Little Boy Lost

**Forn Clakes** · May 29th, 2014 11:19 AM

As the dusk turns to night and the day is drawing to a close, so too does the local Safeway store. Under bright fluorescent lights the few staff still working are busy clock watching, counting down the minutes until they can lock the main entrance to stop anymore late-night shoppers from keeping them from their own lives. Certainly, there were still a few stragglers still doing a spot of last-minute shopping inside but very soon a quick tannoy and some switching off of the lights in select aisles should work wonders in rounding up those damned customers that just wouldn't get the hint.

At the moment the stragglers consisted of a middleaged, slightly overweight man who is sweating more than necessary, a guy in his early-twenties with blonde hair and blue eyes, a girl with auburn hair and willowy build, a man who looks like he spends way too much time in the sun, and a woman in her early forties who is focusing way too much on her iPhone than the shopping trolley she is attempting to push around.

"Owen?" the woman says, finally looking up from her phone. Her head turned to glance up and down the aisle, seeing nothing but various soda and fruit juices. "Owen hunny?!" she called out again as she walked down the aisle, abandoning her half-filled trolley. Reaching the end, panic began to set in.

"OWEN!" she shouted out, this time her voice oscillating between anger and fear as she realises that the person she's looking for is not answering her frantic call. Catching the attention of her fellow shoppers with her panicked tones, it would be easy to assume that this was a job for the mundane authorities is it wasn't for the breathtakingly beautiful turquoise hedgespun scarf wrapped delicately around her neck...

May 29th, 2014 01:48 PM

Harlan had been meandering inefficiently through the aisles, one webbed hand gripping a basket that held several frozen meals. After a day of working, cooking for other people, he felt little desire to cook again for just himself. He simply wanted to get home - such as it was - and take his shoes off his fins. He'd had to roll them to fit, and that got a bit painful after a while, but the alternatives were either going shoeless or mutilating himself again. Neither seemed a better option than a little discomfort.

The woman's yelling drew Harlan's focus, sympathy creasing his brow. He gave a quick look around, trying to spot 'Owen' hiding or playing somewhere, before he looked back to the woman. And her scarf.

He reached out for her apparent fear and panic, seeking the honesty of her emotion, suspicious as to the authenticity of what he was witnessing. Harlan certainly felt he could empathize with the worry of a parent for a child, but being sold into magical slavery could do a lot to a man's ability to trust.

OOC

**Trickster** · May 29th, 2014 05:57 PM

Lynn was staring wistfully at the bakery counter, trying to decide between a set of double chocolate cookies and a large hunk of fudge brownie covered in cream cheese icing. She had a basket full of real food (ok, maybe mostly junk food and microwave meals) that she fully intended to eat, but this was her chance to have a treat. And when you've walked back into the real world after escaping from the Fey, very few people can argue with the thought of eating desert first.

"Owen?"

With a faintly guilty grin, Lynn finally decided to take both, placing them carefully in the top of her basket and starting towards the front of the store.

"Owen, hunny?"

Lynn looked around, the clear panic in the woman's voice catching her attention. At the far end of the aisle, there was a woman looking around, obviously searching for a child. She would have helped anyways, but the scarf caught her attention. She set the basket down and was walking toward her when she caught sight of Harlan, a fellow new comer that she had met recently. Her brow wrinkling in slight confusion, she nodded at him in acknowledgement before moving closer to the woman.

"Ma'am?" Lynn absently adjusted the strap to her violin case slung over one shoulder. "Can I help you?"

**Daniel Leto** · May 29th, 2014 07:52 PM

Daniel had a sparse cart filled with cheap groceries. A large bag of rice took up most of the cart and the closest things to fresh vegetables was a sack of potatoes. It was about the same thing he had gotten for the past couple months. Bland but it kept him in budget.

Then he heard the cries of distress. Looking the direction of the calls, Daniel noticed the hedgespun blue scarf. Was it a fellow changeling or could this be a lure? There were others taking notice as well. For a second he thought he recognized the woman with an instrument on her back it but it was only for a moment.

Daniel approached slowly. While it could be a trick, the call to ease pain still held sway. "Hello. Do you need help finding someone?"

May 30th, 2014 11:01 AM

One can of beans.

Slow down, big spender.

A last-minute 'kind' donation from a sharp-looking gentlemen in a suit had now landed him dinner. He'd smiled and gone to say thankyou, but then he'd felt it.

Revulsion. Disgust. A sense of superiority.

Sometimes, it really sucked to be able to taste the emotions of others.

