Encounterlogs
Autumns Odd Encounter Sr Marcus
Autumn, the lighthouse keeper, faces a tense moment as she argues with Sophie about a mysterious paper, which the young girl fiercely protects and believes holds a spell to see her long-lost mother. As the defiant Sophie recites the spell—misguided by a duplicitous blue-haired individual—Autumn realizes the words actually strip away the girl's protections, placing her in mortal danger. A startling transformation occurs when a fly morphs into Lucas, the fae-like stranger with intentions to harm Sophie. Autumn jumps to action, chanting a counter-spell to revive the shield around them, but Lucas's speed presents a chilling threat as he wields his knife with malicious intent.
As the encounter unfolds, Autumn and Lucas exchange heated words. Lucas seems to enjoy his psychological games, revealing his mission to eradicate those who disrupt the hidden world's secrecy—like Sophie, whose persistent memory has rendered her a "problem" best dealt with severely. Autumn, compelled by duty and compassion, refuses to yield, offering Sophie a difficult choice: confinement away from the mortal realm or an unknown fate with Lucas. Resigned, Sophie chooses the former, and Autumn ensures Lucas leaves after calling in the Order for assistance. As representatives of the Order take Sophie into custody, ensuring her safety and containment, Autumn bids the girl a sorrowful goodbye and retreats to the safety of her lighthouse.
(Autumn's odd encounter(SRMarcus):SRMarcus)
[Sat Jan 13 2024]
In the lighthouse bedroom
This small room is sparse and serves as living quarters for the
lighthouse keeper. Rough stone walls form an insulated barrier from the sea
and begin to curve toward the entrance of the stairwell. A bed rests in the
corner of the room beside a porthole-style window while bookshelves line the
wall with numerous old volumes of marine history.
It is night, about 31F(0C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey stormclouds in the sky. There is a waxing crescent moon.
Autumn ponders on Sophie's words and shakes her head. "That expert must be crazy," she tells the girl with a raise of her brow. "Ghosts can't be stored in jars." Upon seeing the paper, the dusky person lifts a finger to point at it and says, "May I have look at paper? I just want to check it."
The youth instantly grows suspicious. She holds the paper to her chest, guarding it. She doesn't want anyone to take it away. "Why do you want to check it? It's in a another language, anyway," she informs her. Turns out this girl, when she gets her confidence back, can be a bit of a know-it-all. A likeable, earnest one, perhaps, but a know-it-all nonetheless. "I had to do a lot of research to make sure I got it right." Oh, more of her so-called 'research.'
"Anyway," she says, "I don't know how you would know that ghosts can't be stored in jars, because literally two seconds ago you said there weren't any ghosts, and then you said they're secret, and now you're trying to take the paper, and..." She trails off, then softens. She got carried away, and now it seems she remembers she's standing in someone else's house, on borrowed time. That moments ago, she was deeply anxious. Some of that anxiety starts to ebb back into her, and she begins kneading her braid again.
"Okay, so he did look a little crazy," she murmurs sheepishly, starting to grow shy again, "but I think that was just the blue hair. He showed me a ghost in a jar, I swear. But..." She hesitates. "Even if it was fake, then the worst thing that can happen is it won't work, right? Please, just let me say the words and after it's done you can call me stupid and I'll go." She doesn't hand over the paper. She's racing against the clock now. She thrusts the paper in front of her and says, loudly and clearly, the words she was so cruelly tricked into reciting by the mysterious blue-haired man:
"Revocacionem protectione sanctuarium!"
Upon hearing the words recited, Autumn freezes before she reaches out for Sophie. "It's a trick!" She yells at the girl with wide eyes. "That's not words to see ghosts, that's for removing the protection around you! That man wants you dead!" Peering around the kitchen, she readies her left hand while she tells Sophie, "Quick, repeat words that I will say to you. Repeto praesidio sanctuarium!"
But Sophie is in another world. Whatever Autumn is saying to her goes in one ear and out the other. This girl is looking for her mother, and she will not be interrupted by something she doesn't understand. "Mom!" she cries out. Her voice is full of hope. "Where are you! Come back to me and Dad!"
Meanwhile, Autumn searches the kitchen for danger. There's no one there. No ghosts, of course. Just a little girl desperate for her mother's presence and her father's love, and...a fly. A single fly, buzzing around. Wait...isn't it a little too cold for flies? There's not much time to think about that reality before...
