Meeting in the Gardens

[Skye]

Letting Corn speak his words without adding anything, fully understanding being full of words herself.
”I see your point, but using you as the means to find him is the strongest, hence something to do the moment we are ready to act then sever it. Until we act you should not leave your cover here, they will know no matter which path we take hence we should preserve the strongest to break through any potential defenses right?”

Nodding at him.
”They will either hate you or mourn you, if they mourn you your life is forfeited, your job, your resume, your chance to walk these streets everything is gone. If they hate you so can you still walk freely, the choice is ultimately yours.” Placing a hand upon his shoulder. ”It is harsh, but this cannot be to sugar coated, you need to see the truth in full then decide how to move forward, this if you survive of course.” Giving him a gentle nod in response to the rest of his words, glad that she was away with people that could be emotionally there for her. Then feeling a bit off, biting down but hiding her feelings, did that align with the date he had told her or was she just having to much to think of?

Turning her head toward Phoenyx.
”I think I saw Salem once, and have seen Eidolon once, but that is about the extent of it so cannot give you any insight into them at all more than their appearance.” A light nod. ”Likely, and likely more of us, if they know who he is in full so is it likely a trap for as many of us as possible for some aim or goal, hence why we cannot act brazingly.”

Back to Corn.
”Light and durable yes, if I could slither it around my arm and quickly throw it out so would it be ideal, slither around my waist might work as well, else as foldable as possible to conceal as long as it can be drawn and quickly assembled. The ultimate would be a sleeve it could be slithered around or into, but the main part is to be able to carry it concealed and quickly get in my hand in working order.”

Turning as she saw the third arrow enter herself casually dressed, speaking in a calm and collected voice with a serious look upon her lacking the usual playfulness she tends to have.
”Hi Knight, let me save Rosy here the emotional heartache. He has a wife and a very young son cannot walk yet old, he recently left his son at his in laws and his wife´s younger brother. Nothing was off, all seemed normal. When he returned a few hours later his in laws had been killed by his wives brother with a knife, at least from the looks of things, the younger brother dead as well, his son taken. Taken in such a manner that there wasn´t even a trace of him even having been there to begin with, everything was gone, diapers, items, nothing to prove he was ever there.” Waiting a moment. ”Rosy or Corn suspects Seers but we have absolutely no clue of who is truly behind it. His wife is with her remaining family at the moment, we have urged him not to leave the wards of the circle, he has some items that might have a sympathetic connection to his son whom I have taken to call Cloud. His life with his family is over no matter what happens, we are currently in talks of severing and using sympathetic connection to find him, and if he is alive but not until we are ready, not until we have a clear plan.” Tapping her lips for a second. ”We do need to decide on how to act, and move onward as quickly as possible, our consideration is to talk with Eidolon or Salem but neither me or Phoenyx knows them, or anything about them, more than that I have seen them once. And I think that should be the most important parts, other than Corn having left clues for his potential death to be explained to his family and sleepers, but if he plans on faking it even if he does live through this is not fully clear.” Looking over at Corn and Phoenyx. ”Did I miss something?”

[Corn]

"Asclepius!" A clearly distraught Corn says when Asclepius enters. "Thank you for coming."
After Skye gives the synopsis he says "These are the important parts. Yes, my son has been taken, vanished without any trace and both my inlaws and brother in law are dead. I have sought the assistance of the Arrows.
We suspect mages, and we believe the supernatural is involved. Since the Enemy, whomever it is, has Cloud - that's the name I use around mages for my son, his shadow name, " and perhaps his only name as he may not survive to be Baptised ... no! no such thoughts, "the sympathetic connection with me is strong. I have not taken any action yet, I have not tried to scry on Cloud for fear of triggering any wards. We suspect this is a trap."

