(Budding Thorns) Lost and Found

[Travisc06489]

She nods and smiles as Donovan and Seraphina both agree with her sentiment. At Seraphina's follow up, her face takes on a mischievous grin, and she beams "Sharks! They're really cool. But I've never seen one in real life."

The girl's face flushes with pride at Ingrid's enthusiasm. When pressed about her other abilities, though, she hesitates. "Well..." Katie says, sounding somewhat more reluctant. "The other stuff is pretty weird."

The lines of her mouth tighten as she tucks her lips, and she stares back at Ingrid with her too-wide eyes. "Cuz it's our fault we're different now."

"If you say so..." is her response, looking between the beautiful lady and the dirty, dusty guy. She takes a moment, probably mustering her courage. "Our mom hired a babysitter, even though I told her I'm old enough to watch Billy by myself..." She rolls her eyes. "But anyway, her name is Emily. And... well... one day I looked in her purse and saw some weird fruit snacks or candy or something. They were so ugly and they smelled real bad. But Billy dared me to eat one and I told him I would if he would. So we did. And it made me feel kinda sick. Billy, too." She frowns. "But we saw things then. Flowers would bloom all around Emily wherever she walked. Billy's eyes looked like hot coals and his skin got all sooty. And me..." She turns her head to the side and points at the gill-like slits. "I got these. And we... we..."

Katie's eyes begin to water, and her lip quivers. She's unable to continue, and she tries to bury her face in her hands. The webbing on her fingers stretches over her face, and she shudders with a few sobs.

[Ingrid]

Ingrid croons in sympathy, slowly reaches across with a comforting hand. If that works, the Darkling will slip across to Katie's side of the table and gently embrace the particularly tragic Lost in a gentle embrace. The Vernal Sovereign figures that is what Katie probably needs at right this moment.

Especially if they are to glean anything useful from the new Changeling.

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-11-11 17:45:44		Ingrid to be comforting rolls 9 to Manipulation + Empathy (10 Again, WillPower)		5, 10, 2, 7, 1, 9, 5, 2, 7, 4		2 successes

"Did... Did Emily take you anywhere?"

She wanted to ask more, but for the moment managed to hold her tongue. Too much, too soon, would only overwhelm Katie. Still - and with some reluctance - Ingrid continued to gently probe the girl once Katie had had a chance to compose herself and respond.

"Do you want us to find Emily? What did she look like?" The description was vague but Ingrid recognised the signs: either Emily was a Flowering Fairest or else she had a mantle of Spring. The Darkling did not like either option.

While she comforted the child, her eyes bounced to the others with a simple plea: find the food!

[Donovan Ackerman]

Donovan frowned as he heard what and how this had happened to Katie.


“Well, this is worse than a kick in the pants,” he said almost to himself “I think I know what’s goin’ on,” he said to the other Changeling adults.


The Woodwalker crotched down, sitting on his haunches “Katie, darlin’, this weren’t yer fault.”

“There were bad folk handin’ out those fruit snacks. Folk that knew what it could do. That it could make you and yer brother… like you are now. Special.” He sighed. How did you explain this to a kid?


“Cause once yer special like ya are now… they’d kidnap ya and sell ya to even worse Good Folk.“ Donovan grumbled a bit realizing what he’d just said. Habit. “But when I say Good Folk that ain’t the truth. We only call ‘em that cause insultin’ them makes ‘em angry. And when they’re angry, they do… terrible things. So we call em nice things. Like Fairies, and Gentry. ‘Cause otherwise they’re likely to hunt us down and kill us or make us slaves.”


“But we,” he indicated Ingrid and Sera and by extension the whole Freehold “Fight back against all those folk. We thought we’d stopped them from giving out any more fruit. So… I guess I’m sorry that you got caught up.” How many others were there out there like Katie? For all he knew the city’s changeling population had just quadrupled overnight.


“But right now, we need to know what happened to yer brother. You can't be cryin'. You need ta be brave. Can you do that? His voice was serious and seemed to expect a serious answer. Sometimes kids had to grow up quick. And when that happened you had to treat them like they were grown up. Because if this situation was happening like he thought it might, they needed to find the brother as soon as possible. No time for sorrow and tears.


"Did he got took?”

[Seraphina]

The Nix’s sapphires widen, “Really? Sharks? They don’t scare you?” she exclaims, “Cause between you and me, they kinda scare me.” Might as well still try and make some things light.

A gentle shake of her head, “I wouldn’t call anything weird, just slightly different. And different is a good thing.” A smile was then offered. Weird never seemed like a nice thing, people throwing on things that seemed different than what they were used to.

She then listens as Katies talks, and begins to feel her anger stir at this Emily chick. Was she simply careless or was this done on purpose? Either way she wanted to have a talk with her.

“Oh Katie, I’m so sorry. But this is not your fault or your brothers.” No, this was not on them. She wanted to reach out and hug the poor kid, but Ingrid reaches out first.

