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Bright Journey	Now this is the kind of place anyone would love to move into once they get out of their parent's basement. Spacious and airy, Silk's mansion is set just at the edge of the Temple District, only a couple blocks from the heart of goings-on in Great Forks, and yet far enough away that at least most of the infamous debauchery manages to not be visible from their windows. It sports a grand central hall with a gorgeous skylight overhead, as well as plenty of other spacious and relaxed rooms. The decor varies from room to room, but in general, the servants keep the place looking open, friendly, and homey. It's evening, with lanterns and streetlamps lighting the way. The sky overhead is still low and heavily overcast, but at least the rain hasn't come yet today. The mansion is lit up with lamps everywhere, at least trying to make up for the woeful lack of sun lately. The air is heavy and hot, though, only just now finally cooling down a bit despite the lateness of the hour. Bright Journey is in a nice green dress, an emerald shade that contrasts perfectly with her pale pink hair. She's consciously elegant and flits about, almost to the point that the servants, who are actually getting things done, are looking just slightly exasperated with her. Still, she's infectiously polite and cheery. "So, my dear," she starts as she looks at Silk. "Since I've now caught you up, it looks like Rishi's trying to catch me up. Or vice versa. I confess I didn't quite catch all the nuance. The downside to Infallible Messenger--not exactly easy for them to repeat the message for you if you were not paying enough attention at the time."
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk is seated on one of the sofa's in the room. She's wearing a vivid red dress with an asymetrical skirt and one bare shoulder. She has a glass of wine and a plate with meat slices and cheese bits on it from the side board. "Well, at least we should be all the way caught up then. We can start discussing the options once she finished." She motions to one of the servants. "Please see all of the guests here. Please ensure they don't have any trouble getting in. Also, please let us know if you spot any uninvited guests."
Rishi	A door opens as an exotic musk flows into the room, a musical voice calling out "Bright? Silk?" Soon, the woman stands before you, wings folded behind her, fluffy tail down, a smile warring with a worried look. Her outfit is her usual short silken pants and minimally covering dudou top, though with some nicer edging. She smiles at the servants, but waits until they leave to speak. "While it is being most wonderful to be seeing you both, I needed to be doing the checking in. I am knowing that the Nine Sheaves are being listening to us and finding out many of the things. And that you are being in the charge of handling stopping them. I should like to be helping with the stopping of them. ...Also, you should be knowing that Ammy is thinking that, if they are trying to be gathering this knowledge, then there is already the Wyld Hunt doing the preparing. And she is being most worried about that."
Raullaur	A bit after Rishi enters, there is another chime, and soon Raullaur walks in--dressed in his nicer clothes of white silk and gold embroidery this time. With him is a blue-haired woman that he seems at ease with. "Hello, Silk Moon Lotus. Thank you for the invitation. Bright Journey, and Rishi, hello. I should like to introduce Lin. She has been smithing arms and armor for my troops for a while, now. And..." He glances back to Lin, before turning to the other three, "She is a Twilight. Wishing to work with others, she is, so I wished to introduce her to the center of things in the Great Forks area." He beams, and then looks to Lin. "This is Silk Moon Lotus, whom you will never notice unless she wishes, Bright Journey, a diplomat of renown, and Rishi, who is the most skilled working in medicine I've known."
Lin	Lin arrives alongside Raullaur. The young lady is dressed to impress but also with practicality in mind. Her outfit consists of a sleek, modest dress with a straight knee-length skirt, heavy-duty boots for tromping around town, a thinly-woven hooded cloak (the hood is down of course) that clasps around her neck, and a tight-fitting leather belt with several satchels and pouches mounted to it round her waist. The attire is done up in the colors of the sunset - purples, blues, reds and golds, and it practically screams 'sorceress-scholar'. Lin steps forwards when introduced, looking at each of Raullaur's acquaintances in kind and flashing an enthusiastic but slightly nervous smile. "It's a little awkward to be actually introduced properly for once, and not worry about hiding the truth." She announces, then adds solidly, "A pleasure to meet all of you!"
