crystal; new phone who dis

[aberratic]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Ness Tavane (aberratic, on behalf of The Forgotten (Julius, Bastien, Clarisse, Viktor (and Isaac)))
RECIPIENT: Everyone
NOTES: Player plot info! Basically: As far as everyone in the Gallows is concerned, the people Ness is talking about just straight up do not exist and never have.

[ the voice that comes over the crystal is a soft, somewhat frazzled soprano. other voices can be heard arguing behind her, but only the tones of frustration and suspicion are audible; the content of the discussion is indistinct. ]

Good afternoon, Riftwatch, this is Quartermaster Ennaris Tavane. We—that is, myself, the Seneschal, Griffon Keeper La Rue, and Messeres Bastien and Viktor, we are being barred from use of the ferry to re-enter the Gallows. Is there anyone available to vouch for us, please? We're all very tired from our return journey and have quite a lot of work to get back to.

Comments

[elegiaque]

Show of hands, narrow down who’s mislaid their crystal.

( presumably she doesn’t mean this turn of phrase literally, or it really won’t help over the crystal. )

[extortionate]

Bet it was a Rifter. Got sucked back into the sky, poof, fell down somewhere —

[aberratic]

Captain Baudin!

[ certainly sounds like someone familiar with gwenaëlle—or, perhaps not, because she sounds happy to hear from her. ]

Please reassure the ferrymaster it's really us, he will not listen to me—

[armd]

(Clearly on her crystal,) I don't have mine.

[extortionate]

It's not a public boat, mate.

[ to the gallows at large: ]

Before any of you go making ass-er-tions, I didn't pawn any crystals.

[elegiaque]

Very specific denial noted.

[pathlit]

[ From this crystal comes a snicker. ]

[grindset]

Was this your idea?

[pathlit]

[ Frysquinting: ] Is this related to the play… wright situation?

[extortionate]

Val Royeaux, they call that method acting. Heard of a guy got so deep, he challenged this chevalier to a duel —

private;

[grindset]

[Jayce's crystal inbox suddenly receives a series of delayed messages, all at once:]

I will.

—

It's finished. No casualties on our end. We're winding things up here... should be on our way shortly.

[Roughly ten seconds of coughing, then a rough sigh.]

How's the floor plan coming?

—

Shall I take your silence to mean you've entered a state of ichnographical mania?

—

Now it's raining. I blame you.

—

Check your crystal, please.

—

A wise man would be using this time to reflect upon the potential outcome of my reaching the Gallows before he responds.

[bouchonne]

How lovely. Some new volunteers.

here, silently.

[cozen]

[ This is fine. ]

[atonally]

Which division do you reckon this is try-outs for? Not Forces.

[allthatgleamsisgold]

...What trickery is this?

[grindset]

That is precisely my question.

[extortionate]

Late Satinalia?

[altusimperius]

What did you say your names were?

[aberratic]

[ with the abject misery of one who has accepted her fate, ] Quartermaster Ennaris Tavane, Seneschal Julius, Griffon Keeper Clarisse La Rue, and Messeres Bastien and Viktor. We were on a mission investigating Venatori magic and have just returned.

[portalling]

( This is within the Captain’s remit as a security risk, assessing intruders demanding entry, and so the Head Healer’s not actually here, until — )

private; plunks this here for ease of stalking

[aberratic]

Doctor Strange, I apologize for the interruption. Do you—is my voice familiar to you? The name Ennaris Tavane?

private to wanda;

[portalling]

[ After this. ]

Hey. Wanda. Do you have a minute?

stalkably private to caius.

[elegiaque]

Leading with this isn’t an accusation, I just don’t want to ask ( the bimbo or the yeller ) either of the other Tevene mages available to me currently.

( and that’s how you know she’s in work mode. )

Do you have any knowledge about identifying subtle blood magic?

[sumptus]

In what context?

[ --is not a no. Or very precise, and he likes her enough to clarify, ]

In an old spell, or being used right now, or...?

private to ness, a while later.

[portalling]

[ Irritatingly, Strange doesn’t actually do anything to cause the change. It simply happens.

It’s been a week or so of these inexplicable visitors, and the organisation as a whole not knowing what to do with them. He has pulled what strings he can, trying to ascertain whatever he can. Wanda’s telepathy was helpful but inconclusive. The dogs and griffons don’t recognise them. But work continued, and so today Strange was helping someone wrap their sprained ankle (the stairwells in the Gallows are still a menace), when he’d noticed that their supplies were running low, and it had been so simple, the doctor’s offhand unthinking comment: “I’ll have to mention it to the Quartermaster. I’m sure Tavane can jot it into the next resupply.”

And it hit him only a while later, in retrospect, when he was cinching the bandage around the scout’s ankle. The sudden realisation: Ennaris. Ennaris Tavane. Ness. That was the name scribbled all over his magic tutoring notes, not Tav’s, and how in the world could he have forgotten —

It takes some time to finish up with his patient, before he’s finally free to contact the girl. Stephen thumbs his crystal and announces her name, directing the message in her direction, impatient: ]

Ennaris? Where are you currently?

[ On her end, it might not seem, at first, to mean anything. Each day is the same as the one before, and no one has remembered them. He might just be reaching out to conduct more tests, explore more hypotheses, more unanswered questions. ]

[aberratic]

[ she's still in the dockside apartments—even if she would be allowed back into the room she shares (shared?) with hermione and abby, it's just seemed safer to stay off the gallows until her standing with the organization was more solid. stephen, at least, hasn't abandoned her (even if she had to beg him not to, he still hasn't, and that means something), but no one else has done more than hold her at arm's length, deeply suspicious. better, she's thought, to stay out of the way than try to press for more than any of them want to give her.

it has, if absolutely nothing else, given her time to continue her research into sarrux and everything they found there. she's sat against the wall opposite the door to her room, books spread open on the floor around her with her notes in her lap when her crystal chimes.

there's nothing to give away that this call is any different from any other day, so there's no urgency in her response. ]

I'm in the dockside apartments, Doctor. Has there been a development? Did you need me to speak with Messere Wanda again?