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Post by Circe on Nov 29, 2020 15:56:19 GMT -6
"I believe this begs the question Warden, why didn't you ask?" Agathon replied, greatly enjoying the predicament that Molly had been placed in and Catherine by proxy. It was no big secret that the Councilor didn't much care for the Warden, and believed that releasing her from Broadmoore should not have even been considered. She was dangerous and unpredictable, even more so now that she had allied herself with the Dragon Court; which he believed led to weakening the Council by Kasimir's own alliances alone.
"Because Councilor..." Catherine began with a frustrated sigh, resisting the urge to call Agathon the dense fuck that she thought he was. Clearly he enjoyed his position, but didn't understand much if any of the laws that he was supposed to help uphold. "It is not a requirement of my position as Warden to know what my officers are doing at every waking moment. Specialists are given responsibility and expected to work with a least some independence. If you want an officer who needs hand holding, I suggest you talk to a kid fresh out of the academy." She was pissed, and a hard edge had begun to creep into her voice, but so far had done little if anything in relatation other than uttering a few choice words.
"Also I might point out Councilor Klein, that many of us belong to guilds or courts. Euthious here belongs to a mage's guild, and I know you hold a position within the Dragon Court. I hold my own loyalties to various groups as well." Who wasn't worth mentioning as this wasn't about her, no matter how much Euthious wanted it to be. "It's not illegal, despite how much you wish for it to be. Now may I leave? This has nothing to do with me." Catherine did not want to be there and would have much rather dealt with whatever this was after she had had more sleep and food.
"Enough!" June roared, slamming an open hand against the bench, resulting in a large 'bang!' that echoed throughout the chambers. "While you two angry old men are so busy questioning the Warden and Sargeant here, you forgot to take a moment to speak to Miss Flynn." This was supposed to be a parole hearing, and had quickly gone sour. It seemed that both, mostly Agathon though, were intent on manufacturing drama that wasn't there.
"After all, I'm sure this is some gross misunderstanding that both of you seem intent making into something more." That was mostly Agathon, the man had no business in his position, but there wasn't much that could be done. How he had gotten appointed she would never understand, given that there were far better and far more educated mages out there.
"Sargeant, you have met the terms of you parole up until now and I am willing to overlook the issues with Miss Flynn if you can find her a different glamour. One that is preferably not attached to you. Miss Flynn, you have quite the advocate in the Sargeant here and I cannot see any laws that either of you have violated. Letter or spirit. I believe my colleages here, especially Councilor Klein.. will agree." She said giving Kasimir an unamused look. They couldn't afford to loose a wardbreaker, they took too long to train and were too difficult to obtain in the first place.
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Post by littlekreen on Nov 29, 2020 16:40:40 GMT -6
Flynn sighed through her nose with the thin constancy of someone with billows against static lungs as the chest moved in by this thinner husk's sluggish imitation of life. She debated for a moment how much to say but there was only so much she could keep vague. Flynn opted against telling of her wary instincts that said the borders between her reality and this one had never been broken before.
The voice was Molly's, in English, though it had a faint melodic undertone despite a soldier's firmness, "It was a simulacrum of Molly out of necessity but has to be properly disposed of and I am not yet prepared. I already have another to properly replace this one for the trip home so I brush its flat little teeth and keep it clean until then. It's bound to Molly so as long as Molly's bindings exist I am under their shadow with it. The little ones cannot use them and Molly has ensured we do not cause alarm with the civilians."
Something had changed that her sextant kept finding land paths home if more infrequently but that was a problem far above her. The ticking started again and she silenced it once more with a gesture of one hand.
Flynn looked at each of the councilors though her head moved and not her eyes, "As a deep scout of places much darker than this island of safety I can leave as soon as I can ensure I can keep my whelps are safe along the way."
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Post by demikara on Nov 29, 2020 17:13:30 GMT -6
Klein didn't look pleased with the entire situation but was well aware of Molly's value. "The Warden is correct, Agathon. As is June. So long as Miss Flynn and Sergeant Bronson continue to follow the law, and Miss Flynn disposes of her current glamour correctly, and swiftly, I see no issue here." He had caught the look. They couldn't actually afford to antagonize Bronson too much, and were largely lucky the fae child hadn't realized that yet. "Send the warden home, Agathon. Warden Dumitrescu, I apologize for involving you in this mess."
