☆ Event: Mirror Mix-Up

[moustre]

Event Log: November, Mirror Mix-Up

The 20th of Noveuer starts out innocuous. The Looking Glass House is quiet and still at this late hour, largely empty but for the apprentice Witch dusting the many mirrors on the walls in the middle of the night. When the bells chime for 3 am, though, a night of tidying turns into something... a little more hectic. He panics, initially, as things push through various mirrors to scatter across the floor, and then animals, scurrying about, unhappy with their current change in locations. He clings to his duster and waits apprehensively for more Mirrorbound to slip through, prepared to run and get Miss Nessie, but the minutes tick by, and none come. Eventually, he can't ignore the mess any longer, and flees to fetch someone higher up to deal with this nonsense.

I. Early Morning Message The initial hours after 3 am are a bit of a nightmare. Miss Nessie is unavailable, stuck in a long Parliament meeting with Mhairi that has continued into the early morning, and her assistant, given new duties lately due to her packed schedule, is sent to speak with her. It's a bit of a cluster, everything - they've never had something like this happen before! Then again, they'd never had people come through either, until the first group of Mirrorbound several months ago. She gets away long enough around 6 am to make a magical announcement to Mirrorbound only, her voice, at a casual speaking tone, carrying across the city enough to be heard anywhere. "Good morning, Mirrorbound! So sorry for disturbing you at this time of morning, dears, I am. It's just that we've had a bit of an incident in the Looking-Glass House last night! How strange, what I'm hearing, how bizarre. If you would all please report to the Looking-Glass House at your earliest convenience, we believe we may have some things of yours, we do. The sooner the better, as- well, some of the things come through the mirrors last night must be pets! They're terrorizing my poor staff. Now, I won't be the one to greet you, I'm afraid, I'm still quite wrapped up with Parliament, but I hope you'll all be kind to my Assistant Theodore and his Bonded, Sowilo. They'll be making sure everyone gets their things back. Theodore might be a bit buttoned-up, but he's a good lad! Bye for now, dears, I must away back to my meeting, but rest assured, we will be looking into today's unexpected surprise!" After it's been heard, the message cuts off - it's impossible to miss unless one is trying very hard to miss it. Miss Nessie's duties will keep her away during this event, but limited NPC interactions, IC or handwaved OOC, are available with her newly-minted assistant Theodore Rosethorne, and his Bonded Fae, Sowilo. In the future, anything requiring Nessie may also be brought to Theodore! The NPC Contact page will be updated in the next few days to reflect this change. There may be a slight delay on Theodore's responses, but all NPC interaction requests will be answered as soon as possible.

II. A Bit of a Mix-Up It's a red-headed Fae in shoe-lifts who arrives first, glamoured to look perfectly put together despite his long hair being up in a haphazard bun, having been dragged out of his bed to deal with a crisis this early in the morning. He immediately starts directing efforts, red dragonfly wings occasionally flicking with irritation as he reads things off a clipboard and directs this to be piled there and that pet to be corralled before it crashes into something or sets something on fire. The other Witches are a little apprehensive about his presence, but when one protests, he just says with a scowl, "Excuse you. I am Bonded to Miss Nessie's right hand man." The efforts to reunite incoming Mirrorbound with their possessions and pets are... well, an effort is made. Sowilo may just shove something into your arms and announce in an authoritative voice, "You look like you could use one of these." He hears no arguments that it doesn't belong to that person, brushing them off with a haughty, "Well, find the owner, then, make yourself useful, hm?" Before he flits on to the next Mirrorbound, the next item or creature, eager to get rid of everything cluttering up the Looking-Glass House. Fae. Sometimes they're just like that. While the Witches are bustling around trying to get everything sorted out (it's impossible to match things to mirrors, but an attempt is made anyway), it's easy enough to breeze past them and survey the goods on your own, but no one will be allowed to leave with more than one item or creature in their hands or pockets; Sowilo has a sharp eye, and attempted theft will result in an illusion being placed on the thief of being trapped in a maze with their worst nightmare. It lasts until the extra item is returned or will otherwise dissipate after three days. Those that can see through illusions naturally or through practice get a stickier punishment - literally, one of the Witches present will, when prompted by Sowilo, charm the thief with a glue-trap spell, which will cause them to stick to everything except what they're trying to steal - again, until the extra item is returned, or until three days have passed. There isn't much warning about the punishment for attempted theft. The rumors have it that Sowilo's family are descended from Unseelie, and he's... a pain in the behind, to put it lightly. As a reminder, all mixed-up items should eventually find their way back to their original owners unless explicitly plotted out otherwise!

