Dragoknighte

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Zoie's Farm
Skills: Research

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Mali looked over all the various pictures she found in the room. If she hadn't talked to Relic a few days back about family, she probably wouldn't have known who this other woman was. Well it wouldn't be hard to guess given the whole identical twin thing going on, but she had a lot more context now. Although she was staying in this room, she had a feeling that once upon a time this was Thalia's (that was her name, right?) room, and they'd never completely cleared it out since her passing, opting to convert it into its current state. She had no evidence to back this up, it was just something of a gut feeling. But at least she had a better picture of what the family's life was like before... whatever went down that started this mess.

But now she might as well finally change out of this dress and get into something where she didn't have to have pointy and hard shit stuffed into her bra. She set Wentworth's card, now somewhat bent out of shape, underneath the bed's pillow. On the bedside dresser she gingerly placed the little bone thing that Zoie had gone through so much trouble to acquire, and quickly changed into some shorts and a tank top. Briefly she considered whether to go out, but ultimately decided against it. Chances were that she'd still be alone if she did. If either of them really needed to get ahold of her, they knew where to find her.

Not to mention that she still had half of the books from two nights before to get through, and it'd be a welcome distraction from everything else that was going on. Mali picked up Findings Within the Temple of Kalabsha, and cracked it open, thanking her past self for having a bookmark in place, even if it were misusing a photo of a potentially priceless artifact to do so. She still had a copy on her phone. It was fine.

Darke Magyk - Concluded

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Atkin Bowman

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Location: Wizard Tower

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Atkin followed Arya down the moving staircase. He felt pretty bad for the Ordinary Wizards getting shafted so they could get to the bottom faster (it wasn't like the Manuscriptorium was going anywhere), but he wasn't the one driving the bus. When he stepped off the staircase, he was confronted with the message:

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP EXTRAORDINARY APPRENTICE!

He was already tired of the floor's shenanigans, another message like this didn't help much. Not to say that no duh the Castle appeared to be in grave danger. They got a new queen and in less than a day the other princess was kidnapped, there was a witch war, an attack against the Castle itself and then a massive fucking riot. Even a blind man could see the danger. And he doubted that anyone who ever got a message like that was genuinely relieved to read it.

"Pleased to meet'cha," he greeted Sylvi, waving amicably. Bards combining Magyk with music was kind of a weird concept, but it wasn't really that out there. Most spells were performed with a spoken incantation of some kind, why couldn't those same incantations be encoded in lyric or instrumentations? Seemed to all align with him. He noticed the message on the floor calling her 'Crown Princess,' but that wasn't really anything to bat an eye at. Arya knew who she was, and she'd just be another member of nobility to add to the list. Wasn't going to change a damn thing. The "love will always win thing" was a bit more of a puzzle.

And oh, Cuyler was there too. Of course he'd be. Was he just going to start showing up every day now? Constantly bothering him with his presence? Get a hobby, man. A hobby that didn't involve coming to the Tower and trying to schmooze Arya. Even if that traitorous floor is egging him on.

"Depends on whatcha mean. Somebody's been skulking around everywhere lately it seems. F- Screwing with everything. Wouldn't be surprised if most of the turmoil goin' on over the past couple of days isn't due to them. Is that what you're asking about, or is there some other intruder?" Atkin was going to give the guy the benefit of the doubt here. Yesterday he was going into fairy tales, but that was in response to things that were admittedly out of the ordinary and not explainable by modern knowledge. Maybe today he had some actually valuable information and not just a bunch of redundancy and fantasy.

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Zoie's Farm
Skills: Perception

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"Alright, I'll probably still be here when you get back." Mali was now expecting it, so she managed to avoid flinching when the next crash came from upstairs, although it still made her rather uncomfortable inside. But although it would probably be for the best to go and get changed, she decided that she'd rather wait until things had settled a bit before doing so. She wasn't concerned that something would go wrong per se, but it just didn't feel right.