...In the space of a wink, in the twinkling of an eye, the fly is a man, sitting on the counter. He's short in stature. Dark blue hair, shiny, straight. He's fair and youthful and looks like a shaman. Slender bone shards piercing his face. Odd pigments smeared on his cheeks and neck. Leather clothing cut in odd, asymmetrical ways. A strange, fragrant flower tucked behind his ear from some land of eternal summer. Like a witch-doctor from another world.
Sophie may not have paid much heed to Autumn, but she freezes at this. This is very much not her mother. Still, she recognizes him. "Lucas?" Funny. He doesn't look much like a Lucas. As Lucas' knife glints in his hand, Sophie tries to scream the words. On some level she must've been listening, but not well enough: "Repeat-o prezidio sanctuarium!" she calls out. Her aura flickers. "Repet...repettio..." She looks desperately at Autumn. Lucas just watches. He smiles. No doubt he's quicker than this, but he's the type that likes to play with his food.
Spotting Lucas at the counter, Autumn holds her hand out towards him and with a flick of her fingers, the runes on her panja bracelet glows a warm bright red-orange. "You will not take child's life," she sneers at the blue-haired man, her eyes full of fury before she turns her attention towards Sophia. "Let's say it together on count of three," she tells her. "One, two, three. Repeto praesidio sanctuarium!"
Sophie doesn't say it on the count of three. After all, she hasn't gotten it right the first two times, and saying it in unison with Autumn is not likely to make her get it right the third time. Instead, she listens to Autumn first, and then tries to repeat it back just as she heard it. It's definitely the first smart idea she's come up with this entire evening. She shrieks the phrase as best as she can muster: "REPETO PRAESIDIO--" And then a hand is clapped over her mouth. The rest is muffled into Lucas' palm. He's standing now. With the other hand, he seizes her braid, tugging her forward. He's quick as a mantis, this man. But something is happening. The blue-haired man's clothing is starting to burn, scorching on the edges, smelling of burnt leather. He hisses in surprise and pain, and lets go. Sophie falls to the floor on her back, but wastes no time.
"REPETO PRAESIDIO SANCTUARIUM!"
The girl's red aura burns away at once, at least to those with eyes to see it.
"Look what you've done, ape!" Lucas growls ferally to Autumn, beating at his clothing with his palms. His accent is a bizarre hodgepodge of local and what Autumn might recognize as the Other's dialect of Wildling.
"She's a problem!" He tries to lunge towards her again, just to pin her chest beneath his foot. His knife is still out, poised.
Sophie whimpers. "Help! Did it work?! I don't think it worked!" she screams.
Lucas' clothing is still burning here and there, curling around the edges. He's in pain -- gritting through it, yes, but he's weakened, to be certain.
"Who you calling ape? You're the problem, trying to murder innocent child!" Autumn calls out Lucas along with some curses in Wildling, reaching out to pull Sophia away from him. "Stay here, Sophia," she tells her, crouching down to reach under her bed and grab her steel khopesh. "I'll deal with intruder." She then walks towards Lucas as she channels her rage.
The one known to Sophie as Lucas turns his head, whip-fast, to stare at Autumn upon her threatening approach. He hisses. His clothes have stopped burning, now, but the damage has been done, and some reddened skin is exposed. It's healing, but not quite there. His foot is still securely on someone' chest, but his knife he now points directly at Autumn. "Listen to me. Shut up and listen to me for one moment." He is aggressive, bestial for a Fae, but the signs of his blood are prominent. A strange little man. But aren't they all?
Sophie flails her long limbs and pulls at Lucas' leg to try to get it off her chest, but it does no good. She tries to scream but the pressure is getting worse.
"STOP AND LISTEN!" Lucas demands, with a jab of his knife in the air towards Autumn as her rage begins to build. There's a strong psychic pressure thrown behind the word, as Lucas attempts to force Autumn to obey his command. But such hypnotic techniques can be resisted. Perhaps this one will not take.
The one known to Sophie as Lucas turns his head, whip-fast, to stare at Autumn upon her threatening approach. He hisses. His clothes have stopped burning, now, but the damage has been done, and some reddened skin is exposed. It's healing, but not quite there. His foot is still securely on Sophie's chest, but his knife he now points directly at Autumn. "Listen to me. Shut up and listen to me for one moment." He is aggressive, bestial for a Fae, but the signs of his blood are prominent. A strange little man. But aren't they all?
Sophie flails her long limbs and pulls at Lucas' leg to try to get it off her chest, but it does no good. She tries to scream but the pressure is getting worse.