He takes a moment to keep his composure. "At this point, I don't care what happens to me after we deal with this. Talks about how I would disappear from the lives of my loved ones should take place in the future. I suggested steps to make it seem I am dead because this may take weeks and they will look for me. But this discussion can wait. "
He turns to Skye and Phoenyx "I plan to tell the Consilium what happened next month. I expect them to take the news ... not well. Someone may try to kill me because, frankly, that's the easier way to eliminate me as a threat to everyone.
However, eliminating me will not make the enemy go away. The enemy probably first figured I was a mage and then targeted my family because I have been reckless with how open I am about them. But I may well not be the first of us that the enemy found, I am just the easier to bait into a trap. If the Consilium decides that killing me is the quick way to remove the 'tagged' mage from their ranks, they will be ignoring the realities that someone or something was going around looking for mages. I am not more exposed than any of us that have a presence in the Sleeping world. If you go out for a beer, there may be the same group there, covertly figuring out your true nature and then shifting through your connections. It is just that my connections were very easy to find." he says with a sigh.

"The current plan of action seems to be me waiting here in the circle, for as long as it takes - and then looking for mages able to scry, using my connection with Cloud to locate him. As of that, I expect Cloud to be warded, so we may need numbers to pierce whatever Ward Cloud is in.
However, I would need advice on that - Enemies of the Pentacle, Seers, Banishers etc cannot scry in the Circle, cannot see the Circle. But we do not know if they can act through a Scrying window. If we scry Cloud from here we may invite retribution on the mage scrying.
What do you all think? I can scry, so I could lead a ritual and if they attack me... well, as long as Cloud is saved so be it.

I can also... apport. Create a window where I can draw a small living creature through. Cloud is just over a years old.
Considering how easy it is to apport, I am sure the enemy has taken steps to prevent it so I haven't tried it. I am tempted but I think it would be bad ... what do you think?

And then, it is the fact that we, as a consilium, simply cannot let the enemy get away with it. Saving Cloud is a goal for me, but as Phoenyx said, the Arrows protect mages, not their families. But to protect the Sacramento Consilium, those enemies should be dealt with and I am more than willing to put an end to them."

Corn seems eager to move past explanations or how to deal with his family and towards plans on how to deal with those that kidnapped his son.

[Asclepius]

Welp, that would do it.... now that explains the presence of Phoenyx and two more arrows. “Okay so.....” He breaths in deep taking in all the information that has been spoken too him, and trying to piece it all together into coherent sentences. “First of all my condolences to the loss of family, I imagine the scenario is hard upon your wife even if you are suffering even more given the information you possess, and thus my condolences for you as well. Moving towards the problem at hand, you suspect mages are at work with this instance of murder for the goal of stealing your son? Okay so if we go down this line of thinking we must ask ourselves, assuming you haven't done this already, when do you think the 'Enemy' learned of the child's existence and its connection to you? And if they are seeking to get one up upon a mage how would they know you were one from the scenario in question?” Letting his work mentality take over a little, he does not refer to cloud by name as to keep himself distance and rational when it comes to discussing him. He opts to keep himself cold to the subject as to make it easier to deal with the situation and not be clouded by the emotion of the scenario.

“In regards to your summery of the plan you have crafted, it is a sensible one. While I recognise the fear of someone killing you to secure safety of the Consilium I will say that such worries are for once the child is secure. This leads to my next point, while I understand that this is certainly a world shattering event to have happen to you, I fear your judgements and rationalisation might be effected by the connection of the scenario and preface that if my words seem cold it is because I am trying to secure the best outcome.” He looks down for a moment to give some breathing room for his last statement before composing himself and continuing. “I also recognise that you desire to secure your child back from whoever dared to take them, haste is key here while also being a hindrance, we need information before going guns and knives blazing into a fight. Other then what I have asked you, what information do you have on the events? You would have access to the in-laws, should you ask I am assuming? Maybe there might be some resonance left on them to confirm the suspicion that mages are involved... hell might even be a link to the person that has done it.”

