Fleur sat in her sanctum waiting on Oct 31st for her guests to arrive. She has asked Arachne and Antoine to come and help her negotiate with, or at least listen to Mr. Spooky one more time. If he can't be negotiated with they will probably need to find a way to eliminate him by, or at, this date next year. While she waits she watches the now familiar drama of the two specters serving their master before the midnight slaying.
Antoine comes as invited, with Corpus Hermeticum under his arm (assuming this isn't against library rules!).
Salve! I brought a little "light" reading while we wait; I hope you don't mind?
Do we have a plan this year?
"Read that last season, I'm planning to read it some more next, very good book. Tonight we are going to actually have a sit down with Mr. Spooky, he actually visited me in my winter blood moon and wants to bury the hatchet. I think he realizes he can't bluff us anymore and each year we are progressing in dealing with him where he is not. Basic rules for how he works. He can manifest tonight, or any time blood is spilt on the floor, tonight starts at midnight, basically whenever he is able to manifest it has sun duration. We know from last year he can close doors and hold them shut while he is manifest, he may have other abilities he hasn't manifested, and any blood offered to him tonight creates some sort of bond, apparently the next year if the person whose blood was offered dies they become bound to him as a spirit, I'm guessing that is what happened with these two." she gestures at the two ghosts going through their last moments- which will only be apparent if you have second sight.
Gunnvara knocks on the door, "Gunnvara and Wisdom, mind if we step inside? Wisdom wants to see a fellow ghost.
More knocks followed the first and, positively cattish with curiosity, Frederika stuck her head through the door: “The spirits of the restless dead is it?” Giving a quick 'may I?' gesture, she slipped inside – the stuffed satchel hanging off her arm bouncing along behind her.
Smiling expectantly and excitedly, she seated herself: “I know next to nothing about ghosts! But~” she patted the pack on her lap, puffed up with pride. “I have a bag of tricks that can do almost anything. Should we start by setting up a ward? A ward would show we mean business!”
Fleur considers this "A ward around ourselves or it? I'm not sure it has to manifest in a particular place, and a ward around ourselves may indicate fear more than seriousness."
“Hmm!” Rika thought for a moment.
“You mentioned manifesting when blood was split: when it is, does the spirit manifest everywhere just like it does at midnight, or just around the blood? Because we can always trigger the manifestation early.”
“Regardless, I don't think taking sensible precautions shows fear so much as how serious and well prepared we are!” She nodded confidently.
"We have beaten him twice, well, we beat him the second time, the first maybe not so much, but we didn't need wards before. And blood allows him to manifest, it doesn't summon him. He appears to be something like a living ghost, but not quite, some earlier version of one."
Realising that the evening was getting even more exciting than she could have hoped, Frederika practically lit up: “Really!? That's...AMAZING. A ghost you can reason with, yes? What could he know? Or tell us? What secrets of antiquity omitted from the history books he could have just on the top of his tongue!”
Getting ahead of herself, Frederika made a concerted effort to stop. She smoothed her dress habitually, taking a moment to simply breathe... “But really, this could become so much more fruitful than a nuisance haunting.”
"That's what I'm hoping, because we have certainly dealt with the nuisance parts. The cult he was a part of though, we aren't sure if it was a small cult from the late Roman era that may have mixed in some Christian theology with Pagan, or if it is a small offshoot of Diedne, so, things could get very interesting."
If we do want a ward, I can do a 3rd magnitude one. Do you know if we are expecting Mistress Arachne?
A look of revelation played itself out across her face. But (perhaps strangely) the news didn't obviously dent Frederika's enthusiasm. Not even a little!
...if anything, she seemed even more excited than before. Like a child being presented with two tantalising choices, and no idea which she'd like more: “That is something – we'll have to ask which he is, won't we? I can't wait!”
“And I can manage third magnitude as well. Perhaps a little higher. But now I know it's a living ghost, we'll want to be friendly won't we? I really don't know. This is uncharted territory for me!”
Gunnvara and the other woman, presumably Wisdom, slip inside with Frederika. Anyone with second sight can tell Wisdom is a ghost or maybe some sort of spirit merely projecting an image so all can see her. Gunnvara is talking softly to Vara in her native tongue, interpreting for her. Wisdom speaks up and then Gunnvara asks a question? "Lisbeth wants to know what's a 'living' ghost? How can a ghost live? Is it just a ghost that can reason and think and is aware of its circumstances?"
OOC: I have supernatural nuisance undead, so that might color Mr. Spooky's reactions to Gunnvara.
There's a knock on the door and outside is a small, but strikingly beautiful, woman that Fleur recognizes as Cecelia, Lucas's wife and a member of the Redcap contingent assigned to the Mercere guildhall at Andorra. "Good evening, Fleur," she says politely. "I hope I'm not intruding. But I heard Gunnvara talking about coming tonight, and then I remembered that Lucas had told me about the ghost you saw two years ago at your All Hallow's Eve party. I had to leave early that night to get the kids to bed and so I missed all the fun, though I heard all about it the next day from Lucas and Horus. I'm afraid my experience with ghosts is very limited," she admits. "But I've got some faerie blood on my mother's side that lets me see them. Do you mind if I stay to watch your negotiations? I promise not to get in the way."
Guiverna arrives at the party, wearing a more-than-daringly-low-cut emerald green dress which reveals a breathtaking amount of décolletage. Nestled between her breasts is a looped Tau cross*, and her snake Semsuhfaw is wrapped around her shoulders like a stole, his tail around her waist and his head on her chest.
"I hope I'm not too late," she says. "I knew there was no way I would miss a party like this...not when I found out who the guest of honor was going to be."
Yes, this is an ankh...but I suspect that very few people in Mythic Europe, even the educated magi (unless they have an interest in ancient Egypt) would see it as an Egyptian symbol and not as a Christian one.
Fleur eyes Guiverna longingly, "I think the first order of business will be to verify where it comes from, if he was a member of Diedne I doubt he will be forthcoming with that information. After that it will likely come down to negotiating services for blood. I believe he will be okay accepting animal blood."
Never passing up an opportunity to educate, Frederika nodded sagely at Gunnvara: "More than that! What we'd call a living ghost nowadays is a magus who has ensured they will become a thinking, reasoning ghost after dying. To cheat death. Very...well, it's complicated. And blasphemous!"
Fluer, though, was busy thinking ahead:
"I hope not! I'd really like to know. Do you think it would depend on how old the ghost is? If he were bound here long before the Schism, he might not even be aware of what's transpired! And that would be..." Rika's brain lurched and censored the rest of that particular sentence, "...interesting."
"We should have asked Solomon to come, if it is a deidne living ghost bound before the schism what are our responsibilities? I would assume we have the responsibility to destroy it anyways, but we could certainly ask Solomon about that while we figure out the how if we need to, if it comes to that."
At this point the two ghost drama begins to turn to the violence of the night of their death, suggesting the immanent arrival of Mr. Spooky
With the political realities of the situation rearing their ugly head... "Destroyed eventually, probably. But he could know about hidden Deidne enclaves - the sort that would need to be rooted out. Are we in error if we let a chance at that sort of information slip? Or," she bit at her thumb and mutter a bit: "Perhaps all that really matters is how much of a headache this could cause." Frederika put her hands on her hips. "If, as you say, it comes to that anyway. No use worrying before we even have anything to worry about!"
Gunnvara takes a break from interperting to comment herself. A Deidne ghost should be killed immediately. They were cast out for diabolism were they not? Such a ghost would almost certainly be infernal itself. It should be destroyed and its words ignored if it does turn out to be Deidne. she says forcefully, a break from her softer quieter tone for interpretation.