"STOP AND LISTEN!" Lucas demands, with a jab of his knife in the air towards Autumn as her rage begins to build. There's a strong psychic pressure thrown behind the word, as Lucas attempts to force Autumn to obey his command. But such hypnotic techniques can be resisted. Perhaps this one will not take.
"And why would I listen to you?" Autumn tells Lucas, stopping her steps but she grips her weapon tight. "I will call other Orderlites to aid me with this, and we will deal with you if you dare harm her. You are in my territory now."
A satisfied nod from someone. He looks down at squirming Sophia. "Be calm," he says to her. A tranquility descends upon her. Her kicking legs go flat. Her arms loosen their grip on Lucas' ankle, sliding down and going limp. She closes her eyes, still scared, in a way, but somehow also...elsewhere.
"My name is Lukakaraichi-ya," Lucas, who will of course continue to be referred to as Lucas because that's just ridiculous, introduces himself to Autumn. He's cordial now. He even smiles. The redness on his skin is starting to pale. He presses a hand to his chest, but his other still grips his knife, pointed at her. "My job is to deal with problems in the borderlands, and have fun doing it." He grins wickedly. "Both sides of the borderlands," he clarifies. "This one --" he taps his foot upon Sophie's chest, "-- this one is a problem." He's said it before, and it's the verbiage he uses again.
"I've been wathcing her for years. She sees things when she comes here to the Havenlands. And she's a naughty little girl, isn't she? Because she -tells.-" He growls the word through his smile, and clucks his tongue ruefully.
"Usually naughty little girls in the borderlands who tell are easy to deal with. You clean their little brains of their little memories and you move on the next one. But this one's different." He says it hushed. "No one knows why, but this one always remembers, no matter what we do. Not everything, sure. But enough -- more than enough. She's sensitive. She's seen a thousand impossible things. And she -always- finds a way to prove it to her dad. And because of her, -he's- got holes in his brain you could drive a caravan of wonders through. Or a freight train. Depending on which side of the borders you're on." He laughs, wild and eerily melodic.
"We've had to rip so many memories from him...he barely knows her anymore. And he's not the only one she tells. Oh, no. She was telling you, after all." Lucas is on a roll. He's enjoying this far too much. "Like I said, she's a problem. And I don't have to kill her, but I'm going to do one of two things tonight, and both of them require her to say the thing on the piece of paper -I- gave her before -you- interfered. I am either going to kill her, or I am going to take her to the other side. And you are going to walk away and let me do it."
A satisfied nod from Lucas. He looks down at squirming Sophia. "Be calm," he says to her. A tranquility descends upon her. Her kicking legs go flat. Her arms loosen their grip on Lucas' ankle, sliding down and going limp. She closes her eyes, still scared, in a way, but somehow also...elsewhere.
"My name is Lukakaraichi-ya," Lucas, who will of course continue to be referred to as Lucas because that's just ridiculous, introduces himself to Autumn. He's cordial now. He even smiles. The redness on his skin is starting to pale. He presses a hand to his chest, but his other still grips his knife, pointed at her. "My job is to deal with problems in the borderlands, and have fun doing it." He grins wickedly. "Both sides of the borderlands," he clarifies. "This one --" he taps his foot upon Sophie's chest, "-- this one is a problem." He's said it before, and it's the verbiage he uses again.
"I've been wathcing her for years. She sees things when she comes here to the Havenlands. And she's a naughty little girl, isn't she? Because she -tells.-" He growls the word through his smile, and clucks his tongue ruefully.
"Usually naughty little girls in the borderlands who tell are easy to deal with. You scrub their little brains of those cheeky little memories and you move on the next brat. But this one's different." His voice here is dripping with sarcastic earnestness. "No one knows why, but this one always remembers, no matter what we do. Not everything, sure. But enough -- more than enough. She's sensitive. She's seen a thousand impossible things. And she -always- finds a way to prove it to her dad. And because of her, -he's- got holes in his brain you could drive a caravan of wonders through. Or a freight train. Depending on which side of the borders you're on." He laughs, wild and eerily melodic.
"We've had to rip so many memories from him...he barely knows her anymore. And he's not the only one she tells. Oh, no. She was telling you, after all." Lucas is on a roll. He's enjoying this far too much. "Like I said, she's a problem. And I don't have to kill her, but I'm going to do one of two things tonight, and both of them require her to say the thing on the piece of paper -I- gave her before -you- interfered. I am either going to kill her, or I am going to take her to the other side. And you are going to walk away and let me do it."
"Because she won't forget this," Lucas says to Autumn, locking his pale eyes on hers. "And I promise you, she -will- tell. No matter what you fling at her, what kind of hypnosis, what kind of charm...she -always- tells. This is the moment. There's no going back once she's seen this."