“As far as your suggestion about Scrying, I am afraid I am out of my depth. I know little about the abilities outside my own pool of arcane knowledge so whatever information you have on the spell is what I would rely on. I imagine that if they are a mage that they do not care for their hostage and are looking to secure a wider goal so maybe he might not be protected as to lure you in.” Any possibility is a plausible one without more information. Lord knows we need the hope of anything now, for the child's sake let alone Corn's, god working around the subject of kids is always hard.

“As far as dealing with the future of your family, however this turns out, will be a simple solution should you chose it, living with it is the problem... But we will burn that bridge when we come to it.” He know not everyone could stomach pushing away close people in your life for their sake but this might be a second awakening for Corn should he want it.

“So apart from possibly getting you to repeat conversations already had... where do you need me? And where can I chip in to help? Because you have called for my aid and my word is true, you shall have it.” He looks the the three other mages, waiting for their responses and plans.

[Skye]

Looking over at Knight.
”He routinely goes on walks with his wife and their son, just shortly before the event in question so did we also talk about his son in an arcade along with pictures being shown, and got surrounded by some college girls. It could be related but don´t have to be, still it is not an impossible thing. Otherwise as said he goes on plenty of walks and his life with them are not a secret for anyone here, he has taken lives before and done works for the Consilium so for it all to be connected is not impossible, but not a given.” Looking back to Corn to fill in some blanks there then back to Knight. ”Next do note that it is not improbable that people here do would take his life to guard us, it would be stupid in the long sense of things as I doubt the enemy is just his enemy and not all of our enemies so it would only maje us sit waiting for the next attack with nothing prepared, still his right will be in danger. Our word that we are working on it might be a saving grace for him.” He will be in trouble no matter what though.

”It is true that you are not more exposed Corn, simply the one with the grandest weakness.” Looking over to Knight once more. ”Take you and I for example what can they do? Go after the other of us or of our order? My home or your car? Well go after one of us and they might be in trouble, go after a physical object and it can be replaced, Corn is the only one here with an obvious weakness cruel as it is to say.”

”I think the best path of scrying is to utilize the concilium meeting, ask those who are the best at it for the path to take, we can speculate or talk of a plan, but in the end using their expertise is more beneficial. I am not one to make a plan in haste when there is an obviously better path to take, and in this scenario that is to use one who knows more in the Arcana. But if you can lead so yes, do offer it, that will make it more likely that we will get a favorable response.” Looking back to Knight. ”We can speculate to infinity, nothing is a given, all we can do is make up a basic plan and see how it goes, also why I do not want to dig deep into this until we have found the best ones in the field to get their input.” That would likely just change every plan anyways.

”True and Firebird is right, strictly spoken Cloud means nothing to us, he is nothing but another sleeper. But to leave an enemy targeting one of us like this is as said to likely just wait to see whom of us they will strike next hence dealing with this is likely a manner to protect us all, but from an order perspective so is dealing with them a priority, saving Cloud is secondary at best.” Looking back at Knight and then to Corn. ”Personal feelings aside, do not dig into them I am stating order perspective as a whole.”

”My plan is for us to speak with the best Space Arcana masters we have, and for us to reconvene, for Corn to be bound to not leave the circle, and make sure we can act as soon as possible but we do not have information enough to act just yet. I do not like our meeting here though.” Looking over at Knight. ”I get why he called you here, but I am bothered by the fact that Lilac is the single member of our order not here. My presence I got, to have brought Firebird one thing but with us both and now you here so is this nothing short of an insult to Lilac which I do not enjoy especially as they are likely close by.”

[Corn]

@Asclepius gets it , Corn thinks. About his priorities, his clouded judgment at the time and haste being both key and hindrance. And the lack of information. "Asclepius is right." He says. He wants to answer his questions but the emotions get in the way so, when Skye starts answering he lets her. "Skye is correct," he says about the info she shares. It is good to have friends that can voice what you cannot. He doesn't smile to her but adds some warmth to his voice. Would I ever smile again?
He nods in agreement until she gives the unnecessary reminder that as far as orders and consilium is concerned, Cloud is for all others, a secondary objective at best. Some things need to be said. "Since we are involved in this, let me clear something out. Cloud's life is not a secondary objective for me. My own survival is secondary. I know this is not the same for your order and this consilium, but this sleeper is my son."