Molly shoulders relaxed some. At least they'd be sending Catherine home shortly as well. "It will take time until the children are old enough to travel. We haven't worked out time dilation compared to the maturation rate yet. It's not exactly a simple equation. Flynn and I will see to the disposal of the current glamour as soon as possible." Though that was easier said than done and they all knew it. She would do her best though, and that was all that could be asked of her. Though she had no doubt that the council would try their hardest to ask for more.
They often did. There were reasons she hated dealing with the council. Agathon especially was a power hungry fool. She didn't regret pranking him at all. Just getting caught.
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Post by Circe on Nov 29, 2020 17:38:28 GMT -6
"I appreciate it." Catherine nodded, never saying that she was likely going to bill them and take the next day off after having been dragged into what she would so bluntly call a 'shit show'. Once home she planned to figure out how to disable whatever the Council had used to pull her there and go back to bed, pretending that this day had never happened. One Molly was enough of a headache, but two? Catherine didn't even want to begin to think about that. "Oh and I'll be certain let the Queen know that you don't respect her treaties, Euthious." She smiled, unable to resist one last barb before being sent home. By the time she had vanished, it was too late for Agathon to say anything about the warden's thinly veiled threat to his power as a Councilor.
June just shook her head for what seemed like the thousandth time since Molly had gotten there, along with Flynn. "I understand Miss Flynn, thank you for that. Sargeant? Bearing this new information, and seeing as you have taken responsibility and not deflected questions when asked, I've decided at least that your restrictions can be removed. You will still be on parole however, but it will be much more relaxed. We only ask that you continue to take responsibility for Miss Flynn and you notify the Warden of anything that comes up. Is that understood?" The Councilor asked. It seemed that she was the only one with any modicum of sense regarding this situation.
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Post by littlekreen on Nov 29, 2020 18:23:17 GMT -6
Polite nod left her with a feeling she ought to say something in case her people sent someone for her. As one of the very few that could kill her clutch mother, and was partly ignored by Dreaming creatures, Flynn was on the list of persons that were kept track of. Hopefully another Reacher or maybe the larger Far and Deep that formed their military. If it was the Sanguinary. Oh, that would be worse. High Iron would do more than stare daggers at Agathon's anger. They did not take orders from food. As long as she was already talking to keepers maybe it would keep things from going haywire.
Flynn tried to avoid stating outright that she couldn't buy anything legal for her tools let alone how she was making the money, "I'll build the tools to make tools to build what I need as quickly as I can. I'll be done by the time the whelps can travel."
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Post by demikara on Nov 29, 2020 19:17:17 GMT -6
Molly paused, eyes narrowed, and loked up to June. "My restrictions can be removed? Does that include the binding of my space time magic?" If that was removed, she could get Flynn home significantly sooner. She could get back to living her life outside of MCU and doing her own shopping in the fae realm for food that tasted significantly better than what she could get in the mundane realm. There was no accounting for how magic altered the taste of food until you very suddenly went without it.
It would also be significantly easier to actually keep an eye on any extra planar visitors without the restrictions in her way. Kasimir looked down at her and considered the matter carefully. He wasn't for it. She was a fae and it hadn't been nearly long enough for a fae to learn their lesson. But he'd leave this matter to June. "June...think carefully before you answer that one. She has shown some remorse and been sticking to the terms of her parole, but I worry it may not have been long enough." Though if she agreed to do so, he wouldn't stop her.
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Post by Circe on Nov 29, 2020 19:42:44 GMT -6
June considered Molly's question carefully, as Kasimir did make a decent enough point about Molly's potential remorse. But as far as June was concerned, taking away the magic for long enough had caused Molly to sing a different enough tune. "Before we consider that, Bronson, there are terms we would ask you to adhere to first." She replied. It was technically their fault that Molly had been able to even get in to pull the prank she had, nothing else. They had been complacent and didn't exactly think to ward against space time magic, it was such a rarity as it was, that most schematics didn't even take it into account.
