Brynja some badly-needed Jesus.

Jarl

A minute or so later, Jarl was standing next to a battered, but functional pay-phone outside the library, listening to Sofie’s cellphone play its “voicemail is full” sound for the second time in a row.

Beside him, Bruno was sipping a mug of coffee he’d bought to get the coins to operate it, and trying to convince Tjalfe, who still looked a little restless and snappy, to accept a ham croissant.

“Hejsa! I can’t pick up right now—I’m probably in class, or out on a gig. Leave me a message, and I’ll get back to you!” Sofie’s voice chattered over the line again, before the payphone let out a statticky beep, and a robotic voice came in with “Message inbox is full!”

She’d been with Lilaine last—and Lilaine had given Jarl her number. Or he could call one of her bandmates.

Alexander

“Sadly, looks like your time with us is up.” Alexander began. “I’m sending you back to avoid overdue fees.”

He stopped a few steps away, hand on the knife strapped to his belt.

“Delilah? I don’t really think we have much to say to each other. I’ve got a business meeting. Can you handle him?”

Edited by DrTentacles on Apr 23rd 2019 at 1:14:11 PM

Jarl

After nearly a year where he hadn't talked to her, it felt a mite hypocritical to get all worried about Sofie not answering her phone, and yet Jarl couldn't help but feel a profound sense of unease after a while. This usually wasn't like her. But then, he'd been away a while.

He considered calling Lilaine for a second, and then immediately changed his mind when he realized that, oh yeah, Sofie hadn't come here alone, and he had most of her bandmates' phone numbers. Instead, he just dialed one of those, trying not to show his creeping frustration too much.

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Alex

Delilah nodded. "You can go to your meeting with a clear conscience, boss. I'll make sure he finds his way home without causing anyone any trouble."

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Church Boys

Brynja, in that moment, stood up, giving Tim a look like he'd just said the funniest thing she'd heard all week. "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. The get of Laufey said you'd be the smart one. And yet, you seem so very, very stupid."

The church had been empty before the gang arrived, and every exit was still covered in enough ice to make any kind of hasty exit a fool's errand if ever there was one. More importantly, though, Tim suddenly started to feel an immense pressure on the circle. While magic circles were designed to hold supernatural creatures, there was really only so much structural integrity you could pull out of something that was, essentially, a projected hologram.

What it wasn't designed for, or at least, what it was very quickly proving somewhat insufficient at doing on its own, was hold a Jotunn. There was a moment when a little of the power Brynja was throwing at the wall leaked through, and the force of will she exerted reminded Tim and Leon both, to an unfortunate degree, of the late Winter Lady Maeve.

Edited by math792d on Apr 23rd 2019 at 8:10:50 PM

Tim threw his own Force at Will against hers, trying to pluck the holes as fast as they appeared. "Maybe I can make a smart choice if you actually start to talk instead of just flexing your muscles?" He hissed. "Because I feel like I'm talking more to an Aesir than a Jotunn here!"

Alexander

Alexander nodded, pleased, pulling out his phone to text Jesse and inform his sibling that they were in charge, then went to gather Ms Wagner and go meet Rodriguez

Jarl

A few coins later, and Sofie’s bassist picked up on the other end of the line, a friendly, somewhat nasal danish accent crackling over the old phone.

“Leif? You’re looking for Sofie—uh—” There was a long, pregnant pause. “Um. Can I take a message?”

Edited by DrTentacles on Apr 23rd 2019 at 10:14:38 AM

"If I start biting her in important places is that going to fuck with the circle?" Terry asked in a tone of mild curiosity. "Because if she's not inclined to talk things out like a normal person I guess we just gotta keep violencing at her."

Terrance wasn't the only one tempted to inflict pain on the jotun while she was trapped in the holographic circle, but Leon wasn't voicing those thoughts. He double checked his foci to make sure they were fully secure as Tim continued to keep the circle strong. Though that surge of power from her was intimidating, it even vaguely reminded him of Maeve but that might just be the fact they were both winter themed. Lots of power though.

"You feel like Maeve. And given all this you're probably just as unreasonable as her. Great. Or well as she used to be."

He hisses in pain after he forces himself to speak.

Edited by Kosjurake on Apr 24th 2019 at 5:48:25 AM

Jarl

Jarl recognized the voice, and at least that calmed him down. It was nice, hearing the voice of someone he'd practically grown up with. "Look, normally I'd say yes, but just between the two of us, there's something bad going on in this town, and I'd rather know where she is right now. You know anything?"

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Alex and Anne

It took a little while before Rodriguez sent a message for a meeting point, though he was at least kind enough to offer an elaboration in text: "It took a little longer than expected to secure something private." He texted them an address in Montmartre that, if searched, just showed up as a residential area, though it provided no information on the tenants.

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Church Boys

Tim felt rather like a leaky dam trying to hold a tsunami at bay. Every time it felt like he'd plugged some gap in his defenses, another opened, then another, and another, and another-

And when the dam broke the last time, there was nothing. As soon as the magic of the circle had broken, it was empty, and more laughing echoed from every side of the church.

"Mortals, typical. They get in one confrontation with a puppet on a string and they think they've defeated the puppetmaster!" More laughing.

Tim just gave the ceiling a deeply tired look. "Are we going to have a conversation now or not? Because this is starting to feel far too playful for anything else." And yes, he gave Leon a apologetic look over his rips.