"I want to go to the other side," Sophie says, her voice choked with the pressure on her chest, but strangely calm. "I don't want to die."
"No wonder her father doesn't love her anymore," Autumn mutters, seething even more as she clenches her hands. "It was your doing, Lukaka- whatever. You are also dealing with me, and Sophia and I promised." She then points her blade towards Lucas. "Order will take care of her. And you are trespassing, so get the fuck out of my home and let me deal with this or I will have you banished to Hell!"
"Tch." It starts with that simple sound, and then erupts into terrible, feral laughter that yet somehow has a song in every breath. Even when it stops, he's still smiling at her, that awful, wicked smile. "No aware human with the power to resist mystical amnesia can be allowed to live on this side of the Gates. It's too dangerous. -You- know this. The -Order- knows this." His eyes slip down to the chunky bracelet on her wrist. "Hmmm...and I'm going to bet my molars that your -other- friends know this too." His smile turns even more sly, but his eyes dart quickly back up to her face, his expression turning bestially aggressive again. "She is out of control. You don't know what we've been through to try and solve this another way." He doesn't explain who 'we' are. "You don't know the lives she's ruined, the things we've had to clean up. She leaves messes wherever she goes, and if you take her in..." This is the first time he's given any room for the idea. "If you take her in, her mess will be your mess. She's not just a problem."
"She's a cancer."
"I'm not," mumbles Sophia weakly. And then she kicks. The calm is wearing off. "I'm not!" She grabs at Lucas' ankle again. It's useless. He just digs his heel in, and she squeals.
"But take her in if you must. The Order will probably have something to say about it. Venice will probably have something to say about it. If you want to take this burden, I suppose you can be my guest. The Order can be my guest. -You'll- be the one punished when she does what she always does." He's warming up to the idea. He smiles cruelly. "I hope you have some fun threats in mind to keep her in line. Her father's definitely some nice leverage. I'll even give you some help. His name's George. Isn't that such a dad name? George Wilfred Carney, from cute little Attleboro, Massachusetts. I can give you his address. I'm sure it'll come in handy."
Autumn glances down at Sophia for a moment. "I will not allow her death," she says to Lucas. "But she is most likely to be confined to secure place away from world until she becomes adult. Unless she chooses to leave Earth and into one of other worlds, be it Other, Hell, or other worlds." She then looks back to the blue-haired man with furrowed brows and asks the girl, "Sophia, what will you choose?"
"I just want to go home!" Sophia desperately tries to choose a third option. "I don't want to go to Hell." It's apparently the only thing she really recognized from that list of choices. "I promise I won't tell!"
"You're never going home again, and yes you very much will tell," Lucas gloats down at the girl, sneering. "But you can't help it, can you? Sometimes I think a Fae Lord made you the way you are just to fuck with things on Earth. If so, bravo. Couldn't have designed you better, myself. But the fun and games are over now. Stay with the nice lady and live in a prison cell until you grow up and learn to behave -- if you're even capable of it -- or go with me to another world, where you'll probably get turned into a slave if you're lucky, and into a footstool if you're not. That's what she's talking about. Those are your only two choices, so I don't want to hear you whine about home again. You're wasting all our time, and it's late. She wants to sleep, and I've got places to buzz off to." A pun. He grins wildly -- he has no shame. Truly, this man is evil.
"So what'll it be?" Lucas demands an answer.
"..." None of these options appeal to Sophia, predictably. But she answers. "Prison," she mutters. "I'll go to jail. I'm sorry."
"I see," Autumn nods her head, sheathing her khopesh and tapping her earpiece to speak through the Order comms. "This is Autumn Lynx. I have girl with me who is sensitive and requires secure detainment until she reaches adult age as her father no longer knows her and she is threat to supernatural secret. Send in someone to take her away safely." After that, she looks down and tells Sophia, "Your father will be safe while you are away." She then turns her head towards Lucas and narrows her eyes at him. "Will you please leave now? For one from Other, you are much of chatterbox."
"I'm not from the Other," Lucas croons. He lifts his foot, only to kick Sophie aside. WIth a breathless 'oof,' she's sent rolling towards Autumn. The girl hugs the woman's legs for support. She's started to quietly cry.
"I'm not from anywhere at all."
And then, like that, he's gone, leaving only a faint, high-pitched buzz in the air. Someone get the flyswatter!
Soon enough, that sound too fades. The Fae agent is gone. Autumn is left with a silently sobbing girl hugging her legs, and Orderites on the way.