"We are rightfully concerned that this guild has impacted your work with MCU and Dallas's specialists, especially given your disciplinary records. We're willing to reduce your restrictions, but note that anymore incidents will result in being stripped of your badge, bound, and placed under permanent supervision." She explained. There was absolutely no way that this wouldn't be put in place without serious consequences. "Also duly note that you are also equally responsible as any other member of your team for keeping yourselves out of Broadmoore or not. Which means that if one of you slips up, you all will be placed there, and I'm sure your Warden can attest to you just how unfortunate that would be."
June knew that Catherine would do likely anything to stay out of Broadmoore. The place had been the stuff of nightmares from what she had understood, and while she had repeatedly encouraged reform, she had only been one person. Tyrus Rahal however had pushed for it and later got it, and from what she had heard last, he had cleaned house. But still, no one wanted to be there if they could help it.
"If the Council consents to reducing your restrictions, we will expect you to aid Miss Flynn in her efforts to return to home. We will also expect you to continue to work with the Dallas specialists team, and adhere to your monthly parole meetings. That means you cannot wander between here and the fae realm, as you are subject to recall by the Council should we recieve word of any problems."
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Post by littlekreen on Nov 29, 2020 20:13:28 GMT -6
Unmoving eyes avoided staring at anyone in particular when sentences were being handed out. That kind of reprimand was one Flynn was familiar with having earned the Volatile title by the keepers for a reason. She had a feeling whatever Molly did got on the bad side of somebody. After Flynn spent a lot of time in the Dreaming nearly getting killed she got the feel for when to shut up but never liked it. Self-preservation made for a good gag. She didn't know what Broadmoore was but Flynn could guess it ended in smoked meat. At least that's what the Sanguinary did to troublemakers but the humans didn't seem to eat their own. Not that way at least.
Though now Flynn worried that the missing cask would get all of them ate. While she had to speed things up getting the equipment was cracking expensive. Maybe she could figure out where the cask went and re-seal it. The Warden was probably a napping bear so waiting was best.
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Post by demikara on Nov 30, 2020 12:47:18 GMT -6
“I have been a guild member longer than I have been an MCU officer.” Molly pointed out. “Significantly longer, given I was made an apprentice when I was, oh…around the equivalent of seven. Trust me when I say my guild is equally unhappy with how MCU has impacted my work for them.” It was a balancing act between the two forces and there was more than one occasion she regretted taking the job with MCU. She’d had her reasons, at the time, but lately, well. If quitting was an option, she would have quit some time ago. And she had a feeling the council was all too aware of her opinion on the matter. In the meantime, she’d do a good job because a bad job would lead to her ending up in Broadmoore. It was blackmail through and through. “And I haven’t forgotten the council’s terms given to my team. Though I would love an end date for that term.” So she could know when to quit.
“I fully intend on helping Flynn return home once she is able to. That would be my responsibility as a member of my guild regardless. There are very few extra-planar entities allowed to settle on this plane. Thanks to the veil, it is considered a hazardous plane to settle on.” She was still going to get her groceries from the fae realm however. The food tasted better as far as she was concerned, and so long as she kept an eye on the time, it would be fine. She’d just have to time it for the days the council wasn’t working, to ensure she didn’t get summoned here for a parole meeting. Though she would really appreciate an actual time slot given for an actual appointment. What if she was in the middle of a crime scene? The council didn’t care about that though and she knew it.
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Post by Circe on Dec 12, 2020 16:58:19 GMT -6
June raised an eyebrow at Molly's response, "Your end date will be determined by the Council at a future hearing, until then you are expected to abide by the terms and restrictions set forth by your original decision." It was both answering and evading a question the fae child should have known better than to ask. But it seemed that she was intent on having her way, and there was little that they could do to persaude her otherwise. "Again, if you wish to forfeit your badge and priviledges we can have that arranged." June continued. Word games with fae were not her favorite thing, but she often fared better than individuals like Kasimir when faced with it. She just had to continue to remind herself that Molly was still a child, stubborn and wilful, but still a child in the eyes of her society. However, she still couldn't understand what part of sending a child to a supposedly dangerous plane was sane, and would have loved to have words with this imaginary guild master about his member's behaviors. June hadn't missed that one snide remark out of the other.
