Bell looked at Animus with a tilted head, then back at the others walking before nodding and directing him, and the rest of the group down the hall further to a room with a large table and several chairs.
A meeting room. The same that Avalon used.
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Bell looked at Animus with a tilted head, then back at the others walking before nodding and directing him, and the rest of the group down the hall further to a room with a large table and several chairs.
A meeting room. The same that Avalon used.
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Leo walked into the room and sat in the nearest empty seat. He wasn't sure what he said to get on Animus's nerves but he decided to tone down his excitement over returning to the house.
He waited for everyone to enter the room and close the door before talking. His tone was calm but his look was serious as he turned to Kite. "Would you like to fill Animus and Hypnos in or should I?"
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“You can do it, if that alright.” Kite waved at the Obrimos as he took a seat. “Truth be told, I am hoping that hearing you recount the facts of this case will give me some ideas, maybe highlight something we missed….”
"As long as someone gives us the up and up, I don't think it really matters..." Hypnos said as she seated herself, "But uh, what did exactly happen? I'm still a bit confused."
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Animus reins in his feelings of dread and agitation long enough to get settled in the meeting room with the door closed, but Leo ( Xander ) and Kite's ( DaveJ ) verbal ping-pong match finally pushes him over the edge. Narrowed eyes focus first on one then the other, and the two mages are left with the impression of a wolf on the prowl. "I don't particularly for your little game of pass-the-buck. I do care that someone start talking about how a missing person investigation led you to that Sanctum, and whether one of the members of my former Cabal might be the victim. Now."
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Animus' statement immediately caused Kite's eyes to narrow at the former Hierach. He quickly forced his eyes closed and took in a deep breath, willing himself to be calm as he stood from his chair. Then, with a perfectly neutral expression, a perfectly neutral stance and a surprisingly perfectly-modulated voice, Kite addressed the former Hierarch.
“Animus, can we speak in private for a brief moment?”
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Leo's optimism was quickly turning to dread at the prospect of this new collaboration. It was obvious Animus had a personal connection to this place and the possibility that one of his own might be dead. His temper and impatience were something Matt remembered quite well from right after his awakening, but surely a former Heirarch and current Sentinel would have learned that lesson already. Right?
"Wait." Leo says as he holds his hand out to Kite. "First the investigation." Leo leaned back in his seat and turned to Animus. "It started not to long ago when we happened across a trail of blood, a broken pair of glasses, and a phone at (location*) in the city. Toren picked up some of the blood with his handkerchief, Halo got the phone, and Kite picked up the glasses. Using Forces magic, Halo was able to identify fresh tire tracks that had recently, and hurriedly sped out from an alley. We're assuming someone was abducted, but before we could do anything more we noticed people were starting to stare. Our presence was starting to draw attention so we quickly vacated to the Javalounge nearby."
The Arrow takes a deep breath as the he collects his thoughts. "Once at the Javalounge Kite used Mind magic to keep us unnoticed by the general public. We put the sim card from the smashed phone at the crime scene into Torens phone, and found the contacts A and ATBL inside." Leo pauses for a second as he connects A to Animus and Halo's pulled address to Renascentia's cabal. After a second pause and another deep breath the Arrow continues. "There was also a text on the phone that said 'I have a flat, I'll be there ASAP'. Toren also scryed on the blood, but didn't tell anyone what he saw. Dude acted all sorts of weird after that. Me Kite and Weavebreaker went back to the crime scene to find shards of glass from the vehicle that abducted the victim for Toren to scry and get a more recent location. When we returned the others had left." He sighs briefly and takes a bit to make sure nothing was left out.
"That's where the sanctum comes in. Halo and Toren through some manner of something managed to get the address of your sanctum from the phone. When we got there Toren was storming off. Dude wouldn't even scry on the glass we recovered! We went inside to find Halo breaking into a door in the kitchen. Then a wolf head grew out of the door and bit him. Thing dam near tore his hand off. We all booked it. Anyway, we came to the Rage to ask about Apostates who could've owned the house, as well as some funky R&B with animal noises mixed over it. Anyway, when you mentioned your history with the place Jammer became irrelevant. So here we are."
Leo pauses for a second then remembers one more thing. "Oh, and we recently got a another text. Said they had a bug problem, probably us, and that they were low on 'ingredients'. Any idea what they were talking about?"
For a second Leo pondered giving Animus the phone to dial ATBL and see what happened, but decided to hold off. He wasn't sure what they would get on the other line and the Shaman was already emotional. It might be more harmful then anything else.
Location*
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Animal noises.
Flashes of memory. The first dance. Fighting side-by-side. The Astral journey. His lover's goodbye.
"Triquetra ..." The Thyrsus' mask of hotblooded impetuousness shatters in a wave of grief-fueled nausia. The room and everyone in it felt insubstantial. Could it even be real? He sinks into a chair, screwing his eyes shut, and words begin tumbling over each other. "She said she had an assignment that would take her outside the city, and I was afraid to contact her because I thought it would put her in danger. But if something happened to her, and I could have prevented it or at least done something for her ..."
He finally trails off, resting his head on the table and fighting back tears. The surface is just a bit cool to the touch and provides just the slightest physical anchor to latch onto.
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Kite warily lowered himself back into his chair, looking towards Leo as he recounted the events so far. He listened patiently, mentally recalling all of the events as Leo recounted them. Animus’ mention of Triquetra seemed to bring an involuntary grimace to Kite’s face, but it was something Leo said – or did not say - that caused him to add to the conversation.
“Leo, don’t forget the California Young Sleuths – the CYS – that were combing the scene a short while after we found it.” Kite looked towards Animus. “When Leo, Weave and I went back to the crime scene from the Javalounge, we found them investigating the area, believing it to be a part of their ‘game.’” Kite frowned. “I don’t think it was a coincidence; while I don’t think they knew they were being used, I think they were unwittingly serving a purpose… possibly contaminating and explaining away a crime scene as something less malevolent, maybe… I don’t know.” Kite closed his eyes tight and held the bridge to his nose as he attempted to fend away a headache. “I know I want to rule them out… and I really want to know who gave them instructions to investigate that area for their ‘game’, if only to rule them out…”
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Leo nodded along with Kite, but was more worried about how Animus was taking the information. He gave Animus a minute to take in the information he was just given. It seemed he was close to the victim, and since they already knew the victim was Awakened Leo figured Triquetra was a former cabalmate. Of coarse the Theurgist knew nothing beyond that. Sibling? Girlfriend? Boyfriend? The Arrow had no clue and the shadow name wasn't as gender obvious as he'd like it to be.
"Animus," Leo started as gently as he could, trying his hardest not to push the Shaman to hard. "I need to ask you something. Were there other members of your cabal that could be targeted? Other people who could've suffered a similar fate? There were two contacts on Triquetra's phone, A and ATBL. Do you have any idea who ATBL could be?"
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