Watching Lucas depart, Autumn bends down to help Sophie up before she takes her out of the lighthouse. She keeps the girl beside her until two Orderlites arrive, handing her off to them and waving her hand slowly. "Farewell, Sophie. Until we meet again in future," she says before she turns and heads back inside.
As the encounter unfolds, Autumn and Lucas exchange heated words. Lucas seems to enjoy his psychological games, revealing his mission to eradicate those who disrupt the hidden world's secrecy—like Sophie, whose persistent memory has rendered her a "problem" best dealt with severely. Autumn, compelled by duty and compassion, refuses to yield, offering Sophie a difficult choice: confinement away from the mortal realm or an unknown fate with Lucas. Resigned, Sophie chooses the former, and Autumn ensures Lucas leaves after calling in the Order for assistance. As representatives of the Order take Sophie into custody, ensuring her safety and containment, Autumn bids the girl a sorrowful goodbye and retreats to the safety of her lighthouse.
(Autumn's odd encounter(SRMarcus):SRMarcus)
[Sat Jan 13 2024]
In the lighthouse bedroom
This small room is sparse and serves as living quarters for the
lighthouse keeper. Rough stone walls form an insulated barrier from the sea
and begin to curve toward the entrance of the stairwell. A bed rests in the
corner of the room beside a porthole-style window while bookshelves line the
wall with numerous old volumes of marine history.
It is night, about 31F(0C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey stormclouds in the sky. There is a waxing crescent moon.
Autumn ponders on Sophie's words and shakes her head. "That expert must be crazy," she tells the girl with a raise of her brow. "Ghosts can't be stored in jars." Upon seeing the paper, the dusky person lifts a finger to point at it and says, "May I have look at paper? I just want to check it."
The youth instantly grows suspicious. She holds the paper to her chest, guarding it. She doesn't want anyone to take it away. "Why do you want to check it? It's in a another language, anyway," she informs her. Turns out this girl, when she gets her confidence back, can be a bit of a know-it-all. A likeable, earnest one, perhaps, but a know-it-all nonetheless. "I had to do a lot of research to make sure I got it right." Oh, more of her so-called 'research.'
"Anyway," she says, "I don't know how you would know that ghosts can't be stored in jars, because literally two seconds ago you said there weren't any ghosts, and then you said they're secret, and now you're trying to take the paper, and..." She trails off, then softens. She got carried away, and now it seems she remembers she's standing in someone else's house, on borrowed time. That moments ago, she was deeply anxious. Some of that anxiety starts to ebb back into her, and she begins kneading her braid again.
"Okay, so he did look a little crazy," she murmurs sheepishly, starting to grow shy again, "but I think that was just the blue hair. He showed me a ghost in a jar, I swear. But..." She hesitates. "Even if it was fake, then the worst thing that can happen is it won't work, right? Please, just let me say the words and after it's done you can call me stupid and I'll go." She doesn't hand over the paper. She's racing against the clock now. She thrusts the paper in front of her and says, loudly and clearly, the words she was so cruelly tricked into reciting by the mysterious blue-haired man:
"Revocacionem protectione sanctuarium!"
Upon hearing the words recited, Autumn freezes before she reaches out for Sophie. "It's a trick!" She yells at the girl with wide eyes. "That's not words to see ghosts, that's for removing the protection around you! That man wants you dead!" Peering around the kitchen, she readies her left hand while she tells Sophie, "Quick, repeat words that I will say to you. Repeto praesidio sanctuarium!"
But Sophie is in another world. Whatever Autumn is saying to her goes in one ear and out the other. This girl is looking for her mother, and she will not be interrupted by something she doesn't understand. "Mom!" she cries out. Her voice is full of hope. "Where are you! Come back to me and Dad!"
Meanwhile, Autumn searches the kitchen for danger. There's no one there. No ghosts, of course. Just a little girl desperate for her mother's presence and her father's love, and...a fly. A single fly, buzzing around. Wait...isn't it a little too cold for flies? There's not much time to think about that reality before...
...In the space of a wink, in the twinkling of an eye, the fly is a man, sitting on the counter. He's short in stature. Dark blue hair, shiny, straight. He's fair and youthful and looks like a shaman. Slender bone shards piercing his face. Odd pigments smeared on his cheeks and neck. Leather clothing cut in odd, asymmetrical ways. A strange, fragrant flower tucked behind his ear from some land of eternal summer. Like a witch-doctor from another world.