Bright Journey	Bright Journey stands up, a goblet of delicious-smelling hot mulled wine in hand, and gives Rishi a pearly-white smile. "It sounds like you've been busy lately, my dear. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm 'in charge' of any of it, mind you, I was just the first one to take action, as far as I know, once Tiziri, Raullaur and myself found out about it for the first time. But come in, please, out of that dreadful haze. Have a glass of wine and relax. We're here to have a little fun and to chat as well as catch up, and if we're going to talk business, we should probably do so with everyone here anyway." As Raullaur and Lin walk in, Bright offers a brilliant smile to the both of them as well. "Well, hello, Raullaur, you're looking nice indeed. Especially with your efforts in the ring so far! I'm just glad you and your charming companion could make it. It sounds like we really do need to make sure everyone is on the same page, as it were." She turns to Lin. "Good evening, my dear! If Raullaur speaks true, then you're among friends, and you have nothing to worry about here. We do require that you not speak of this place, for what should be blindingly obvious reasons, but it sounds as if you understand the need for secrecy. In theory," Bright gives Raullaur a sidelong eye here for a moment "we do try to stay quiet, but as we have all seen, there's been some concerning events lately that we need to address. Now, before we talk business, I insist that you both come in and have a bite and a sip. The chef outdid herself tonight, I think, at least going by this excellent wine." She grins and looks at Lin once more. "And unless I terribly miss my guess, you appear to be a scholar or sorceress of some kind, perhaps both. If so, you'll find much in common with us here."
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk sets her plate and glass down. Then stands up smoothly. "Always a please to see you again Raul and Rishi. I welcome you to my home Lin. As Raul told you, I am Silk Moon Lotus, all of us here are Solar exalts except for Lady Rishi here. I am a Night Caste." She gestures to the abundant seating in the room. "Please make yourself comfortable." Silk returns to her seat and picks her plate and glass back up.
Rishi	Rishi smiles at Raul and Lin. "It is nice to be doing the meeting of you properly now. More fully, I am being Rishi Fleshweaver, Chosen of the Moon. But I have been doing the fooling of everyone so they are thinking I am the Chosen of the minor god of the Changing Waters. So, please be referring to me that way, yes?" Rishi sighs, but smiles and nods, moving to make herself a plate, piled well with fruit along with everything else, and pour a glass of wine. She sits and takes a sip and starts eating. "Mmm...it is being quite good! Thank you!"
Raullaur	Raul grins and goes to take a seat. "So...I have heard warning of this Hunt. And I stand ready to fight. My men will as well. Bet we would win in a skirmish or pitched battle. Which means they won't let that happen, right?" He takes a piece of fruit in his claws and then pops it in his jaws. After a moment, he says, "I wonder if they will strike during the tournament? Too many people could mess the plans up, or give them cover....could go either way depending on their preparations."
Lin	Lin answers that question with a practical demonstration, by ggracefully spreading her arms at a diagonal, hands trailing drawing a light growing streak of golden-crimson light that quickly dissipates. "You guess right on both accounts. Though largely of the self-taught variety. This city has the most marvelous library... in about a year though I'll run out of things to read." "So I'm always happy to meet fellows of the trades." The prospect drags a swift and sincere smile from the young lady, though faced with this crowd of people and servants she seems to be inclined to stick close to Raullaur. Rishi announcing herself as a Chosen of Luna, though, has her eyes widening a bit. "Ah, I see. Yes, not a problem. I haven't really... come up with any sort of cover story... more just dodging questions." Which is tiring and anxiety-inducing, no-doubt. But she does break away from Raullaur and avails herself of the assorted foodstuffs, grabbing a plate and a a small glass of wine. "Mmm!" Is her appreciative opinion of it after she finds a place to sit and try it. The sudden mention of 'Hunt' sends a chill down her spine though. "A full briefing on the situation would be great. I've already heard that the tournament grounds are being spied on..." Though it doesn't take a genius to expect that one ahead of time. Who WOULDN'T spy on such a tournament...?
Bright Journey	Hmm," Bright murmurs as she has a seat, settling her goblet in front of her and idly tracing the rim with a finger as others get situated. Once everyone has a bite to eat and some wine to sip, she takes a sip of her own mulled wine and looks around the table at everyone. "All right. Again, thank you all for coming. First off, I did catch Silk up to what's been going on, but I think now's probably a fantastic time for me to tell everyone what has happened so far so we're all on the same page. I'm not going to share every detail, but hit the high notes, so to speak. "First of all, Tiziri, Raullaur and I were in one of the private booths in the Arena, enjoying the display while talking about a sensitive subject I'm not going to get into right now. Suffice it to say what we were discussing would cause -significant- problems in a couple different directions. Near the end of the chat, we heard a noise from behind us in the booth. We investigated and found some sort of artifact." Bright pauses and holds out her hands maybe six inches apart. "It was maybe this tall, a crystal with a silver base, runes, and one Old Realm glyph. Rishi and I, and a couple others, later did a formal assay of the device and we're certain it sends and receives sound to a twin somewhere, probably somewhere in the Arena. The range wouldn't be infinite, but I promise it's not working for them now. The item is -quite- safe and out of the way, well out of their reach. The point, though, is someone knew enough to plant the device -there-, at that time, and we remain convinced they had to know something already, if not as much as they have to know now. "Anyway. We also did a search of their offices, myself and a few others. No one here, I think. Anyway, we found a journal proving one of the Nine Sheaves' senior managers knows what we'd said, killed his own subordinate--a boy--to keep him quiet, and is actively trying to peddle the information to the Wyld Hunt."