And Ingrid begins asking the right questions, and she catches the look. Right, food.

But she wants to hear what Donovan has to say. And nods in agreement as she stands, “That’s right, we’re special, not weird and there’s nothing wrong with being special. I personally think it makes us all kind of cool.” The smile returns.

“I’m going to see about some food and maybe something to drink.” Maybe something warm? She’d have to see what she could find and actually make work.

But then the air got cold, like, really cold. And she pauses to see Sasha approaching and smiles, offering a wave. But what to say.

“Heeeeey!” searching for words…searching for words, “This is our friend Katie and I’m about to go searching for something for her to eat. Ingrid and Donovan can fill you in on more, or you could help me and I could fill you in.” up to her.

She's just looking for something premade and if possible hot chocolate

[Travisc06489]

"Nah. They're in the ocean. They can't get us out here." she responds, matter-of-factly.

Katie doesn't push Ingrid away. She seems all too eager for comfort. For something to take her away from the moment and back to some sense of reality. As Ingrid pulls away from their embrace, Katie sniffles. "N-no. She's gone. I don't know what happened to her. The green guy told her to hide."

She looks thoughtful for a moment, then adds "You guys can see what she looks like, right? All her blonde hair has flowers in it. I think she's 19, and she's pretty tall. Probably taller than my mom. You... think you can find her?"

"Bad people?" she says, blinking a few times in surprise. She mulls over the idea, looking off at nothing. "They didn't make us eat'em. We did it. I'm supposed to look out for Billy and I didn't." She doesn't break off into tears again, but its clear by her demeanor that she regrets it.

The little girl seems enraptured by Donovan's words. Emboldened. She inhales sharply. "I think so." Then, with a but more confidence. "I hope not. Billy and me had a hiding spot. Somewhere other people can't get to. But I told him to stay there. I found this place, thought it was a good place to get help. When I went back to tell him about it he was gone. I didn't know what to do. So I came back. To ask for help."

Her eyes return to Seraphina again. She'd helped make sense of things too. "Ok. Be careful? Get enough for everybody." It's all she can offer, knowing as much as she does about the situation.

Too-wide eyes focus on the newcomer. With beautiful eyes of her own. Not brown, like Katie's, but purple. If the young girls' eyes could get any wider, she'd truly look like a fish. "Hi. I'm Katie. You're one of us, right?"

[Travisc06489]

A Medicine or Occult roll related to the fruit would be appropriate for Donovan, given his experience.

[Donovan Ackerman]

Donovan felt the chill go up his spine before he saw or heard…her. Donovan breathed in through his nose when she spoke. He turned, eyes hooded under furrowed brows. Her eyes still as violet and inviting as ever but the Woodwalker than to trust that kind of look from a Winter.


He stood silently for a few moments after Sera said he’d fill in the recently arrived Queen before seeming to decide something.


“This here is Katie. She and her brother got changed by eatin’ some fruit their babysitter had in her purse. It’s somethin’ me and mine were investigatin’ and workin’ to put a stop to. A Hedge fruit drug ring sorta thing. I had thought the whole thing had been settled. Guy at the top bought the farm,” if she knew what he was saying. And at least it spared him having to do it himself.


Though any more explanation would have to wait when he caught one detail. “This green guy, what did he look like and how did he sound? Did he have a funny way of talkin’?” He squatted back to her level “And why did he tell her to hide?” Had he taken over the business? Or was he still fighting the battle Donovan ought to have been?


He listened without interruption as she explained what the babysitter looked like. The expression of lingering guilt. And the hiding spot.


“Welp, you might be right you shouldn’t have taken stuff, but it still don’t mean that this is your fault. Still, no use cryin’ over spilt milk.”


“This hidin’ place, does anyone else know about it?”

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-11-14 18:53:15		Donovan rolls 6 to Int+Occult+Goblin Fruit Specialty (10 Again)		10, 9, 1, 4, 2, 4, 5		2 successes

[Ingrid]

Ingrid nodded along as Katie spoke. Her mind raced, putting together the pieces as the girl - the inexperienced Lost - let them fall from her eager young lips. Brother and sister separated. Confirmation that the baby sitter must have been a Flowering Fairest. Goblin fruit and... something else happened.

A second Lost. A green man. Hiding. Scattered, not separated. No wonder Katie has a desire to find her brother!

Something else was going on but before Ingrid can intervene, Donovan is asking his questions. Anything further from her might only unsettle Katie, especially because right now, Ingrid has a desire to speak.

So she lets Donovan take the lead again. Instead, Ingrid offers Katie another comforting squeeze to support the Wood Blood's honest words of advice.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-11-17 05:21:30		Ingrid to be comforting rolls 7 to Manipulation + Empathy + Striking Looks (10 Again)		10, 2, 5, 8, 8, 9, 8, 3		5 successes