Sure, Dallas had a ley line conjuction, which often led to more chaos than anyone would have liked to admit, but that didn't mean it was dangerous. And MCU seemed to do quite well at keeping a tight lid on most of it at present. Though there had been a number of worrying incidents surrounding Mezar, but considering that it had at one time been property of the Dragon Court, there was little pressure the Council could truly attempt to exert there. Unless it had begun to harm inhabitants of the surrounding areas, and last time anyone had checked, there were more cows than people that far west.
"At this point I would advise you to stop talking... speaking as someone who would rather not see this dragged out." Agathon commented dryly to Molly. "You're doing little to positively influence your case at this point, and in fact may be negatively influncing it." As far as he was concerned, she hadn't really learned anything. Especially given that she seemed to be aiding and abeting an extra planar being that the Council had no idea if they were safe or not. "The fae may be renown for producing excellent barristers and counsel in the Unseen, but you are not one of those things child. So again, I will suggest you stop talking for your friend and yourself, and let Councilor Blackwelder speak."
"Miss Flynn, I appreciate your honesty and understand that you have young children who are unable to tolerate the journey home. In light of this, I believe I and my fellow Councilors are more than willing to grant you your stay until the children are old enough to travel safely. You will be afforded the same rights and priviledges as the rest of the Unseen until your departure." June nodded sympathetically to Flynn. It seemed the other had no intent to cause harm, but prefered to fly under the radar the best she could. "Sargeant Bronson will assist you with the paperwork.. under the supervision of Lieuntant Boyuan." She would have prefered that Boyuan do the paperwork, but it seemed that the only way to make Molly to learn was from doing.
Sighing as she turned her attention back to Molly, June realized that Kasimir was right and that the reduction of restrictions she was thinking of were perhaps something that the other was not ready for. "In light of today's findings and conversation, the Council has agreed to reduce your restrictions by one level. You will still not be allowed to travel at length or extensively, but you will be allowed some use of your capabilities." There was no way that they were going to completely remove the binding, Molly had proven herself too entitled and contemptous. She was a flight risk, despite being an officer, something that June would have dearly loved to strip. But, doing so left Dallas without a specialist wardbreaker, a thing that the area with it's ley conjuction badly needed.
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Post by littlekreen on Dec 12, 2020 22:27:13 GMT -6
A human head absent eye movement inspected molly then the council as they admonished for impulsive behavior trying to get a bearing on human mannerisms still very foreign. Though the meeting didn't seem to be going well for Molly, it didn't seem to be going off the deep end either. It really did feel like her formative years where the council debated executing a young half-yellow for accidentally burning a home down. Both too useful to put to an end or be allowed to stray from their tight control. The lure of the Reachers was that the Dreaming brought her away from that control. This left no small empathy for Molly's enthusiasm for being unconstrained from similar freedom. Though she felt guilty that she'd accidentally threatened it and tried to think of something to pay back for service. It was a long-held custom to ensure the Reachers did not hoard. In the end, this kept the oddballs from making enemies of themselves by isolation. Maybe something for her benefit rather than to Molly directly in this case.
Some offerings would get her hung or worse. Though her direct skills perhaps could be framed as thaumaturgy. Blood magic wasn't really developed here though later mixtures with other disciplines did match well. Many of the Reacher's rituals used blood magic to affect space-time. All to shape boons from the few creatures in the Dreaming that would give them. long as she could avoid them seeing the blood magic directly lubricating the ethermechanics. So how did one give Keepers or other functionaries something of value without hanging herself? Information? The things she'd sensed shoring up reality fractures like they did in the dreaming seemed to suit. Though they acted far different here than in the dreaming. Placid. Domesticated, even. Someone the functionaries could yell at without getting return fire for whatever reason the Children of Teeth weren't doing that here. They were nothing if not constant and she had no doubt they would remain as they'd been acting. Nobody had gotten near them without getting shot at, just watched from afar, so she figured she knew little more than Molly of them anyway.