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk nods along to what Bright is saying. "If a Wyld Hunt were called, they traditionally strike a single solar or lunar at a time. Thus they have superior numbers. If whatever information they have gathered gets into the Immaculate's hands, everyone mentioned could have a problem. Bright and I have started working on a plan where I pretend to be an Immaculate priest and let it be known I'm interesting. I'll probably want Pearl around to help if possible and any Lunars that think they can wait until we have all the copies of the list. Someone could hitch a ride back to his home and get any extras."
Rishi	Rishi pats her lips with a napkin, the large pile of food already gone, before turning to Raul. "It is being better if it is not coming to the fight. The City might be wanting to be repelling the Realm Wyld Hunt...but they cannot be doing the opposing of the Lookshy. And it is being likely that we will be having few of the supporters once they are knowing what we are being." Rishi tilts her head to the side, her waterfall of dark hair flowing across her back like a liquid, thinking about Lin's issues. "Hmmm... could you be doing the changing of your anima? I could be showing you the trick as I am having the knowing of it. Perhaps you could be doing the adapting of it? Or making the Artifact to be doing that? Also, I am knowing some of the Sorcery, if you are ever wanting to be swapping the spells." She gives Lin a grin. Rishi quickly sobers when Bright speaks, nodding along. Rishi frowns while Silk speaks. "While I am not liking the violence, I am wishing to be part of this, if you are feeling like you are needing me. Are we planning to be doing the murder of this man? Or is there being some magic we could be using to be ...removing the memories?"
Lin	"According to all the accounts I've been able to locate, the Wyld Hunt is also not typically opposed to dishonorable methods to achieve its goals. They will carve a path of destruction and hold whatever's precious to their quarry hostage if it suits them. The only thing going in their favor has, traditionally, been that their quarry is disorganized, without a powerbase or allies and little idea of what they're dealing with." Unstated here is of course, the idea of exactly what the group will need to do to proof themselves against a potential hunt... "Trying to impede this operation and cut off the intelligence is a great plan but we should prepare for the worst, too."
Bright Journey	Bright sighs deeply, thinking as she listens to everyone else speak. She sips her wine again, fortifying herself before she speaks. "I, for one, do -not- like the idea of just...killing someone. I know not everyone feels that way. Hell, Fudou's solution to this whole situation is to let them send a Wyld Hunt and ambush them in the wilds. I have no doubt we could do that--as he pointed out, they are unlikely to really grasp how strong we are at this point--but the problem is with the aftermath. I want to find a more elegant solution. The problem, of course, is we may -have- to do something like that, and if we do, that's fine. Like I told Fudou, I didn't hesitate to help defend Amethyst's homeland and I certainly won't hesitate to defend myself or my loved ones. I'm just hoping to be able to arrange it so we don't have to go that far. "As for the man, whoever he is, I'm not sure I have an easy answer. I can make it so he forgets the conversation we're having, but I'm not sure that spell would work against longer-term memories, sadly."
Raullaur	"I wonder...how dedicated is he? What's his price? Can we buy him out? And if we could, could we trust him to be loyal to /us/ and not get bought out a second time?" Raul flicks his tail slightly. "I make it a point to not break contracts, but I've bought out competitors before."
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk Smiles "I'm hoping that we can resolve the issue without resulting in viloence. Does anyone know of some sorcery that would prevent the person from talking about us?" "I fear that you are correct. If the information gets out, we will need to be prepared to either go to ground or leave for some time. I can hide in the city indefinately without someone finding me. I have other plans as well."
Rishi	Rishi frowns. "I...could be attempting the beguiling of him, perhaps?" Rishi looks at Bright. "I know I am not being the speaker like you, but I am not being the blind to how I am looking. I have not done the trying to be winding the people around my fingers, but...Bright, if you are wishing to be trying to talk this one into not doing this, I can be doing the trying to be helping." At Silk's mention of sorcery to keep someone from talking, Rishi's face puckers like she just bit into sour fruit. "There is being the spell which, whenever you are trying to be doing the speaking of the thing the Sorcerer forbid you from doing the discussing, you are instead doing the vomiting of the maggots. It is being most unpleasent and not entirely the infallable. Doing the forbidding of this man from speaking of the Anathema, could simply be telling the Wyld Hunt that there is being something here to be finding."