But she was now left alone with her thoughts and the sounds of the house, the animals outside and the racket that the siblings were making. She wasn't entirely sure how to keep herself occupied. She didn't really feel like keeping herself occupied. The entire house felt like it was sinking into a tar pit in the aftermath of the fire. And she still didn't know what to do about anything now that she thought about it. Going with Relic and Zoie would either being extremely dull or ludicrously dangerous, but it would be just as dangerous to stay in Justice, even if she were only in the surrounding area. And what would she do if she stayed? And what should she do about Zoie? And all that didn't even get into the question of how to deal with Juno or Hera. Eventually Mali directed her gaze at the ceiling to get her head away from the depths of her own helplessness.

When her head cleared, she returned her direction to the room she was in right now. Every other time she'd been in there, she'd been distracted by some conversation or happening going on. But maybe there was something important in this room that she'd never caught onto before. Not necessarily something hidden from her intentionally or otherwise, but some item of interest that could teach her some factoid about Relic and his family. Or perhaps give her a bit of information on Juno that the others took for granted but she'd never been made aware of. Or something.

The Wolves of Red Lake (Completed)

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Harry Kingsfield

Location: Red Lake B&B

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Under other circumstances, Harry would have pulled out his notebook and jotted down what he managed to catch from Mrs. Walker's phone call. After all, you never knew how important it might be to know what other people know. Or what going over what you already know could lead you to thinking given a second glance. Or get a new perspective on old information. But he wasn't going to do it now, because come on. She was right there. He wasn't going to wave around a big flag saying "Hey, I'm eavesdropping on your phone call right now." He could record what little he caught later.

"I managed to learn some enlightening details about the history of the town." Harry replied to his employer's question. "I have a suspicion now that Riley's disappearance might have had something to do with your family's history. The Walkers that is, not your blood relatives. Do you know if there are any old heirlooms lying around? Perhaps a diary? Or an odd trinket?" He really hoped that any pertinent evidence they might have had wasn't lost to the ages: either destroyed intentionally or no, thrown out, or sold off to a pawn shop or ebay for a quick buck.

Darke Magyk - Concluded

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Atkin Bowman

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Location: Wizard Palace 21st Floor->20th Floor

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Atkin quickly thought through his teacher's words. He wanted to try picking the thing apart from as many angles as he could, but he didn't really have the time to do so. He could only sift out gut feelings based on what he could recall from yesterday and the information given to him.

"Maybe," he began, still petting the cats around him, "the Queen's death wasn't caused by Magyk. I mean, if there was something non-magykal that could kidnap Luna like that through all the wards and defenses set up, why wouldn't it be able to bypass the ones on the Queen's room?" Arya's insistence that Darke Magyk (whatever the hell that was) was to blame to him seemed like another example of the wizard mindset being too linear. The issue had an unknown answer, so Magyk is either the problem or the solution. That all these issues could be more related than they initially appeared didn't seem to occur to her.

"And it's not at all a silly idea if you think about it. Asha being a holder of... one of those things if you're right about them. Magyk as far as I've seen is green in color. That purple sh- glow she throws off ain't natural. It's not out of the realm of possibility that if she does have one of those things, that she's using it to boost her Magykal abilities." Of course that would make her a fraud and a cheater, but he didn't want to think so lowly of one of the Castle's guests when she seemed fair enough. As for why she was here, the first thought that came to Atkin's mind was that they simply didn't like Meliscente and now that she was dead they'd test the waters with Valda.

Although he knew that this moment would come, it was still heartbreaking. He quite liked the cats, and that they were sent away left a sense of emptiness now that he no longer had any furry friends to pet. But there was business to attend to. The boy stood up and dusted off some of the excess fur on his robes before following Arya down to the second floor. Rowland's suggestion was a fairly good one, but he'd see if he could come up with a better line in between now and when he met this Marcellus who he'd been hearing so much about recently. Maybe Arya would tell him about this man. Then again there was a pretty good chance she'd just leave him in the dark and he'd have to figure shit out for himself.

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Zoie's Farm
Skills: N/A

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"I still really like it, even after having worn it for almost an entire day. It does have a habit of getting in the way," Mali admitted, looking down at the now dirtied dress, "but you should be looking out for yourself first. I'm fine." Well, she wasn't fine, but in comparison to either of the siblings, she was in tip top condition. The sudden scream and crash made her instinctively flinch and look towards the source of the noise, but despite Relic's words she had no intention of going up there even before he spoke up.

