[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/A0ETWbS.png[/img][/center] [sub]banner credit to [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/users/hellis]Hellis[/url][/sub] [hr] [b]Time: Present Day - Night Location: Paris, France[/b] Vienna had her tired feet up in the reclining chair, black frizzy long hair out of its bun. She was half dozing in front of the tv with an American reality show on. English speaking humans fighting over something she could barely understand, it was interrupted by a commercial for exercise equipment. Vienna had made some effort to understand French but English seemed absolutely pointless. She didn’t much care for what was happening on the television but simply liked sitting in front of it. The cozy little den was [i]her[/i] space, immaculately clean. Comfortable. Warm sunset orange painted the walls and the carpet had no stains, soft as if it had been recently shampooed. A handwoven blanket was draped across her lap, a glass of warm milk on the end table beside her. Vienna let herself drift. The chores had all been done for the day and she had no real idea when Odette would be coming home. Most days were like this when the master of the household was away. The household Fey let out a long yawn, it was cut short by the arrival of Odette. Vienna knew as soon as she arrived on the rooftop of the building, footsteps crossing the garden above her. Her eyes focused, she pulled back the blanket and turned off the tv. All the drowsiness disappeared. She bustled out of her den heading straight up to greet them. She stepped through the doors to the outdoor terrace, night air greeting her with a cool breeze, “[color=peru][i]My Lady, Bach, Mandate. Welcome home.[/i][/color]” Speaking in Common Fey. Vienna immediately noticed the awful mess that was her Lady. Covered in dirt from head to toe, Odette looked as if she had rolled in a mud pile. It wasn’t often she saw her as disheveled as she was now. Mandate even looked like she could use a rinse off, not much of anything really [i]settled[/i] on the golem. “[color=peru][i]If My Lady would like, I can run her a bath.[/i][/color]” Vienna offered, allowing them to trudge pass. Odette quietly replied, “[color=thistle][i]Please.[/i][/color]” The household Fey nodded curtly once then went straight to preparing the bath. Odette followed behind her, stripping tenderly while the blue and purple bruise on her back throbbed with the movement. She scrubbed off the worst of the grime, washed out the soil from her hair then removed any makeup still on her face in the shower. Then stepped into the bath mixed with epsom salts and fragrant lavender oils. She sunk down into the claw footed porcelain tub with a drawn out sigh. Vienna stood by waiting to be dismissed, “[color=peru][i]Is there anything else-[/i][/color]” “[color=thistle][i]A glass of cranberry juice and my tablet please. Prepare a healing spell for my back. I want that ugly bruise gone. When I’m out of the bath please be sure to have the files that goblin dropped off on my bed, I want to read them before I go to sleep.[/i][/color]” Vienna bowed her head, “[color=peru][i]Yes, milady. That funny little goblin didn’t accept the extra loaf of bread either.[/i][/color]” Odette’s chapped lips pulled back into a tight line, “[color=thistle]Zut.[/color]” Vienna tilted her head at that word, “[color=peru][i]Is something amiss, milady?[/i][/color]” Odette shimmied further up to her chin into the water. Dismissively she said, “[color=thistle][i]That remains to be seen.[/i][/color]” Vienna bowed again then hurried off leaving Odette to contemplate on her own. As Vienna let the door close behind her, Odette sighed again submerging herself completely underwater. The warmth of the water a stark contrast to the underwater trip to [i]Ville d’Ys[/i], the sorceress held no regrets for putting Lassantra back in her place, even so shortly after she had helped her with divining the mysteries behind the White Witch. What she did regret was not seeing through Titania’s ruse. She was back on the playing board, while her bargain had smoothed out some previous wrinkles in their association. Queen Titania was a horrible wrench in the works in the bigger picture. But now, she had a piece of Solomon’s Cube, guaranteeing her slice of power from the artifact and a favour from The Broker. Give a little and gain a lot. She needed to review all those nasty prophecies in depth, tear them apart and pull more concrete interpretations from them. Connect Puck’s Prophecy and what the oracle said. Then try to decipher Titania’s rare prophecy. Odette couldn’t remember the last time Titania had prophesied anything, let alone anything in the past century. Odette reemerged from the water in time for Vienna to return. Placing the juice and tablet aside Vienna went about healing the sore muscles and tender bruises first, in her hands was a thick green paste. Vienna spoke the healing spell and visibly Odette’s back muscles relaxed unknotting itself. Without a word when the spell was complete Vienna passed Odette a hand towel to dry her hands. Tablet in hand and a sip of juice Odette went to searching the news for the results of the fight in Lost Haven’s Chinatown, not willing to wait for Captain Esen to report back to her. One article she skimmed through, [quote][i]-Both combatants, one known as War Pulse and his target - an unknown woman in the metal mask had collapsed. Upon the authorities arrival, her body had disappeared. Multiple social media livestreams and eye witness accounts confirm a unidentifiable vehicle arrived shortly after the fight was finished. Taking the body of the woman away.[/i][/quote] Odette checked several online news sites swiping left and right. She watched the fight closely from grainy low quality cellphone videos. Reading through the Twitter hashtags. It wasn’t clear who had taken Racheli away, she’d have to double check with Jacque, her main contact for The Shroud Syndicate here in Paris. He would know the details if they had scooped up the metahuman. Even if it was… the results of the fight confused her. She pulled keywords and timelines of the fight aside to save them away under some notes, screenshots of the fight, etc. Setting the tablet aside she finished off her drink and relaxed in the bath for another hour. When she finished she pulled on a pale pink soft silk robe, carefully towelling her blue hair dry. Exiting the ensuite bathroom into her bedroom, crossing from heated tiles to hardwood floor. Large king sized bed awaited her expertly made up by Vienna with the envelope presumably from Lekh on the bed. Changing into a sleepers tank top and pajama shorts she settled under the blankets turning on the lamp beside her. Pulling out the files she saw immediately the extensive research he had done. Reading through his handwritten summary, neat and tidy. Easy to read, no grammatical errors or spelling errors. Bundled with the write up was newspaper clippings, old medical history including her time spent in the CDC as of this year, copies of school records, employment history. Racheli Desdemona’s history in her hands. She flipped through the pages unable to hide the smile of satisfaction. She stopped on the photo of Michael Garth staring wide eyed. The very same face Racheli’s virus projection wore, [i]her father’s[/i] face. Her smile grew wider. Lekh was successful in releasing Racheli’s father from confinement and now she [i]knew[/i] exactly what she sent to an unsuspecting Racheli. Her father was a monster stalking around in human skin and it was just such a delightful coincidence that Racheli’s virus appeared to her and others as her horrifying father. This information was [i]invaluable[/i]. With this she’ll surely be able to tear Racheli apart at the seams. This meant Lekh had more than earned his payment, she’d need to work on something else to reward him. Rereading the summary again she placed the papers back in the envelope then moved it to the end table, turning off the lamp. She settled into to sleep, tired but satisfied. [hider=Mentions] [@MelonHead]: Read Lekh’s report - intends to visit him soon to pay him. [@NeutralNexus]: Fully aware of the the fight between Racheli and War Pulse now, intends to touch base with The Shroud Syndicate. [@ShyDot]: Mandate is back in Paris with Odette, free of any current obligations. [/hider]