Lin	Lin's interest is piqued by Rishi's offer. "A way to disguise my anima? That would be lovely but I doubt that's a simple matter... definitely open to ideas, though." She nods vigorously to Risho's offer. Then turns to glance over at Bright Journey during the long explanation... her expression is sober. "If the Wyld Hunt is dispatched, they're likely to only retreat if they use up all their supplies and literally can't continue, or lose complete track of their prey. It may be better to somehow lead them on a wild goose chase and give them false information than try to confront them directly." She offers as another idea.
Bright Journey	Bright is still thinking, clearly, swirling her wine glass as she listens to everyone's ideas. For someone who came across as a dilettante just a short time ago, the shrewd thinker behind the social butterfly is showing more and more. "Corrupted Words. Yes, I remember reading about that spell. Honestly, I considered learning it, but aside from just sheer poor taste--literally! Rishi is -not- being facetious about the maggots thing--it does make it obvious to all and sundry that the person knows a secret. It's not a perfect way of keeping something silent forever. Honestly, Lin, I really like the idea of simply misinforming and misdirecting the Wyld Hunt. Silk, remember what you told me about the Immaculate Priest robes? Together, I think all of us could come up with a very good plan."
Silk Moon Lotus	"I'm all in favor of the Immaculate priest plan. I can even mimic the aura of a dragon blooded in case he asks for some kind of proof. My disguise is good enough that he couldn't see thought it unless I do something very wrong. I guess I'm save the corrupted words for a backup plan."
Rishi	Rishi headtilts, thinking. "Are we knowing if this person is already having the Wyld Hunt buyer? Pearly was giving me the novel about the 'sneaky thieves' once and, in the book, they were doing this thing where the thief is finding the merchant and is claiming to be doing the buying..and is then finding the buyer and claiming to be the merchant. And in between they are exhanging the item with the forgery." Rishi hrms. "Could we not be doing this and passing along the fake list of the people? And telling them that, yes, the anathema are going to be doing the traveling to be seeing the southern Lunars of Mount Namas?"
Lin	"A list of fake Anathema won't be very convincing without some evidence to suggest their existence." Lin surmises aloud in ponderance over Rishi's ideas. "But mix in enough of the truth and that might get somewhere. ... Still, I fear that if the Hunt is actually dispatched, the only thing that will actually stop them is overwhelming them or fleeing far beyond their reach. ... Well, really, we need to find out who we'd be dealing with to have any hope of tricking them. There's too many unknowns right now."
Bright Journey	Bright leans forward, her elbows on the table (how unladylike!) as she looks intently at everyone at the table. "I think that, first of all, we are all aware of this? But I should state it out loud, that we're talking about two different goals. Stopping the merchant if he hasn't found someone to talk to yet, or stopping the Wyld Hunt if he has. I think Silk's idea has merit in either case, but we would have to use it in different ways. Rishi, your suggestion of inserting ourselves in the middle would work well. The merchant could think all along her was handing the information to the Immaculate priests, and we could meet the real priest -as the merchant-, maybe. Depends on how well they know him, I guess. "One thing I'm certain of, though, is the merchant is not going to have a great idea of who we are. At best he'll have descriptions, and maybe a name or two. Most importantly, we can hand something else to thew Wyld Hunt if we have to--they're not going to know what he has in that kind of detail! Just that he has information on anathema, right? So we could write anything we wanted at that point and they'd have to buy it. How would they know different?" Bright pauses, thoughtful. "You know what? I'm no professional author, but I think I could come up with something suitable. Anyone else good with penning missives?"
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk mulls over the idea. "That has a lot of merit to it. I can be either of the people or even both of them. My technique allows me to appear as anyone. I've never dabled in forgeries and the like beyond simple ones. I've never needed them."
Lin	"I'm no stranger to scribing, but I profess a lack of confidence in phrasing things to a completely unknown person..." Lin offers out hesitantly.
Rishi	Rishi headtilts, pondering, then shudders slightly. "It is being most unpleasent to be doing the considering of, but I can be doing the reshaping of the people's bodies to be providing them with the temporary disguises and to be making them look like the other people. If you are needing to be having more than Silk doing the impersonating. ...But, aside from perhaps providing the "backing up" in my mouse form, I think that is all the help I can be providing. I am not being much of the "liar" by my nature. It is being the main thing I am having none of the talent at." Rishi hrms. "Though, unless we are writing the note that is saying "There is being no Anathema here, it is all fine!" ...are we not going to be needing to be telling them that "look, that person is being the Anathema!"?" Rishi has a sour look on her face. "I am not being sure that is being the good thing."