He turns to Asclepius again, "I had a nice relationship with my in-laws," until they were killed, "but I cannot reach to them through time before their deaths. Perhaps others can. "

"As part of the planning, I can perhaps help by making items. While many of things I can put in potions you guys can do better, having a potion on you won't add to your contagion. As for your bow, Skye . After some initial plans are drawn, I can make something with magic for you to see. Then, if it works, I can duplicate it. Provided same quality materials, the Duplicate can be permanent, even if the original is not. Then, I could enhance the duplicate so that it would be folding and all, but still serviceable without snapping - folding bows have weaker structure but they don't have to."

When Joyeuse is mentioned, Corn nods again. "They are avoiding much contact with Sleepers. If I have the greater weakness, they are among the strongest. A person like them would be valuable, I think." And if I somehow survive this, they may help me figure out how a hermit lives. Is it life, or simple continuance? No, those are thoughts for later. Cloud first.

I lost my original post, and I have copy-pasted a link over it, so I had to rewrite a brief version of it.
Alchemy has been house ruled: Alchemy - Edge of Darkness Wiki (nwod.org)

[Asclepius]

Looking towards his fellow Alluring Arrow, her calming presence certainly helping make the situation logical and not too emotional for the time being. “Unless he made a big scene in front of his wife I doubt it could be any of those as the culprit situation, because they would have killed her too. Its not just a case of Cloud being seen but also evidence that there is a mage present, if I am going off tangent with this then stop me of course. This could as you say be a long occurring grudge but surely they would have done so sooner, I thought It might have given us a hint of this foe. As far are the rest of the mages of the circle go, we will need corn for information about the incident, what happens to him can come after.” He looks down for a moment giving pause for thought. we need to think logically now, we could all be in danger.

Looking up back at Skye at her mention of a potential path forward. “Yes Scrying could certainly help us with locating the child. In the mean time others can look for more information while this goes on.”

Asclepius wincing at Skyes words of Cloud being a secondary objective from an order point of view, not because he disagreed but more so that they need corn to be calm an not emotional. He prepared himself for a possible inflamed response to her words.

Nodding to Skyes final statements. “I agree however I would like to add a couple of things. Firstly I would like say that I am in agreement that Corn be locked in the circle however I feel that we might need him for one thing that could be helpful to us all.” He turns to Corn. “I am assuming that you as a family relative would be given access if you requested at the morgue, grim as it sounds, I feel we should go examine the bodies to gather potential evidence to aid us. Also as a second potential stop we could do the same at the scene of the crime.” Turning to Skye once more. “I agree the exclusion of Joyeuse currently doesn't sit well with me, they are a member of the Arrows the same as us. It is their choice to decide if they want to get involved, regardless now this seems to be Arrow business and frankly we will need all of the order, Joyeuse seems to have a good head on their shoulders and I should like to hear their input.”

Turning to Corn to address his comments. Here come the emotional words, I will need to address this first as he will go off the rails without reassurance. “Corn I agree with your point of view, I understand your son is not secondary to you, let it be known that we are going to do our best to achieve the best outcome we can to the best of our ability, you are very fragile right now, and that is understandable. Do not let our words of planning make you feel we are not doing the best we can for cloud. Noone here wants to let anything happen to him, it goes against our word to protect the circle and personal feelings with regard to the situation.” he takes a moment and tries to give a reassuring nod to Corn to show that there is care and not intent to dismiss his loss and tragedy. “Now moving onto the next points.... out of interest, has there been any ransom note? Any indication of trade for the child?” unlikely given the potential foe that did this but hey ho worth a shot. “What is the local area like near your in-laws house, any homeless that live on the street that are regular? Perhaps any late night places open that could have seen someone moving with a child? Would you be also willing to go back to the in-laws house to do an investigation for something that the sleeper police could have missed?” Asclepius nods at Corns words crafting and building for Skye and others. “Something to put effort towards isn't a bad idea, as long as it isn't going overboard. Good suggestion.”

