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 Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2016 6:28 pm
He'd gone approximately three steps into a less-crowded hallway before running into someone, Nathaniel bouncing back and rubbing his nose underneath the green and gold mask he was wearing. He readjusted it, shifted, and started to apologize before something clicked.
"Oh, sorry, I - Mercer?"
In spite of the outlandish outfits, it wasn't hard to recognize the detective lieutenant underneath it all, Nathaniel peering at him with a look of curiosity on his face. After a second, he realized that there was, in fact, someone beside him - and then he mentally slapped himself for not realizing who it was sooner.
"Oh. Mercers squared. Hi. Wow. Fancy meeting you here. I, uh - do you two have a second, by chance?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2016 6:01 pm
Jeremiah and Algie were once more arm in arm after having split up briefly to cover more ground. They had, after all, figured out that aside from certain patrons that Jeremiah never wanted to deal with ever again, they were relatively safe. He was holding his notebook in hand, carefully going over what they had discovered when he got that familiar prickle of- "Nathaniel?" he replied in a surprised tone, reaching out and making sure the young man was alright after the run-in. "Fancy meeting indeed," Jeremiah snorted, his notebook closed with a pop. "We've got time, I'm sure, don't we Alg?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2016 6:32 pm
"You two know one another?" Alg blinked between his husband and the young man that he realized was the student he met just the other day. "Hello again." Alg smiled at Nathaniel.
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2016 8:20 pm
"Oh," said Nathaniel, and behind the mask there was a flush he was grateful neither of them could see very well. "Well. Um. Yes, I'm...familiar with Detective Lieutenant Mercer. He...worked my parents' case."
Under normal circumstances, he would not have volunteered this information so blatantly; but Algernon Mercer was Jeremiah Mercer's husband, and he did not want to think there was any sort of questionable motive behind their knowing each other, like Nathaniel was some sort of delinquent or anything.
"Anyway," said Nathaniel hastily, eager to move on, away from the subject of his parents. "I've been sort of...moving around tonight, and I've stumbled across a few things I could use some advice on."
He glanced awkwardly up at them, hoping he wasn't overstepping any bounds.
"I'm not really sure what most of it means, this is all very new to me."
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 2:40 pm
Jeremiah gave Nathaniel a small reassuring smile, the kind spared for those he knew and had known for more than just a few months. His fingers were still holding onto his own notebook, eyes glancing towards Algie when Nathaniel made mention of needing advice. "I admit that I was not anticipating you being involved," he said slowly, "but you have found yourself in the thick of it. If we can make something clearer, we'll certainly try."
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 3:04 pm
Alg's notebook and grimoire were snug on his person somewhere, never leave home without them, but Jeremiah seemed to be thoroughly keeping track of their information tonight. "We can expand upon the greater-" Alg waved his hand at pretty much everything, "-issues later. Let's stick to what's going on." The greater explanation of other ashdown could wait and hopefully they all got out of here alive to have that conversation.
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 3:51 pm
"Well," said Nathaniel truthfully, with a glance at both Mercers, "Neither was I, really. My friend Lily invited me tonight, and I came, and...well."
He rummaged around on his person for the scrap of paper and pencil he'd snagged to take notes. It was really just a napkin, and everything was scribbled and smudged, but if he squinted hard enough he could read it. Most of it.
"I don't understand a lot of what's going on," Nathaniel admitted, once again flushing behind his mask, clearing his throat a little self-consciously. He smoothed out the napkin with long, work roughened fingers on a nearby table and gestured for both of them to look at it. "But I tried to ask around and see if I could get some information, here. I think I got most of it down all right."
Not all of the writing was completely clear, especially since Nathaniel had had the napkin crumpled in his pocket, and some things were misspelled and shorthanded. Some phrases had multiple question marks beside them and some were missing words, but the general gist of what he had tried to remember was at least there.
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 4:24 pm
"Lily?" Jeremiah's head tilted. "You came with one of the moonwalkers?" Of course then Nathaniel was fishing out his scrap with what he had gathered and the detective lieutenant took it into his free hand and read it over. "... this ..." His lips pressed to a thin line as he read over a couple lines and thought to the extra mask now on his hip. The one that had been replaced by the gilded bullfrog mask he now wore. "If you don't mind, let me add this to my notebook and then we can discuss some of this." He passed the scrap of paper to Algie to hold while Jeremiah, very neatly wrote down what Nathaniel had gathered. Glowing eyes glanced over to his husband. "It looks as if it's fortunate that I've got an extra mask now." The words on there, however, kin not kind. Those always resonated. When he was done writing, Jeremiah held the notebook out for Nathaniel with a look over to Algie as well.