Bright Journey	"Relax, Rishi," Bright replies, a touch of a smile on her face. "We're not going to point out anyone specific. We're going to give them a fictional account and a false direction, and the merchant they get the information from will vanish into the aether. Mind you, they -will- be looking harder at Great Forks. But there's not a damn thing any of us can do to stop that at this point. That will happen even if they never send any Wyld Hunt. You're right, though, a stab at 'there are no Exalted here' is obviously doomed to fail. Our best bet is to tell them the Exalted found out they had been discovered and decided to skip town, get out of Great Forks entirely. That plays to the Wyld Hunt's pride, their sense of being powerful enough to crush 'anathema' resistance. They never need know our might."
Silk Moon Lotus	"I do like this idea. If there is an actual member of the Immaculate Order coming. Another option is that we frame the man to make it that the paperwork implicates himself as the target. I guess giving some vague description and a destination they are going like the Dreaming Sea wouldn't be a bad choice."
Lin	"I suppose the main reason I've been focusing on the matter of the Wyld Hunt itself is that... it's only a matter of time. We might be able to avert this one, or we might not. But another will come. And another after that. It may be months, or years, or even only weeks, but they will eventually come and the only ones we can count on are each other. We have to be ready. Unfortunately I fear that when that time comes it will be very messy and there'll be no going back to trying to stay covert for most of us." Lin explains with a drawn-out sigh, no doubt she's been fretting about this scenario for many months quietly up until now. "So it's great to avert this one, but moving forward I am hoping to be more proactive than reactive... does anyone share my concerns...?"
Rishi	Rishi brightens. "Ah! Yes, that IS being the good idea, Bright!" She headtilts considering. "Hmmm... It would probably be better to be doing the asking of the Fudou, but I can be telling you of some of the more well known of the Elders of those Chosen by the Ever Changing One. Perhaps you could be selling the Hunt that they were driving the Anathema off to be joining up with them?" Rishi hrms. "Perhaps not the Queen of Fangs as we are going to be doing the visiting of her, but there is being the mountain near the Sea of Dreaming with the two Elders. Pointing the Hunt to them... I am doubting they will be having much of the problem." Rishi places a hand on Lin's arm. "I am being most worried too, but we are having the allies and the friends. We are having places we can be doing the going, places we can be doing the hiding. I am going to be trying to be doing the meeting with the Three at the some point, to try to be bargaining for the safe place in the city. Or...maybe, I shall also be going out and building the territory one day. Letting us become too much the terrified now, is just meaning that we are doing the missing out on the joy of the today."
Bright Journey	Bright smiles, but shakes her head at Rishi. "No, it wouldn't do to go too deep into what these fictional Anathema are doing. Remember, this merchant is afraid of them, enough to go to the Wyld Hunt. He doesn't know much about them, and more importantly, doesn't -want- to know about them. He's passing it on and washing his hands of it, and that is pretty much what the Immaculates expect of their faithful. Worse, if they do not know of these Elders, they -certainly- must not learn of their presence from us! We're trying to enlest their aid, not bring an army to their doorstep, no matter how well prepared they are. No...best to sound vague and fearful." Bright's expression softens in concern as Lin expresses her fears, and nods. She leans over to take Lin's hand, if Lin allows it. "I won't deny that Great Forks has become a visible refuge of Exigents, at the very least, let alone the inevitable rumors about the rest of us. The good part, though, is I think the Hunts have become less frequent, not more, as time has gone by and the Realm is more and more fractured. Frankly, I'm not sure I wouldn't have been noticed if I'd been born, say, fifty years earlier. Maybe less than that. Also, as everyone here can attest...it's not as if the Wyld Hunt would necessarily -win- at this point. I realize it may be more difficult for you to believe, Lin, but we have done far more than just hide out here--we've battled cultists and demons, foiled plots and fought a battle or two of our own. You may rest assured we are potent, especially when we work together." Bright grins, well, brightly. "And -that- is what they are not ready for. The fact that we fight not just well, but together. They count on us being alone, weak, ill informed. We are now none of those things. Perhaps after this Arena thing is done, we could look into a more formalized haven for Exalted on the run. That'd fit well into what Fudou challenged me to do...find out more about the Exalted we don't normally deal with in the city. Hmm..."
Lin	Lin blinks a few times at the reassurances... then noticeably relaxes, at least a little bit. "I'd feel best actually making something... plans, a fortress, spells, traps, gear... something... but it's great to not be alone anymore." Her voice is quiet and reserved and a little shiver runs through her. "As for finding out more about the Exalted... you're welcome to ask me anything, but this blessing didn't quite come with any scroll explaining the details." She adds a moment later in regretful sarcasm.