[Skye]

Eyes darting down to Corn.
”Naturally he is not, there is nothing more important than Cloud´s wellbeing, if that was not your mind on the matter so would I beat the ever living crap out of you myself. A parent who does not put their child first is not a parent, they are scum.” A glimmer of anger flashing within her eyes at the words, leaving no confusion whether she was serious or not. ”I think part of the question at least were aimed to if you could have access to their remains, in present time not through time, there might be clues there for one with the right skills.”

Shaking her head.
”I am not well versed with potions, but unless you can make them without affecting your skills to utilize your arcana freely so do I fear they might be weakened, a more important matter might be for you to prepare our primary weapons when we do approach, affecting several at once with various boons. I am certain we will all be fighting with weapons more so than arcana prowess when the time comes, so having them enhanced would do more good. If you can make multiple concoctions without it affecting you though so is healing ones always a good backup to have, neither my own healing nor the skills of Knight might be ready in time if things go to heavily south, so one backup there is never a bad thing to have access to, especially with the mana drain of healing.”

Meeting her fellow arrows eyes.
”Never underestimate proper research, he does not tend to wear visible spells in his pattern no, but he might have been identified at one moment, then tracked down at another. A major difference with his wife and his child is the connection a child is the closest connection there is, or well one of them. It is also the strongest motivational factor, also take into account and I am sorry to say this Rosy but leaving his wife unharmed is actually quite genius. It leaves him with the distress of her, having to handle her emotions along with keeping up the lies to her knowing more of what has transpired than her. Hence splitting him in very different ways, and waiting for the right time would hardly be strange in our circles, heck even the right arcana could have guided them to the perfect moment. Still we are speculating at best, we do not have the full image, the second we think we do we are dead, a moment of thinking we have it all figured out will make us blind.” A silent nod. ”You think so, I think so, some might fully disagree, hence why we need to be vigilant and ready in what to say at the grander meeting to make sure that path is taken.” Our world is not kind brother, many here unknowns.

Nodding once more.
”I do agree to an extent, however I do not think we should let Corn do those alone, instead it would be better if one he could trust would do it for him. We would need the people with the right skill set to accompany of course, but to just change our appearance to be his mirror copy is not a hard task to pull off. And comes without the sympathic connection to him, the one drawback though.” Turning her head to Corn. ”Your name would be forfeit, someone would learn your actual name, that is just as likely with someone following along of course but it is still your name given, coming around that for the morgue would need you present and the one joining to block their hearing, something that does have its own risks with you out and about.” Showing a brief smile to Knight. ”Yes, we will need their input, I fully plan on filling them in after this, how they will act is not of the major concern but to have them in the loop is paramount.”

Whistling at the words of her fellow arrow, loving the input but quickly interjecting at Corn going there.
”Him leaving the circle is a danger, we need to be careful with that, it is not something we can allow casually for the safety of both him, the circle, and Cloud alike. But we do have a clock over our heads moving at a pace we do not know.” Having already spoken her mind on how it might be better to use a doppelganger so not feeling the need to add more.

Grinning with excitement at talks of the bow with a look to Corn, eagerly nodding.
”Yes please do, I trust your skills in the field, the easier it is to hide, the stronger it is, the more durable, the grander and the fiercer I will let my arrows fly through the neck of these scum.” If man is worlds deadliest game, what is hunting mages with a bow considered? ”You have my parameters so tell me what you need from me and I will aid.”