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 5:51 pm
After everything was given a once over, Alg's hand was lifted to the edge of his mask. "I'm glad we haven't had any mask mishaps-" Not now that he knew what their removal meant. The real question now seemed to be how to stop the tithe- or perhaps who to deliberately send. "What do we do with this?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 6:49 pm
"I admittedly didn't know she was a moonwalker when I started tutoring her," said Nathaniel with a touch of dryness, the corners of his lips quirking up into a small smile. "But yes, that Lily."
While Jeremiah was jotting down everything from Nathaniel's notes, Nathaniel was contemplating and then reading everything that he and Algernon had written, his brow furrowed in thought beneath the mask. Some of their information seemed to coincide; and yet there were other facts or tidbits that were new to him, his finger running down the page after the notebook had been handed to him.
Algernon's question was perhaps the most obvious, and yet the least capable of being answered. Nathaniel felt almost unbearably new to all of this, inadequate and underwhelming without magic himself or any knowledge of what might have occurred prior to this.
"Is there anything we can do?" he asked, hoping the question wasn't naive. Nathaniel pointed at a smudgy note on his napkin. "This here, this person said that the tithe is meant to be protected, or something. But how can we protect them when we don't even know who they are? Or what exactly the tithe means, although I'm pretty sure it's just a sacrifice, like back in the day, when there were gods and stuff, you know, trying to appease them so they killed people as tithes and offerings, which really doesn't sound appealing."
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 10:19 pm
"Depending on when you started tutoring," Jeremiah says with a huff of laughter, "she may not have been a moonwalker then either." Not that it was his business to say anything more than that, so he did not. The detective lieutenant looked to his husband briefly at his question and then back to Nathaniel. This was, in all honesty, another crash course in dealing with other ashdown. At least there was less bloodshed this time. For the time being. Jeremiah looked where Nathaniel was pointing and let out a breath. "Yes, kin not kind." His shoulders rolled briefly. "I've heard that before and it would coincide with this part," a finger pointed to the mention of human ancestry, "that whomever we are looking for was, at one point, human. Adoelle falls into this category but there are others, I'm sure." He flipped a page over in his notebook, showing another bit of information. "The tithe is for The Enemy," for once he did not hesitate to say it, "and part of maintaining its cage." Jeremiah looked over to his husband. "I'm sure there is something to be done but with what's at hand, I've not made any solid decisions yet."
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 5:02 am
Alg rubbed his head, "We also don't know if we can trust any of them. Let's be honest... The Lady- Melany.. seems to have her own goals and according to what we've learned, it's about keeping the cage up." Algie sighed, thinking of Adoelle and thinking of Heliodora, "But Adoelle has volunteered herself. To take the cage down." That probably didn't mean much to Nathaniel, but it would to Jeremiah. He looked a bit apologetic to the young man, "I'm sorry you came into this in what seems like.. the middle."
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 11:13 am
Nathaniel frowned a little. "So...the proposed tithe is possibly Adoelle? I mean, two people told me she was, the um..." He glanced at the napkin again, squinting behind his mask. "Yes, the Bennett person, and the one called Huxtable or something. But if you say there are more than her that used to be human, that makes it more difficult to prove exactly who's meant to be the tithe and who we're meant to be protecting."
He sent a sideways look at Algernon and Jeremiah, not knowing exactly who - or what - The Enemy was, but it sounded problematic. "So...the tithe is supposed to keep them in a cage? Or something?"
A slightly weak and rueful smile was offered to Algernon in particular.
"Well," said Nathaniel, "It could be worse. I could be doing homework instead of being thrown into the middle of a supernatural party."
It didn't really answer the question of what the hell do we do now with all of this but, well.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 2:12 pm
Jeremiah's lips twitched at the at the homework remark. "Keep in mind, Nathaniel, that being involved with this is what put me on sabbatical." There was a brief pause. "... and it is also the reason for the CDC quarantine that happened at Blackfriars." Which was, at this point, enough to imply there was some level of extreme danger. "It is part of the natural cycle of things here, it seems, so it is likely to keep it in check." His fingers fell to the mask on his side, fingers brushing against it. "Kin not kind is a very particular phrase used by certain people-" Jeremiah let out a breath. "Never mind that apparently the other guests have caused something of a disturbance," the way he said it was probably far more than that, "and are gathering in the room we just left. However, I admit that I would be interested in seeing the one who made mention of human ancestry. It coincides with the kin not kind remark." There was a brief look to Alg before his fingers brushed against his husband's arm. Mostly because, at this point, even with the extra mask ... Jeremiah would be respecting Adoelle's wishes.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 2:23 pm
Alg sighed at mention of whatever the others had done. "Some people don't know how to behave in public.." He huffed. Of course he didn't know what happened but this was a ball and they were at the mercy of powers beyond their ken. It did no one any good to act like maniacs. "We also haven't been to many more rooms.." Alg again offered his arm to Jeremiah. "I think we all need to speak together but-" He glanced at Nathan and Jeremiah both, "Perhaps get our fill of information before we do so."
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