Sophie may not have paid much heed to Autumn, but she freezes at this. This is very much not her mother. Still, she recognizes him. "Lucas?" Funny. He doesn't look much like a Lucas. As Lucas' knife glints in his hand, Sophie tries to scream the words. On some level she must've been listening, but not well enough: "Repeat-o prezidio sanctuarium!" she calls out. Her aura flickers. "Repet...repettio..." She looks desperately at Autumn. Lucas just watches. He smiles. No doubt he's quicker than this, but he's the type that likes to play with his food.
Spotting Lucas at the counter, Autumn holds her hand out towards him and with a flick of her fingers, the runes on her panja bracelet glows a warm bright red-orange. "You will not take child's life," she sneers at the blue-haired man, her eyes full of fury before she turns her attention towards Sophia. "Let's say it together on count of three," she tells her. "One, two, three. Repeto praesidio sanctuarium!"
Sophie doesn't say it on the count of three. After all, she hasn't gotten it right the first two times, and saying it in unison with Autumn is not likely to make her get it right the third time. Instead, she listens to Autumn first, and then tries to repeat it back just as she heard it. It's definitely the first smart idea she's come up with this entire evening. She shrieks the phrase as best as she can muster: "REPETO PRAESIDIO--" And then a hand is clapped over her mouth. The rest is muffled into Lucas' palm. He's standing now. With the other hand, he seizes her braid, tugging her forward. He's quick as a mantis, this man. But something is happening. The blue-haired man's clothing is starting to burn, scorching on the edges, smelling of burnt leather. He hisses in surprise and pain, and lets go. Sophie falls to the floor on her back, but wastes no time.
"REPETO PRAESIDIO SANCTUARIUM!"
The girl's red aura burns away at once, at least to those with eyes to see it.
"Look what you've done, ape!" Lucas growls ferally to Autumn, beating at his clothing with his palms. His accent is a bizarre hodgepodge of local and what Autumn might recognize as the Other's dialect of Wildling.
"She's a problem!" He tries to lunge towards her again, just to pin her chest beneath his foot. His knife is still out, poised.
Sophie whimpers. "Help! Did it work?! I don't think it worked!" she screams.
Lucas' clothing is still burning here and there, curling around the edges. He's in pain -- gritting through it, yes, but he's weakened, to be certain.
"Who you calling ape? You're the problem, trying to murder innocent child!" Autumn calls out Lucas along with some curses in Wildling, reaching out to pull Sophia away from him. "Stay here, Sophia," she tells her, crouching down to reach under her bed and grab her steel khopesh. "I'll deal with intruder." She then walks towards Lucas as she channels her rage.
The one known to Sophie as Lucas turns his head, whip-fast, to stare at Autumn upon her threatening approach. He hisses. His clothes have stopped burning, now, but the damage has been done, and some reddened skin is exposed. It's healing, but not quite there. His foot is still securely on someone' chest, but his knife he now points directly at Autumn. "Listen to me. Shut up and listen to me for one moment." He is aggressive, bestial for a Fae, but the signs of his blood are prominent. A strange little man. But aren't they all?
Sophie flails her long limbs and pulls at Lucas' leg to try to get it off her chest, but it does no good. She tries to scream but the pressure is getting worse.
"STOP AND LISTEN!" Lucas demands, with a jab of his knife in the air towards Autumn as her rage begins to build. There's a strong psychic pressure thrown behind the word, as Lucas attempts to force Autumn to obey his command. But such hypnotic techniques can be resisted. Perhaps this one will not take.
The one known to Sophie as Lucas turns his head, whip-fast, to stare at Autumn upon her threatening approach. He hisses. His clothes have stopped burning, now, but the damage has been done, and some reddened skin is exposed. It's healing, but not quite there. His foot is still securely on Sophie's chest, but his knife he now points directly at Autumn. "Listen to me. Shut up and listen to me for one moment." He is aggressive, bestial for a Fae, but the signs of his blood are prominent. A strange little man. But aren't they all?
Sophie flails her long limbs and pulls at Lucas' leg to try to get it off her chest, but it does no good. She tries to scream but the pressure is getting worse.
"STOP AND LISTEN!" Lucas demands, with a jab of his knife in the air towards Autumn as her rage begins to build. There's a strong psychic pressure thrown behind the word, as Lucas attempts to force Autumn to obey his command. But such hypnotic techniques can be resisted. Perhaps this one will not take.
"And why would I listen to you?" Autumn tells Lucas, stopping her steps but she grips her weapon tight. "I will call other Orderlites to aid me with this, and we will deal with you if you dare harm her. You are in my territory now."