A dollar was still a dollar, and his belly was telling him a dollar meant dinner for tonight. As he prepared to checkout, the shouting gave a moment of respite from his hunger pangs. The elemental turns and looks over, his eyes immediately locking onto the scarf. That's not normal.

Reef's face remains passive, and he refrains from addressing the woman. The others, courtiers no less, were already doing so. Instead, Reef begins to feel the area, allowing his senses to try and pick up anything strange around him. He'd only tried it a few times, the first by accident, but the feeling seemed to be accurate most of the time. If something was going on, the elemental wanted to be in the know.

-1 WP to activate Kenning

2 Suxx

**Forn Clakes** · May 31st, 2014 01:49 AM

When her fellow customer come to the woman's aid, they can see the tears starting to glisten behind her eyes, her emotions straining to be contained.

"My son, Owen! He was right here," she says in rushed tones, looking between Lynn and Daniel before her eyes scanned the store again. Her iPhone seems forgotten, although still in hand, and the scarf seems to shimmer with her movements, captivating in its elegance. "Owen, come out, hunny!"

Nearby, one of the Safeway's staff members is starting to head over, and brushes past Harlan without a word, who doesn't seem able to Harvest any Glamour from the poor woman.

Opening his mind around him, allowing his skewed perceptions to give way to the flows of the supernatural, Reef cannot believe his luck....whispers creep through the mind, the tailored secrets of the world given shape....suddenly, silence....Smoke obscures the senses....hidden amongst the mundane....falling leaves Fleeting towards bronze....a grotesque mask of bone and oblivion....

"Can I help with anything?" the staff member, Kathy, asks. By the looks of it, she's really hoping not.

OOC

May 31st, 2014 08:51 AM

Harlan watched the woman for a long moment, trying to connect with her feelings and finding himself incapable. His obvious uncertainty colored his expression. Am I just too inexperienced? Is she lying? Could this be a trick? Is she even really human? His thoughts jumbled together annoyingly, until Harlan decided to simply deal with what was in front of him and handle complications as they arose.

For now, only one complication weighed on his mind: Owen. Missing?

People – no, other changelings – were already stepping forward to aid the woman. The mother?

As a one-time captive of the Fae seagod he'd come to know as the King Crowned in Lures, Harlan felt himself in a unique position to identify a trap when he saw one, and what more tempting bait to draw in Lost slaves? While the pair of Darklings moved nearer, Harlan held back. Still, fully aware that time is precious, he felt obligated to speak up and involve himself.

“How old is Owen? Do you have a picture? What's Owen wearing right now?” He looks to Kathy, then addresses both women. “Does he know his name? Maybe this nice lady can make an announcement, call for him on the speaker?"

**Trickster** · May 31st, 2014 09:19 PM

Lynn stayed near the woman, projecting an aura of calm in the hopes that the mother could keep it together. But she had a sudden feeling of foreboding and turned to look at the store clerk, reaching out in an effort to touch the second woman's emotions. She had a feeling she was going to need as much strength as possible, quite soon.

Satisfied, she turned back to the mother, waiting for her to give them more information, a place to start looking.

**Parable** · May 31st, 2014 10:22 PM

Daniel listened to the woman as she expressed her fear and sorrow. Her words held an increasing panic. Almost without thinking Daniel supped upon her emotion. It tasted of sweet water held behind a crumbling damn. There was also a tinge of bitterness from his own shame at gaining nourishment from this woman's tragedy.

Daniel took a deep breath "He's right," indicating the gilled man "You should make an announcement," Daniel says to the clerk.

Looking back at the woman, Daniel begins examining her more closely but his eyes keep being drawn back to the scarf. Why would a mortal have something like that? They wouldn't. He pondered on that for a few seconds.

We'll help you find him if you can tell us what he looks like..." Daniel hesitated before continuing And this may seem an odd question but did he give you that scarf?"

**Forn Clakes** · Jun 1st, 2014 12:03 PM

Reef ?

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-05-30 10:58:13		Reef rolls 7 to Kenning (10 Again)		4, 8, 8, 3, 5, 4, 2		2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-05-31 21:14:58		Trickster rolls 5 to Lynn attempts to harvest glamour from the store clerk (10 Again)		10, 6, 2, 10, 10, 10, 4, 7, 4		4 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-05-31 22:04:52		Daniel Leto rolls 8 to Comp3+Emp4+Harvest1 (10 Again)		10, 9, 4, 9, 7, 10, 1, 5, 1, 10, 2		5 successes