Edited by 3of4 on Apr 28th 2019 at 9:43:29 PM

Terry gave Leon a concerned look. "You wanna maybe take a breather? I don't think it really takes all three of us to listen to this chick smugging about." It wasn't that he genuinely thought that a shapeshifting illusionist wasn't a threat, but Terry didn't believe in openly respecting people who were being such chodes about it. And he was concerned about that hit Leon took. Moose were no joke.

"I don't trust her not to get my other ribs if I just relax."

Leon eyed the spot she had just vanished from, vaguely regretting not throwing a spell at her the moment the circle dropped, but she had certainly moved by now. Though he was a lot more on guard about getting suddenly moosed. If Tim was any indication from earlier using the Sight would backfire in one way or another.

Still standing in the middle of the floor had proven to be a bad option because it had provided too many angles of attack from the shapeshifting invisible nonindicatively named frost giant. So, Leon started heading towards a wall to put his back to. While keeping an eye and ear open for attacks on his person, his will simmering in his left hand ready to form a shield.

Jarl

There was another stretch of silence from the phone after Jarl’s question, seconds where static battled for attention with the soft french of Bruno trying to charm Tjalfe in the background.

Something was up. There was no other explanation.

Just as Jarl thought Sofie’s bandmate wasn’t going to reply, his voice came crackling back. He sounded nervous.

“Shit. Um. A. Leif—promise me you're going to stay calm, alright?—” The voice began, then paused again. The next few words came in a breathless rush. “She’s fine—I mean—I think—it’s just that—ah—Sofiegotpickedupbythepoliceinajazzclublastnight.”

Alexander

Alexander didn’t have time to prepare like he was paranoid. He grabbed his camera bag and stolen pistol, hid the knife he’d bought from Roberto in a leg holster, and gathered Ms Wagner. Then he set out in the rented car they’d been using to find Rodriguez, leaving Jesse in charge of the hotel. All sorts of clocks were ticking in the background.

Edited by DrTentacles on Apr 30th 2019 at 1:45:50 PM

Jarl

There was a naked pause, at first, followed by a flash of concern. Why'd she gotten picked up by the cops? She hadn't done anything in that club, why'd the Paris police pick up some random jazz musician? Why'd the police be holding her for more than day?

Then, that concern became anger. There was an audible blast of static as Jarl punched the wall next to the payphone, and soon after, the stalwart electronic device had suffered a sudden, terminal case of death, the speaker delivering nothing but hissing static. The temperature had also spontaneously sunk a couple of degrees.

He walked back out, his mind still racing, although it did calm a little at Bruno and Tjalfe's antics. He even ruffled Tjalfe behind the ears. After all, it wasn't the wolf's fault he was now going to have to punch out the Paris authorities. "I'm afraid I'm gonna need my friend back now."

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Alex and Anne, Montmartre, Paris◊

Montmartre was very different compared to the rest of Paris. While most of the City of Lights looked like any large city in Europe, with large modern construction on the outskirts covering up the shell of a well-preserved cultural history inside, Montmartre felt like a city within a city, a small provincial town with local shops and restaurants, small cosy apartments and cafés right in the heart of the city.

It was something of a steep climb, though. The inconspicous apartment building they'd been invited to also looked inconspicous from the outside. Really, on the inside too. It looked like the kind of home a particularly devout middle-aged couple might have made for themselves, full of devotional icons, painted replicas of the stained glass windows of the Notre Dame and other miscellany on an otherwise perfectly serviceable apartment.

Sebastián Rodriguez was also the only man inside. There was not a bodyguard or a personal assistant in sight. Instead, he was sitting in front of a cross, holding an intricately carved set of rosary beads.

"Ah. My apologies, I thought I would have a little longer. By all means, come inside." The Spaniard stood back up and brushed dust off his legs.

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Church Boys

"Oh, but we are. Or were you not listening to the sage wisdom I've been providing, Timotheus von Hochberg?" The woman appeared, looking the same as she had when trapped within the circle, sitting on one of the church rafters. The voice was still echoing around the room. "If you were paying attention, I've already given you more information than you had when we started this little adventure. Listen up, and you might just get more."

Edited by math792d on Apr 30th 2019 at 8:03:38 PM

Tim made a nonchalant gesture to the church seatings. "Shall we sit or do you prefer to stay up there?" He asked politely.

Edited by 3of4 on Apr 30th 2019 at 8:13:29 PM

Alexander

Safehouses in residential neighborhoods were always a gamble. On one hand, it was a lot harder to sneak a kill-team into somewhere with a nice little homeowners association. On the other, you had to deal with nosey neighbors who might complain strange hours, or alarming noises. Personally, Alexander had never been a fan. It felt a little too much like “involving innocents” for his taste. There was a difference between a corrugated steel shack in the bad part of town, and a place where kids slept.

Alexander glanced around for the tenth time this walk, hoping he could get rid of the itch between his shoulderblades. It would have been nice if he could have brought the car closer.

When the door opened, he nodded in greeting to Sebastian, eyebrows furrowing in a frown.

“Ciao.” He replied, trying to make sense of the decor.

Is this his house? Or a religious retreat?

“Thank you,” He replied, stepping inside. He almost hesitated—it looked like the sort of place that might have a strong threshold, but he’d been invited.

As he took off his jacket, he tried to get a better view of the house, still hoping to figure out what this place was to his...benefactor.