[Corn]

Mentions of his wife being murdered to drive the case home are like punches to a stomach that can't take more punches. "Maria has no idea why this is happening. She can't see the connection between the mass murder of her close relatives and the disappearance - without a note Asclepius - of our child. Every time the phone rings, she jumps up. The first days we were hoping it would be a ransom message or a "missing baby found!" news. We thought - she still thinks - that maybe Alex ... did something ... to Cloud and eliminated the evidence before he ... " Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out "... before he killed everyone. But as there was no evidence at all that a baby was ever there, none at all, and no tissue, blood, or hair of Cloud on Alex or in the house, I know, I have looked and I know my son's life pattern, to me it was quite obvious that someone magically eliminated all evidence. To my wife, that doesn't even believe in ghosts, it is not. "

Then he answers Asclepius on accompanying them to the morgue. "I can ward myself but... would you trust to be with me? Wards can be overcome. I can be scried. And someone with fate or time or both, would know when to scry. However, if you do want to take that risk, yes, I am willing to go. I could even determine the reason - or apparent reason - of death. Whether my inlaws were dead before the lacerations. Perhaps I could unveil or unmask something as they could have died in a different way and the perpetrators may have veiled the way with death arcanum.
The house now... that may be a bit more complicated, although I am willing to risk it. You see, when the child disappears without a trace and the father drops off the face of the earth, the father becomes the suspect. In many, some articles say most, cases of kidnapping and child disappearance, one of the parents is usually the perpetrator. Of course the main issue with the house is that it will probably be surveyed by whomever did this, whether a mage or other supernatural.
I do have the keys for my in-laws house though, and since they died suddenly, there are issues and need for me or my wife to go there to set their affairs in order. Again, if you are willing to risk it, I am willing to do it. " I am willing to do anything than stay here and wait for my family to drop dead.
"The reason I am not acting out right now is... I don't trust my judgement. " he says quietly.
On the matter of Joyeuse he doesn't have anything to add.

Then a glimmer of hope. Asclepius seems to be forming a plan! Yes, locals. Residents. Bars... "We could even talk to stray dogs, in a way..." he mutters. "And there could be ghosts or spirits."
"Yes, I will think and try to remember! I will spend the night in the cell writing down what I know. I would google the area too. " His mind goes places.
"There was a Guardian of the Veil that was a policeman. I don't remember his name. Does any one of you know of him? Or how to reach him? He can kill me afterwards for all he wants but those that did that are a bigger threat to the veil than I am."
Skye mentions mana. Well, he has to make that point. "Mana... You may not like what I will have to say Skye, but please bear with me." he turns to Phoenyx and Asclepius. "If I give you some money, could you procure a few ... chicken for me? Living Chicken. " the implication, after mentioning the need of mana should be quite obvious. He avoided looking at Skye.

On the matter of identifying him as a mage, he confirms what Skye said. "As Skye said, I do not walk around with magic active. I don't know how they figured out I am a mage. As Skye said, I am just the most easy to manipulate."
Skye mentions that he may have to reveal his name and he gives a mirthless chuckle. "I don't care if my name comes out as long as we make a step, a tiny step, to save Cloud. I don't care if my eyes come out of my skull, Skye, as long as it helps us get Cloud back. " You are in a way lucky you cannot know that angst and pain I feel.

On the matter of the bow, he says "I am not that good in conventional crafting, to be honest. But I will draw what I think, we can design this together, if you want, as two brains are better than one and then I will make it with magic and then make a copy that and make it more durable."

[Asclepius]

He stood there watching silently for a moment, Skyes sudden outburst about a parent that does not care for their own child being scum too him by surprise. He did make a note of the interaction as it was another piece of the jigsaw of her past. Jesus... well I guess that was some bottled anger coming out, we are all effected by this in some ways so it's no surprise. “Let's channel some of that into finding Cloud, use it to drive us forward.” He offered a smile but he knew it was little help for them all.

While Skye and Corn spoke of crafting and alchemy, he took an opportunity to collect his thoughts on the information. He tapped his head lightly and paced for a moment as he ordered the information given to try and make a scene in his mind as if to try and think about more logical steps towards getting more help.