Flynn might not be the best fighter but a hunter she was though a thing covered in feathers was what initially ignited the paleontology department. When Ivor and his crew found one at the mall it caused another in their efforts to classify it through divination. After several failed to identify the type of creature when they'd sent the paleontology department another sample of one similar in make to another, if clearly a different specie, it invoked a froth of research notes. They'd even gone so far as to autopsy and take wound impressions of the remains of the deer carcass Flynn had eaten to identify the 'suspicious predator'. Though Ivor certainly wasn't about to tell anyone that the divinations eventually agreed on 'feathered biped sapient vampire' until they had some saner physical evidence given the political bomb that likely represented.
In their turn, the paleontologists weren't about to tell Ivor: "Deer exsanguinated with a 5" toe claw then eaten by tooth patterns consistent with impressions of an adult and two nestlings of Deinonychus antirrhopus." As they'd either be laughed out of the department or have their findings go missing. A tacit approval for investigation by the uni admin was made after acquiring a second black feather near that area in light of the unseen being outed, which widened possibilities. An impulsive creature Flynn may be but one of instinct she was not and spied the van when they came at night to take those plaster castings in the soft soil of the forest she'd been living in. Without any way to preserve the meat at first, they just ate the animal where it fell. Even if she might have been able to dispose or bury it that needed energy or time she hadn't had.
So the Reacher took a risk as they were known for, "A Reacher appreciates a council's leave. My little ones are half-human, though not sired from here, so I do not know how long learning to speak will take so I can get them past outer horrors in the fringe."
The advice she'd once heard to sidestep attention said to describe new enemies as someone else's problem, "I am reasonably sure the wardens there from our in-between are rebuilding the unexpectedly broken paths behind me though they must be more diplomatic here I think than I ever knew them. They will not allow any creatures through."
It didn't hurt to ask for a little help though to prevent political complications however, "Though I would appreciate it if the council could," Flynn paused to cant her head in lieu of unmoving eyes considering phrasing, "dissuade the hunting enforcers from looking for me. When I arrived we were starving and had to hunt wildlife until I could buy food."
When she didn't want to sound like she was a clawed killing machine nor bearing weapons it was probably better to avoid the issue of how the deed was done. If the council found out about the university and it proved a problem for them perhaps she might be able to get away with pretending the twitch clinging to her tailfeathers never existed at all. Or find a way to make her existence known if the council's opinion on the matter went south. You didn't interact with the Sanguinary without backup plans unless you wanted to be jerky and she wasn't taking any chances with this Council either.
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Post by demikara on Dec 12, 2020 22:43:02 GMT -6
If this was the government of the mundane nation that Dallas was apart of, Molly would have had an end date from the beginning. Even the fae courts gave end dates. That the Council didn’t really raised her ire, and made her wish she could pull the kind of crap Rahal got away with in the council chambers. She had heard about his hissy fit. Unfortunately, she couldn’t manage that and didn’t have the requisite magical skills or magic in general to throw a hissy fit and get away with it in council chambers. The nebulous future hearing would likely never occur. Still, she had been offered an outs of sort.
‘What would be the price of me forfeiting my badge?’ was on the tip of her tongue, but she had a feeling she knew the answer. Probably Broadmoore. Who was she kidding, it was definitely Broadmoore, and they’d arrange a cell specifically for her, wards and magic suppressants and all. But it may just be a ban from this plane, which she would dearly love to see them try and enforce.
She should have accepted Coyote’s offer. “That is kind of the council.” She wasn’t going to thank them. That was very much against her culture and implied a debt she didn’t remotely acknowledge as existing. “I will of course do my best to take care of Flynn and her family.”
The other was a fool for even admitting to the illegal hunting, but frankly, it was only illegal for the mundanes. And the Council didn’t follow mundane laws or she would have an end date to her sentence. She really ought to okay Xander talking to them about the sentence as her guardian but she was reluctant for it all the same.
Then he’d discover what all she did and she’d be in trouble on both sides of the equation. And frankly Xander came up with significantly more disgusting punishments and would ground her to the fae realm with those stupid suppressant bracelets. Which really was all the binding was.
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