Instead, she found an empty chair and plopped down, holding her chin on her fist. She was given an offer: get out of town to travel with the two. She didn't know if Zoie would agree, but it would be a pretty safe bet that she wouldn't object. But Mali wasn't sure if she wanted to go. On one hand, going out to who knows where just wasn't all that appealing an idea. Then there was the fact that it'd be tagging along for yet another deeply personal family event that she was an outsider to. She just would be out of place the whole time. Even if she did like them it seemed like something they should deal with on their own.

But on the other hand, it would get her out of Justice for awhile, which would definitely do wonders for all of their survival chances. The last couple of days were especially dangerous, and although she wasn't unprepared to die in the near future, she would very much rather that not be the case. And she did agree to be their partner in crime in all this. Now, more than any other time they could certainly use an emotional foundation of some sort. She had problems of her own, but she wasn't grieving like they were. And on top of this, the fact that he was inviting in the first place meant there was a level of trust that she couldn't disregard.

"...Maybe. I need some time to think it over."

The Wolves of Red Lake (Completed)

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Harry Kingsfield

Location: Red Lake B&B

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Harry waved back at her as he stepped out of his car. His first instinct was to go up to her and inquire about their family history, if they had any heirlooms or old journals, but he remembered he had other matters at hand. Far more important ones he'd been putting off: his clothes had gotten torn up and bloodied back at the abandoned house, not to mention they were wet from the rain. He was also dirty and hungry. He hadn't had a bite to eat since breakfast that morning. And to top it all off, all that coffee earlier had made its trip down South, and he could use a bit of relief.

He could take care of his baser needs first, then resume work on the case. As he approached Mrs. Walker, he explained that he needed to wash up quickly before departing. He made his way up to his room and took the chance to relax to a degree as he waited for the shower to warm up. He inspected the stitches on his leg. They seemed fine enough, but he couldn't let them get wet in the shower so soon after getting them.

Harry looked over and noted half a peanut butter sandwich he had sitting in a ziploc bag from a couple days back. Inspection of the sandiwch indicated that it was still in good enough condition to eat. Extracting the foodstuff from the bag, he tore the plastic apart and then taped it over the sewn up wound like a makeshift plastic bandage. The sandwich went straight down his gullet.

The shower was a brief affair, mostly to clean himself from the grime sweat and dirt accumulated over the short day. Removing the taped bag from his leg was a much longer, more delicate process, lest he rip out all his leg hair, leaving in their wake painful memories and embarrassing scars. But now clean, dressed and fed, the PI was ready to once again begin work on the case. He made his way back out of his room and down the stairs to see what lay before him.

Darke Magyk - Concluded

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Atkin Bowman

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Location: Wizard Palace 21st Floor

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"I'd love to go with you to the Manuscriptorium," Atkin blurted out without really thinking. It really was an obvious choice for him. He could either spend all day sitting around listening to a bunch of fuddy-duddy wizards argued about things he already knew without making any real progress, or he could go out with Arya and maybe do something of worth that won't get forgotten immediately by everyone else. And perhaps while they were out, maybe he could convince her to let him go check on his family and make sure they were all ok.

It would be a shame that the cats wouldn't be able to come with him, but he expected as much. Atkin wanted to get up, but the cat in his lap was very soft and he didn't want to disturb it. He gently tried to encourage it to get up off of him, but it just purred and rolled over a bit. This would be quite the challenge to overcome.

"So you're going to the Manuscriptorium to look up that Mutant stuff that was mentioned yesterday, right," he asked, not looking away from the feline. The cat showed no sign of wanting to move anytime soon, but he knew they were fickle beasts. It'd get bored soon, right? But he had had plenty of time to go over the day's events again and again in his head. Luna was kidnapped through some means other than Magyk. Myrus suddenly creates an explosion in a very non-Magykal way. 'Oh look, a mutant.'