He looks up once they were done speaking about the crafting. “Yes she leaves an open weakness, in case there is complications certainly, a reminder of something else he has left to lose. My thoughts lead me to question how he knew where you dropped the child off. Have you been checked for any trackers? Did you drive to your in-laws? Did you check the car for any foreign devices that could transmit?” He begins to give a look to Corn, his eyes begin to dart over him looking for anything out of place on the man's clothing.

“You are correct Skye, he should not be left alone outside of the Circle. I intend on accompanying him while we visit possible helpful locations.” Turning to Corn. “Should that be acceptable to you of course. If it hurts to much to revisit some of the scenes, I can always visit the In-laws house myself with another Arrow to spare the pain. We would of course need keys if you have any.” Turning back to Skye with a concerned look. “I understand your words. Him leaving is dangerous for the circle yes, however, there are a couple of things to take into account. Firstly, look at him, he may not look it currently but I bet he burns with a deep fury to find his child and face the guy or gal that did this, either with us or without us. Secondly we are going to need all the help we can get and Corn's personal attachments to the scenario could help put some missing pieces together. We can only do so much to mitigate...” a look to Corn. “... if you feel that an action puts people in too much danger feel free to step back, I have no intention of stopping you from playing a part in saving your child. Unless of course the danger grows too much for you to be present and then I am afraid we must ask you to stay here.”

He Continued on with Corn's questions and offered a reassuring look as he spoke. “Trust goes both ways... I have no issue travelling with you, even with the apparent dangers. At the end of the day, there is something we all need to achieve in the end goal of this. I am an Arrow, and such dangers are part and parcel of being one...” A look to Skye and Phoenyx. “...Existence is war, if I am not mistaken.” He snapped Quickly back to Corn at the mention of the Death Arcanum. “Yes that would be perfect in helping at the morgue, I am not versed in it and don't really know its uses but this could bring some things to light.” He nods to the mention of the house and to possible problems surrounding it. “It is a little risky yes but I could always bring my paramedic uniform and make it look like a formality of the deaths caused to an onlooker. However if it feels like a bust, I can simply survey the surrounding area to see If any homeless spotted anything like I mentioned before. You are correct to not trust your judgement currently, the wounds are fresh, take care of your own mental sanity as well.”

A frown upon his face at the mention of chickens, such a dirty practice but alas needed if in a pinch. “Should we desperately need of the Mana, for a spell you provide, I will go buy you some. I do not wish to sacrifice the life of an animal if there is no need, especially if you could not use Scouring to get the amount of Mana needed painful as it is.”

[Phoenyx]

Phoneyx shook her head. Did Corn honestly beleive he was no more exposed than her? She was running out of ways to explain. It was obvious Corn thought of himself as the standard level of exposure to Sleepers. Then he tried torationalise that everyone was equally as at risk because it made him feel like his mistake was justified. Such delusions were provin gdifficult to shake.

The Arrow inclines her head towards Asclepius, opting to make a small amount of distance for Corn to... well, talk. it seemed she was in the midst of three avid talkers, so it was easier to wait until they circled back around to needing her. Corn's eagerness that Asclepius was forming the same plan she had explained earlier rankled. Return to the scene, gather evidence...

Eventually the Obrimos came out of her selfimposed reverie to try and get the ever-wanderign and seemily verbose arrows to something more precise. "As I said before, and as has been reiterated by Asclepius, we need more information. Joyeuse avoids contact with Sleepers, but that does not mean they will not act - just as I do. They seem to avoid it the sensible amont for a Mage." She tries to avoid pointing the comment too directly at Corn, lest there be another self-defensive lecture.

"Discussing every hypothetical will waste time. We should investigate the house for clues. We are aware of the risks. We need ways to trace these aggressors - whoever they are. That is the next step." Why did people need to explain every non-essential detail, probe every hypothetical?