Lucia's Old Friends [attn. Shoshannah]

[FadedNoel]

Grace has no understanding of what went on Sunday night. She doesn't get Callisto, or see the bear's presence or anything. Chances are even if she were told, she'd think of the spirit more as a subroutine or daemon than anything else -- a background process in the grand machine. She just knows how people are reacting.

And it seems from that, that the shit's hit the fan.

It seems from that, that the Chantry may no longer be safe. That nowhere is.

There's not much that she can do about that, really, except to do what she's promised, and reach out to Shoshannah. At least she can provide another way for the girl to help. A way that (hopefully) won't get her attacked or infested with crud this time.

And it's thus, so ignorant of the girl's pressing need to protect the Chantry from the latest threat, that Grace tracks down the Dreamspeaker.

"Hey, Shoshannah," she starts, sad eyes drifting around a bit in trepidation. The last time they spoke, it hadn't ended well. Shoshannah had stomped off all angry because of the three people caring about her. "We were talking the other night about trying to contact Lucia Montanari's old cabal. Maybe they'd like to help us, help bring her back, or at least give us some clue on how to stop her. Maybe they know what she's capable of, you know?

"Trouble is, nobody knows their phone numbers exactly. I know you sent out a message looking for the people who stopped Thakinyan before. Think you could try again with this?

"We're kind of running low on options, information, you know... a plan? Other than just walking into that circle like a bunch of idiots... Scrying just opens up all your ports to that dude. But... ah... yeah you probably already know that."

[CourtCat]

Shoshannah is pissed.

There's always a low level anger there - bred in by her upbringing and experiences, reinforced by her Awakening and the ways she's chosen to use her magics since then - but this is a different thing, indeed. The girl's anger is a heavy, heady, incendiary thing that sneaks into the cracks and kindles there. Often people can brush it off or at least ignore it, but now it's active. Someone (and she knows who by now, one imagines) has disrupted her place, or at least the place of which she's been appointed Guardian. And, of course, there's only so much she can do to fix it - she can try to soothe the Bear who before now appeared to think of her at least somewhat favorably (as much as noncommunicative spirits can, anyway), she can continue her translation project, and she can angry-cook until there's more prepared food than the House's storage system can hold.

There are notes, both on the fridge and the neatly packaged food inside. Take some home, or to your friends, or whatever. If it's vegetarian, it's marked. Everything was prepared as Kosher as possible.

But that's digressing, and though it's obvious the Dreamspeaker is angrier than usual (or, well, more actively angry than usual anyway) it's also obvious that it's not particularly directed at Grace. The Virtual Adept just happens to be there in the path, which is an even less comfortable place to be than it is most of the time. There's a Look, unreadable other than its ire, and Shoshannah shrugs. When she speaks, the tone is even, indifferent, despite everything else.

"I can try again, yes. If I hear anything back this time - other than from Connor or Alyssa - I'll let you know."

And for Grace, that's it. Shoshannah waits until late at night (the latest, darkest hour is always best for her for these things) to ride her bike a bit off the property to do what she needs to do. There's coin, because no one does anything for free and spirits (or ghosts in the Dreamspeaker's case, at least most of the time) are no different. There's a mirror (through a glass, darkly). There are words, spoken in a specific way at a specific time with a specific meter. And then, there are spirits ready to do as she asks.

"Shoshannah Mitchell of the Dreamspeakers sends greeting to Gabriel Russo and Marco Landi. The Awakened community of Denver, Colorado seeks intelligence and advice pertaining to Lucia Montanari. We wish to contain the threat she's helped to unleash, and thank you for any assistance you can give to that end."

Short, formal, almost brusque - but there it is. Another attempt. And when she's done, with her things collected, she bikes back to the House to continue with her various projects.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Seven sux on a very long rote that may or may not be useful! Cos she meant what she said and she said what she meant - a Shoshannah's faithful one hundred percent.
CourtCat @ 11:18AM
So! Hey, spirits, go find Lucia's old cabal-mates (names! They're somewhere!) and ask them if they'd like to help get Lucia under control, won't you? [Spirit Messengers, ho! Coincidental, dropping quint to lower diff, WP for extra sux, extending.]
Roll: 2 d10 TN4 (6, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP] VALID
CourtCat @ 11:19AM
Roll: 2 d10 TN5 (4, 4) ( fail ) VALID
CourtCat @ 11:19AM
Roll: 2 d10 TN5 (3, 5) ( success x 1 ) VALID
CourtCat @ 11:19AM
Roll: 2 d10 TN5 (7, 8) ( success x 2 ) VALID
CourtCat @ 11:19AM
Roll: 2 d10 TN5 (3, 5) ( success x 1 ) VALID
CourtCat @ 11:20AM
Roll: 2 d10 TN5 (6, 10) ( success x 2 ) VALID
CourtCat @ 11:20AM
Roll: 2 d10 TN5 (4, 5) ( success x 1 ) VALID
CourtCat @ 11:20AM
There we go, that's ten sux.
CourtCat @ 11:20AM
And longest summoning/sending ritual EVAR. =D
Samael @ 11:22AM
Which is 3 more successes than she can actually get...
Samael @ 11:22AM
From the casting guide: "Note that there is a cap to how many successes a Mage can achieve for one effect. That cap is the Mage's Willpower + Arete. So an Initiate mage (Arete 2) with a WP of 6 cannot achieve more than 8 successes, total."
CourtCat @ 11:24AM
Well then! Good thing I played it safe. =D