Inconspicuous [Attn: Grace, Pen/Nick]

[Kenna]

On an otherwise quiet, unassuming Tuesday, a pair of favors were requested.  Margot hoped she was being inconspicuous and casual, but she hadn't really needed to account for how quickly gossip could spread through the community.

First, an email to Grace.  Or a text message thread, perhaps.  There were details that had to be remembered, so written communication was chosen intentionally here.  Ultimately, the message and its points would be the same.

Grace,

Hey, it's Margot.  I could use some help tracking someone's movement, and I'm pretty sure that this would be a cakewalk for somebody with your expertise.  I may have a visitor on the way, and am not a big fan of unexpected arrivals so I'd like to be able to have a heads up if they start traveling or come into town.

The details found within would include a pair of bank accounts, a vehicle's license plate number and model and make, and a cell phone number.  One bank account was under the name Heidi Travers but the rest of the information was registered to a Lucian Travers instead.  She was hopeful for having some kind of an alert pushed to her cell phone to let her know if there was movement or activity from any of those data points-- I don't want to be a bother or use up any more of your time, which I'm sure is pretty valuable and already invested in any number of other important matters.   Thank you.

--------------

The next, however, was a phone call.  The question at hand was easy enough, much more casual, with fewer hard questions to be roused.  She tried Pen's phone number first, and Nick's second.  Whoever she spoke with the question would be the same:

"Would it be possible if maybe, if you guys have the space, you kept a watch on my dowsing bunny, Yorick?  We have to clear out of my apartment for a week-- they're shutting down utilities for some heavy duty renovations and I'm going to be staying with Ned, but there's not really space for a pet...."

Maybe she got a yes.  Maybe she got a no.

If Yes:  arrangements were made to drop the rabbit off soon as possible, complete with clean litter box, food and water dishes, some toys and things to chew on, and the downy-soft red-furred rabbit himself in a carrier crate.  They'd find the animal mellow and overall pretty content to sit on a cushion nibbling and napping or in a lap getting petted.

If No:  "Ah, well thanks anyways!"  And she'd have to settle for some other arrangement, probably a coworker.

-----------------

Maybe the Mages would wonder about these odd favors-- Grace more than anyone would have the information to pique curiosity and perhaps even inspire snooping.  Whether anyone thought to really pry into it and put puzzle pieces together, though, yet remained.

[OOC:  I'm more than happy to follow up on any of this with any of you guys!  Lookin' at you Noel, as I imagine Grace'll have some curiosities to be quelled. ]

[FadedNoel]

[Ahh yeah she would! I, however, am slowly recovering from a shingles/bacterial infection combo that's left me a mindless shambling zombie person. I will get back to this soon, though, I promise!]

[Andrew]

((Nick will totally take care of Yorick. I will post a reply for you tomorrow.))

[Kenna]

[@Noel -- Gracious! I'm sorry to hear you got hit with such infection. Don't worry about timeliness on this one! This post is more a canon formality than much of anything else, really, to point in the timeline where PC communication would'a happened.

@Andrew -- Yorick's a delight, Nick's gonna like him. ]

[Andrew]

When Margot reached Pen, she would have received a call soon afterward: of course he will take Yorick. He might even sound pleased, if not excited.

Later that evening will find Yorick there with Nick as he reads in front of the fire, casting an amused glance down to the rabbit as it reaches to take one of the pages in its teeth. He lifts the book away, and runs one of the rabbit's long silky ears through his fingers, and scritches the top of its head.

"Maybe we can get a rabbit if you don't want a dog." Pen: she is perhaps regretting the decision to indulge Margot. "Who names a bunny Yorick, though?"

Well, regardless, some things are not meant to be known. The rabbit will be well taken care of, if likely spoiled and fed a few too many carrots and berries and whatever else Nick decided to feed him to see if he liked it, by the time he makes his eventual return to Margot.

[FadedNoel]

Grace gets the texts. Unusually, for her, she doesn't respond right away. Frankly, she's a bit taken aback by the whole thing. Here, she has all this information about somebody, and Margot has yet to explain why they are a threat. He's a visitor she's expecting. That's all. Okay? And?

Grace has tracked down demon-possessed film buffs, uncovered a couple human-trafficking rings, traced vampires and a Nephandus Adept. These are the kind of things she will ignore her rules on privacy for.

Eventually, Margot will get a text back:

Okay, but one question: Why? Unless you have more of a reason than 'I don't like unexpected visitors' then you've just severely violated someone's privacy by giving me this information.

Do you think he's coming here to hurt you?

[Kenna]

Margot's answer to Grace came about an hour later.  Not so long that it seemed like she was delaying answering-- maybe she was in class or at work?

I'm hardly worried about his privacy.  I don't think you'd go taking from those accounts once you saw how little money was in them anyways.

Then, about five minutes later (after several start-and-stops of typing in between), a follow-up text to answer the question she'd left hanging:

Maybe.  To bother me, at least.  I just want help keeping track of him, though.  Please.

[tithe]

MEANWHILE. LATER THAT FIRST EVENING, a continuation of a vignette.

Nick is happy with the rabbit. Pen does not even make a noncommittal noise when he suggests a rabbit instead of a dog. Silence is the best policy.

There is a certain fixed quality to the regard Pen puts on her book, especially after she glances over it at Nick and Yorick only to see him take a page of a book out of the animal's teeth. Pen has the book held firmly in two hands and open right in front of her face, so if she wants to see (she doesn't) what's happening over by the fire she'll have to lower it or raise it.

Pen likes animals just fine; she maintains a civil relationship with them, especially since she can visit them whenever she wants, in other people's homes. Beat. And then, as she reaches for her glass of wine, rings glittering in the firelight, "I think it's a good name for a bunny."

She peers over her book. It's not eating Nicholas's book while he looks at it all indulgent any longer. Good. She can take him just cuddling with it: that's adorable as long as it doesn't nibble on books. Rabbits. "The Y and O are like a pictogram of a hare poking its head out of a burrow hole. The K is also a bit like a hare pictogram." She smiles; it's a candle-light smile, for a moment she looks at the restful rabbit in Nick's lap the rise-and-fall of its sides the occasional flick of an ear.

"Also it is literary. 'Alas, poor Yorick' when it comes time for a new Yorick. He may be destined for haruspicy or hepatoscopy. I bet his bones and blood would be useful in charms too."


Such is Mage Animal Babysitter Reading Hour.

[FadedNoel]

Meet me at 3? We can get coffee and talk about this?

[Note to Kenna: Scene? Grace has some things to discuss that might be best done face-to-face.]