III. Late Morning After a couple of hours of Sowilo's "management", Theodore Rosethorne finally arrives. One quick glance and the poor Witch already looks like he's going to faint. Miss Nessie's assistant is a young Witch who seems to hold himself as prim and proper as possible. Clothes neat and straight. The only thing that seems to be impossible to tame is the mess of curls on his head. He takes the clipboard from his Bonded, but seems at a bit of a loss. Mirrorbound arriving later in the morning are much more likely to get an item that actually belongs to them, though mix-ups may still happen. He gives the best smile he can offer before adjusting his glasses. Exasperated. "I'm quite sorry. Terribly so. If it isn't too much trouble, it would help us greatly if you could find the original owner. I only just escaped digging up documents from Miss Bell's desk..." Needless to say, the poor guy seems to have been thrown into the thick of it and already overwhelmed. Oh, and about Sowilo? "I apologize. He's...Well, he can be a lot when you first meet him." Or a lot in general. Sowilo is quite the character! For those having trouble finding the original owners of whatever they've been given through more conventional means such as word-of-mouth or the Watches, a quick spell is taught and passed out in slips of paper meant to be stuck to the item in question - it acts as a divining rod, pointing the item toward the owner and pulling the person holding it along for the ride. Careful! The charm has no mind for things like walls and doors and people in the way, and will always try to pull the holder in the shortest possible line to its owner. This isn't much help for pets, though, who have minds of their own, and, in some cases, just don't want to be corralled by strange and somewhat-frantic Witches or Monsters.

Welcome to November's event log! Regains arrive through the mirrors ICly on the morning of the 20th. Questions can be found HERE, and if you wish to interact with Theodore and Sowilo, our newest NPCs, comment HERE. You have the option of handwaving the IC interaction to OOCly ask what questions your character might have for them, for us to summarize an answer for, or you can request an IC thread. Simply specify in your comment's subject and we'll respond accordingly. As always, feel free to use this log or make your own!

Comments

[plasticasshole]

You can keep a gun to stop other people from shooting it.

[His scowl deepens.]

And, not that it's any of your business, I haven't spoken to the SQUIP in a while.

[firewalled]

Yeah, which is exactly why I wanted to keep it from you.

[Rich blinks in surprise for a moment, but remains distrusting, just out of stubbornness.]

Well, I should hope you wouldn't. Besides, kind of became my business when it brainwashed Jere again and tried to turn half my friends against me. The least you could do is thank me for getting you out of that mess.

[plasticasshole]

I think this goes beyond you not trusting me.

[He's pretty sure Rich actively dislikes him, which is a shame... but perhaps can't be helped.]

What the SQUIP does with your friends is your business, yes. But what it does with me isn't.

[They're not friends. Rich has no reason to care about what happens to Connor.]

[firewalled]

What makes you think that?

[Rich doesn't feel like it's more than distrust. Sure, maybe he does feel burned a bit by Connor, for continuing to ignore Rich's advice and put himself in positions with the SQUIP that are dangerous. Though it seems maybe that might change now... and Rich really wants to hope it will.

He frowns a bit when Connor says that, feeling a tightness in his chest that overwhelms anger momentarily.]

...We used to be friends, you know. At least, I thought we were. Making excuses for the SQUIP is where we lost that.

[Is there a possibility to overcome that distance between them, now that the SQUIP is out of the picture?]

[plasticasshole]

[Connor's expression softens a bit.]

I thought we were, too. It's not like I want to fight with you like this.

[He hates it, honestly. He likes Rich, it just feels like Rich doesn't like him back anymore.]

It's just frustrating trying to talk to you. It always leads back to the SQUIP. It doesn't need to.

[It always turns into an argument.]

[firewalled]

[Rich feels his hackles raising, but he tries to hold back from shouting or lashing out too much. If Connor really thinks it doesn't need to be about the SQUIP, he's more naive than Rich thought.]

You may think it doesn't need to, but that doesn't change how I feel. I can't just ignore something that was responsible for me losing years of my life, nearly responsible for me dying completely. Like if I was friends with someone who tried to kill you, and kept trying to, would you really be okay with hanging out with me? Especially after everything you said to take the blame off it.

[It's not healthy. It made Rich feel crazy, and maybe an android just can't understand it, but he has to hope something in there makes sense.]

[plasticasshole]

[Rather than try to come back with a retort, Connor just sighs, deflating a little. What's the closest approximation he has? Gavin did try to kill him, he supposes... but Connor wasn't particularly traumatised by the experience. He can't say he knows how Rich feels. If Rich tried to befriend someone like Gavin he'd warn him off, but he wouldn't be particularly upset if Rich ignored his advice.]

I shouldn't have said those things in its defence. Not to you, especially. It was... inconsiderate of me. I'm sorry.

[He wonders if their friendship is salvageable. If he does decide to ever forgive the SQUIP, and Rich finds out, any friendship they build from here on is for nothing. That, and he still seems to have trouble relating to Rich's trauma. But he doesn't want to cut Rich out of his life, and he still doesn't know how he feels about the SQUIP yet.]

[firewalled]

[The main difference there is that Gavin isn't here, still trying to attack him, whereas for Rich, the SQUIP is still very much here and had made itself known as a threat to Rich's well being... as well as the well being as several other people. Rich can't help but get defensive with a situation like that... though he does seem to lighten up, seeing Connor at least try to make an effort to understand.]

I'm glad you apologized. I know... I'm being really harsh. It's just hard not to feel like a lot of stuff could have been avoided if you'd heard me out in the first place. God knows I didn't want you brainwashed.

[They are certainly in a dangerous position, and Rich isn't going to lie and say he'd be fine with Connor reconnecting with the SQUIP. After everything it's done, the misery it's in right now is deserved. Helping it out is only going to make it feel justified in what it did.]