It all seemed to add up. Whatever these mutant things were, he had a hunch that they were going to become more and more common, and it'd be a good idea to learn about them now so you aren't defenseless against them later. There were a couple other things he imagined she'd want to look into at the moment, but as far as he could tell, mutants were the biggest unknown factor, thus the biggest problem to solve at the moment.

Even if it was for some entirely unrelated reason, he was curious as to what was in there. He'd tried to sneak in once or twice, but boy they had that place wrapped up tighter than Matilda's corset. He got as far as the front desk before getting turned away for not having any "real" business there. Attempts to the back didn't even get him through the back door. They probably had all kinds of good shit in there hidden from the rest of the Castle, and they'd probably let Arya see it, which meant he might be able to see by extension, which was a really exciting proposition.

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Zoie's Farm
Skills: N/A

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Mali took the card but didn't bother to look at it. She knew that she wasn't going to call it anyways, and the one poking her chest was already enough for her, but she wasn't going to crumple it or trash it while the cops were right there. That'd just be rude. She sighed as she looked from the siblings back to the burned barn. What the hell were they going to do now? Well as far as the big picture went, she didn't really have any clue, but she knew what she needed to do now.

She walked up to Relic and put her good hand on his shoulder. She didn't really know Tinder, so the most she felt from seeing the body bag, at least at the moment was a lump in her chest, an odd relief that at least he wasn't caught up in an even worse situation and the nagging feeling that she should have tried to go into the barn. But even that feeling was shot down by the rest of her saying that if she had, they probably would have had to bring out two body bags, if not three. But the kid needed comforting. Trying to rationalize matters after the point where the conclusion was clear wouldn't help anything.

Darke Magyk - Concluded

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Atkin Bowman

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Location: Wizard Palace 21st Floor

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Atkin could see the riots from the top of the Wizard Tower quite easily, the flames were rather difficult to miss as they burned throughout the night. Today really had been an absolutely atrocious day. Probably the worst day in Castle history for at least a few centuries. Certainly ranked up there for worst days of his life. He couldn't even get to sleep, any time he tried he'd think about Bryon or Pa trying to maintain order out there, or Shay getting caught up in the midst of all, or worst of all: his own home being broken into and ransacked. However, as liable as he was to mouth off, disobey orders or just go out the learn something himself, he wasn't so big of a knobhead that he'd go out into the streets during a riot. Only a body with a death wish would do something like that. For the fifth time that day all he could do was stand back and watch as bad shit happened.

By the time morning came, his eyes were sore, but he didn't feel tired. At least not any more. He didn't really feel hungry either. Or really doing too much of anything other than pacing around the tower, trying to keep himself occupied on anything other than the chaos the Castle had sunk into over the last 24 hours. The Queste and its associated bullshit were chump change. He wasn't too concerned about that. Worst came to worst, only he'd have to bite the bullet. The apparent fragility of the Royal family had far more severe ramifications for the country, and the immediate break in good will between the people and the crown would be difficult to mend, at best.

But then there was a noise at the door. It was rather muffled, so he couldn't quite make it out at first. Meowing? Atkin stopped where he was and turned around to the door. He checked the peephole. He didn't see anyone there, but the sound was still there, and growing louder. So he opened the door a wee bit. And then suddenly it was flung open as he was assaulted with a tidal wave of fur. It took him a few seconds to realize that there were cats all rubbing against him, purring, and trying to muscle their way in to get to him. And they were all so cute. He couldn't stop himself from kneeling down and trying to pet them. He'd get a calico under the chin, follow it up by scratching a black cat on the butt, before diverting his attention to a particularly portly Persian. There were just so many kitties, he couldn't handle them all.

By the time Rowland or Arya went up to check on the apprentice, they'd find the door still wide open and Atkin sitting on his bed surrounded by cats, petting a relatively beefy tabby that sat in his lap. They were everywhere: on the floors, the tables, in the dresser, everywhere. Miraculously, not a single book or pen had been knocked over. He turned to face his teacher and grandmaster, still smiling, although a less so now that his attention had been drawn away from all the cats and back to the present situation.

"I couldn't stop them."