A satisfied nod from someone. He looks down at squirming Sophia. "Be calm," he says to her. A tranquility descends upon her. Her kicking legs go flat. Her arms loosen their grip on Lucas' ankle, sliding down and going limp. She closes her eyes, still scared, in a way, but somehow also...elsewhere.
"My name is Lukakaraichi-ya," Lucas, who will of course continue to be referred to as Lucas because that's just ridiculous, introduces himself to Autumn. He's cordial now. He even smiles. The redness on his skin is starting to pale. He presses a hand to his chest, but his other still grips his knife, pointed at her. "My job is to deal with problems in the borderlands, and have fun doing it." He grins wickedly. "Both sides of the borderlands," he clarifies. "This one --" he taps his foot upon Sophie's chest, "-- this one is a problem." He's said it before, and it's the verbiage he uses again.
"I've been wathcing her for years. She sees things when she comes here to the Havenlands. And she's a naughty little girl, isn't she? Because she -tells.-" He growls the word through his smile, and clucks his tongue ruefully.
"Usually naughty little girls in the borderlands who tell are easy to deal with. You clean their little brains of their little memories and you move on the next one. But this one's different." He says it hushed. "No one knows why, but this one always remembers, no matter what we do. Not everything, sure. But enough -- more than enough. She's sensitive. She's seen a thousand impossible things. And she -always- finds a way to prove it to her dad. And because of her, -he's- got holes in his brain you could drive a caravan of wonders through. Or a freight train. Depending on which side of the borders you're on." He laughs, wild and eerily melodic.
"We've had to rip so many memories from him...he barely knows her anymore. And he's not the only one she tells. Oh, no. She was telling you, after all." Lucas is on a roll. He's enjoying this far too much. "Like I said, she's a problem. And I don't have to kill her, but I'm going to do one of two things tonight, and both of them require her to say the thing on the piece of paper -I- gave her before -you- interfered. I am either going to kill her, or I am going to take her to the other side. And you are going to walk away and let me do it."
A satisfied nod from Lucas. He looks down at squirming Sophia. "Be calm," he says to her. A tranquility descends upon her. Her kicking legs go flat. Her arms loosen their grip on Lucas' ankle, sliding down and going limp. She closes her eyes, still scared, in a way, but somehow also...elsewhere.
"My name is Lukakaraichi-ya," Lucas, who will of course continue to be referred to as Lucas because that's just ridiculous, introduces himself to Autumn. He's cordial now. He even smiles. The redness on his skin is starting to pale. He presses a hand to his chest, but his other still grips his knife, pointed at her. "My job is to deal with problems in the borderlands, and have fun doing it." He grins wickedly. "Both sides of the borderlands," he clarifies. "This one --" he taps his foot upon Sophie's chest, "-- this one is a problem." He's said it before, and it's the verbiage he uses again.
"I've been wathcing her for years. She sees things when she comes here to the Havenlands. And she's a naughty little girl, isn't she? Because she -tells.-" He growls the word through his smile, and clucks his tongue ruefully.
"Usually naughty little girls in the borderlands who tell are easy to deal with. You scrub their little brains of those cheeky little memories and you move on the next brat. But this one's different." His voice here is dripping with sarcastic earnestness. "No one knows why, but this one always remembers, no matter what we do. Not everything, sure. But enough -- more than enough. She's sensitive. She's seen a thousand impossible things. And she -always- finds a way to prove it to her dad. And because of her, -he's- got holes in his brain you could drive a caravan of wonders through. Or a freight train. Depending on which side of the borders you're on." He laughs, wild and eerily melodic.
"We've had to rip so many memories from him...he barely knows her anymore. And he's not the only one she tells. Oh, no. She was telling you, after all." Lucas is on a roll. He's enjoying this far too much. "Like I said, she's a problem. And I don't have to kill her, but I'm going to do one of two things tonight, and both of them require her to say the thing on the piece of paper -I- gave her before -you- interfered. I am either going to kill her, or I am going to take her to the other side. And you are going to walk away and let me do it."
"Because she won't forget this," Lucas says to Autumn, locking his pale eyes on hers. "And I promise you, she -will- tell. No matter what you fling at her, what kind of hypnosis, what kind of charm...she -always- tells. This is the moment. There's no going back once she's seen this."
"I want to go to the other side," Sophie says, her voice choked with the pressure on her chest, but strangely calm. "I don't want to die."
