video | morning after the audience | unseelie & open non-locket comms

[boutant]

[ It's safe to say that Ariadne has never been this upset about anything in her entire life. She tends to smile, with large, gentle eyes. She does not tend to look murderous.

She does today.

Her trust has been broken, betrayed. Her people have been caught in the storm that Reynard started. Her mind has been violated, her companion dead.

When she speaks, her voice starts out calm. Cold. ]

So. When were we all going to start sharing what we know about the Cult of the Fox?

[ A breath and then she snarls. ]

Because it turns out they're wearing shard masks that let them look like anyone and they can get into your memories and mind control you to the point that you'll hang yourself.

[ It takes a tremendous amount of effort not to throw something. ]

That lying little fuck and those like him know how to use shards even when they're masks. If we don't stop sitting on our information then they're going to tear us apart from the inside. Do not trust anyone without- somehow verifying it's them, though I don't know how when they can do that much.

If you're staying at Diasbaile -- get to work or get out. I don't know how many people might still be under his spell but he's destroyed wards and rooms on the top two floors, read what was in my office if he didn't just steal it.

Everyone- be on your guard. And share your information, because otherwise we're all fighting this blind and then everyone is dead.

[ locked to steve rogers & sam wilson; ]
You need to get out of the Station. Just in case. Bucky's with me, he- we're not okay, he was with me when it happened, neither of us remember anything after a point. But we'll look after each other; he at least knows I'm me.

[ locked to grell, jason todd, loki, & waver velvet; ]
Gaff died in the Battle of Falling Fire. It was a cultist all along. Grell, can you watch Diasbaile? I can only assume that he'll know what I would do, but he didn't get in your head.

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video | private

[notavirtue]

[He'd had a conversation with Maglor about this, warning the elf to tread carefully when singing those mocking songs. When Reynard had died, they'd both thought perhaps that was the end of it, that it was a fading cult of personality. They'd been quiet, but now it was painfully obvious that had been the plan all along.

If the Reapers could sit and wait for fifty thousand years, then cultists could take a year to reveal their intentions.]

I can offer no information, but perhaps I can still find something. If your assailant left traces of his presence, I can track him.

[Maybe. He didn't even want to get into how deeply unsettling it was to hear about mind control, so he was focused on what he could do. Javik had used his sensory ability on her once, and she knew what he was capable of.]

video | private

[boutant]

[ She knows. She knows and the thought simultaneously makes her flinch and makes her kick herself for not thinking of it before. ]

If you want to try, I won't say no. But it was powerful magic. I couldn't do anything to stop him, and you know that I have- training in that area.

[ She doesn't want something to happen to Javik, too. ]

... The varren, they're resistant to magic, aren't they? Do you know if that extends to shards?

[ That's a separate thought. ]

[notavirtue]

I will come as soon as it is nightfall, or when I reach the nearest fairy ring.

[Whichever came first.]

They - yes. There were a number of things that should have killed them at An Càrn Dubh, but they resisted. I do not, however, believe anything they endured involved shards.

[boutant]

Thank you. I- well. I don't think I'll be sleeping very soundly.

It might be worthwhile to find out. [ She can't believe she just said that. ]

[notavirtue]

You should not have been sleeping well before.

[Commander Comfort, here to ease your fears. Javik isn't bothered by her suggestion, even if it does mean experimenting on animals that might wind up being the last of their kind in all of existence. Assuming the Void didn't get them, too.]

How do you propose testing it?

[boutant]

I was sleeping well in that I was rested, not in that I wasn't waiting for a knife in the back.

[ Or the front, for that matter. ]

We need someone who knows how to do more than activate their shard, to start with.

[notavirtue]

[That's good enough then. Javik doesn't know what a good night's sleep is, anyways. While speaking, she can tell he's obviously already moving, getting ready to move out. Caer Scima isn't much of a home to him, so he hadn't planned on staying long.]

I do not know of anyone, nor do I even understand how to activate one.

[He's... kind of behind the rest of the class on that one.]

[boutant]

I can activate one, but that's it. I could teach you that much, if you wanted.

[ Though she's not sure he'll like what he has to do in order to do it. ]

[notavirtue]

Another time. I will contact you again when I have arrived at the Spire.

[ooc: got a few details for him to find from the mods, if you want to shuffle it over to action!]

action;

[boutant]

[ When Javik arrives, Ariadne is waiting for him. The fairy ring, at least, is something she can keep an eye on. Minnie is resting alongside her, perking up when Javik comes through the ring but not budging away from the hand Ariadne has on her spines. ]

Thank you for coming.

[notavirtue]

[Both Athame and Prativ were with him, bounding forward to meet Ariadne and Minnie the moment they were through. Javik simply nodded in response, eliminating as many pleasantries as possible.]

Show me where it happened.

[boutant]

[ Both varren are given a quick cuddle before Ariadne nods and turns, leading the way. ]

I found him in my office, first. Chased him down the hall, we grappled and he got in my head, help arrived and shook us out of it, he was pinned against the wall... then we woke up on top of the spire.

Which one do you want?

[notavirtue]

[He followed, steps brisk, and the varren fell in with them. Neither showed any discomfort, sniffing here or there and trotting after them with the blissful ignorance of any animal.]

We will begin where he did - your office.

[boutant]

There's also the room he'd been staying in, if you want to check that.

[ But it's all fairly close together, and so she heads up. Nothing's been cleaned yet, really; there are a few things that have been shifted, but the chalk drawings of foxes are all still there. ]

[notavirtue]

[He doubted that would tell him much, aside from premeditation, perhaps. Better to start where the damage had first been done. Javik did not slow to inspect the chalk drawings, but took them all in just the same.]

I recall a time when we knew an elf that could sing about foxes and not worry about retribution.

[Mostly. Javik had warned Maglor to watch his back, but in the end, that had all been for nothing. Stepping into her office, Javik simply stood there a moment, taking note of what was where, askew or not. When he finally moved forward, it was to put his hands on the desk, head bowing as he closed his eyes.

Ariadne's presence in this room was strong. Minnie and Brennan, shardbearers and natives, all coming and going in a flurry of sights and sounds and smells and emotions. That this had happened recently made it easier, but the more he searched, the more... muddled things became. Trying to get a sense of the cultist was like picking up sand or water. It was there, it was real and tangible, but it slipped away to follow a path that he could not.

Paper shuffled, dry skin against dry parchment and Javik's eyes snapped open, inhaling sharply as he lifted his hands.]

He is... difficult to pinpoint. Many documents on this desk have been duplicated, but I cannot say which.

[boutant]

Weasel, [ she mutters. Of course he's difficult to pinpoint. It's never that easy.

Still, the fact that Javik can sense anything at all... that helps a little. ]

Lucky that I don't tend to leave anything too important out in the open, I guess.

[ Not that it matters so much when he's dipped into her mind, but... ]

[notavirtue]

What you consider unimportant may still be of use to the enemy. I would verify what you have here, if it was not stolen outright.

[Rubbing his fingers together, Javik continued his search, and at some point Ariadne was in more than one place. She'd said the mask allowed the cultist to look like anyone, but... this was something deeper than seeing double.]

He took on your likeness entirely, baroness, unless your shadow magic allows you to be in two places at the same time.

[boutant]

I will.

[ The next reveal has her shudder. ]

No, it doesn't. Can you tell when that was, or...?

[ Was it before or after he touched her mind? ]

[notavirtue]

[That information, unfortunately, was beyond him. So far as he could tell, one minute there was one Ariadne, and the next there were two. He had no sense of the actual cultist. Still, for her sake, he tried. He said nothing for a moment, eyes half-lidded as he inhaled, sorting through the mess of smells again. Blinking once, he shook his head.]

I cannot tell, baroness.

[Her doppelganger had stuck around long enough to leave a trail of movement, at least, though it never left the room. Not until it was time for them to leave, and without saying anything, he walked towards the nearest window.]

[boutant]

[ Damn, damn, damn. Ariadne lets herself snarl slightly but says nothing, instead following Javik to the... window?

Okay then. ]

[notavirtue]

[He noted the snarl, but made no comment on it. Aside from watching her tear up the battlefield, he'd honestly never really seen her like this. It suited her.

Stopping at the window, Javik put his hands forward again, looking for when the Ariadnes split paths. It was still a mess of things he couldn't identify, and his hatred of magic was rapidly raising again. He bared his teeth a moment, frustrated, and then there was a flash of movement, the flight of feathers -]

A bird. [He drew away from the windows upper lip peeling back.] He turned into a bird, and flew away.

[boutant]

[ She's never been this truly angry before, not even when Caer Scima fell. This was personal, this was not only an act of war but an act of betrayal. ]

A bird. Of course.

[ Because of course he could shapeshift, too. ]

I don't suppose you know what kind of bird?

[ She'd sort of been hoping he'd fallen out of the window, but this admittedly made more sense. ]

[notavirtue]

[If he'd fallen out the window, that would have made their lives easier. Therefore, it was something that would never happen. Javik waved one hand vaguely towards the window.]

A... bird. I am sorry, baroness, I do not know.

[boutant]

It's okay. That's more than I knew before.

[ She sighs, runs a hand through her hair. ]

Thank you.

[notavirtue]

I am afraid there is not much more for me to tell. This... shard magic is stronger than my own abilities.

[That, and he really wanted to wash his hands now. Everything about this was disturbing on more levels than he cared to admit.]