"No wonder her father doesn't love her anymore," Autumn mutters, seething even more as she clenches her hands. "It was your doing, Lukaka- whatever. You are also dealing with me, and Sophia and I promised." She then points her blade towards Lucas. "Order will take care of her. And you are trespassing, so get the fuck out of my home and let me deal with this or I will have you banished to Hell!"
"Tch." It starts with that simple sound, and then erupts into terrible, feral laughter that yet somehow has a song in every breath. Even when it stops, he's still smiling at her, that awful, wicked smile. "No aware human with the power to resist mystical amnesia can be allowed to live on this side of the Gates. It's too dangerous. -You- know this. The -Order- knows this." His eyes slip down to the chunky bracelet on her wrist. "Hmmm...and I'm going to bet my molars that your -other- friends know this too." His smile turns even more sly, but his eyes dart quickly back up to her face, his expression turning bestially aggressive again. "She is out of control. You don't know what we've been through to try and solve this another way." He doesn't explain who 'we' are. "You don't know the lives she's ruined, the things we've had to clean up. She leaves messes wherever she goes, and if you take her in..." This is the first time he's given any room for the idea. "If you take her in, her mess will be your mess. She's not just a problem."
"She's a cancer."
"I'm not," mumbles Sophia weakly. And then she kicks. The calm is wearing off. "I'm not!" She grabs at Lucas' ankle again. It's useless. He just digs his heel in, and she squeals.
"But take her in if you must. The Order will probably have something to say about it. Venice will probably have something to say about it. If you want to take this burden, I suppose you can be my guest. The Order can be my guest. -You'll- be the one punished when she does what she always does." He's warming up to the idea. He smiles cruelly. "I hope you have some fun threats in mind to keep her in line. Her father's definitely some nice leverage. I'll even give you some help. His name's George. Isn't that such a dad name? George Wilfred Carney, from cute little Attleboro, Massachusetts. I can give you his address. I'm sure it'll come in handy."
Autumn glances down at Sophia for a moment. "I will not allow her death," she says to Lucas. "But she is most likely to be confined to secure place away from world until she becomes adult. Unless she chooses to leave Earth and into one of other worlds, be it Other, Hell, or other worlds." She then looks back to the blue-haired man with furrowed brows and asks the girl, "Sophia, what will you choose?"
"I just want to go home!" Sophia desperately tries to choose a third option. "I don't want to go to Hell." It's apparently the only thing she really recognized from that list of choices. "I promise I won't tell!"
"You're never going home again, and yes you very much will tell," Lucas gloats down at the girl, sneering. "But you can't help it, can you? Sometimes I think a Fae Lord made you the way you are just to fuck with things on Earth. If so, bravo. Couldn't have designed you better, myself. But the fun and games are over now. Stay with the nice lady and live in a prison cell until you grow up and learn to behave -- if you're even capable of it -- or go with me to another world, where you'll probably get turned into a slave if you're lucky, and into a footstool if you're not. That's what she's talking about. Those are your only two choices, so I don't want to hear you whine about home again. You're wasting all our time, and it's late. She wants to sleep, and I've got places to buzz off to." A pun. He grins wildly -- he has no shame. Truly, this man is evil.
"So what'll it be?" Lucas demands an answer.
"..." None of these options appeal to Sophia, predictably. But she answers. "Prison," she mutters. "I'll go to jail. I'm sorry."
"I see," Autumn nods her head, sheathing her khopesh and tapping her earpiece to speak through the Order comms. "This is Autumn Lynx. I have girl with me who is sensitive and requires secure detainment until she reaches adult age as her father no longer knows her and she is threat to supernatural secret. Send in someone to take her away safely." After that, she looks down and tells Sophia, "Your father will be safe while you are away." She then turns her head towards Lucas and narrows her eyes at him. "Will you please leave now? For one from Other, you are much of chatterbox."
"I'm not from the Other," Lucas croons. He lifts his foot, only to kick Sophie aside. WIth a breathless 'oof,' she's sent rolling towards Autumn. The girl hugs the woman's legs for support. She's started to quietly cry.
"I'm not from anywhere at all."
And then, like that, he's gone, leaving only a faint, high-pitched buzz in the air. Someone get the flyswatter!
Soon enough, that sound too fades. The Fae agent is gone. Autumn is left with a silently sobbing girl hugging her legs, and Orderites on the way.
Watching Lucas depart, Autumn bends down to help Sophie up before she takes her out of the lighthouse. She keeps the girl beside her until two Orderlites arrive, handing her off to them and waving her hand slowly. "Farewell, Sophie. Until we meet again in future," she says before she turns and heads back inside.