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Bright Journey	It's a quiet, chilly night in Great Forks, but inside the Mansion, the hearth fires are burning bright. The main hallway is fairly dim outside of the candles and torches, thanks to the dark, cloudy sky overhead--the skylights may as well be a dark third-story ceiling at this point, and the tiled floors of the hallways, kitchen, and other such areas make it a bit cool. On the other hand, the lounge is blazing with warm firelight, candles here and there adding to the heat and ambience as Bright Journey sits in one of the overstuffed chairs therein. It's much warmer in here, cozy and comfortable as she sips at a huge earthenware mug of hot mulled wine. Tonight is a night of planning, and a couple important people have been invited to attend a meeting with Bright and Silk, to go over final preparations before the priest and merchant are scheduled to meet...
Fudou the Mountain	Ironic, really. Misa and Fudou had recently met and were -just- discussing this matter. Some revelations were had even as it turned out the Exigent of Strength wasn't an Exigent after all anymore then the sword maiden a simple talented mistress of the blade. Those things out int he open now, the conversation indeed turned to the very subject matter, among others, that may be discussed this evening. Fudou's arrival to the mansion is in his usual fashion. An animal that makes its way unseen and unlooked for, followed by his gigantic figure being lead in to the room where the meeting is being arranged. Upon his arrival, and seeing Bright Journey, his expressive features pull back into a grin that would make a Siaka proud. "Bright Journey! Greetings!"
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk can be found in a chair facing towards bright. She has a glass of chilled juice in her hand a sign that the cold doesn't bother her. She looks over her shoulder at Fudou and smiles. "I was hoping you would show up tonight." She takes a sip of her juice and grins mischieviously.
Bright Journey	As one of the maids escorts Fudou in, Bright gives her a smile and nod, then offers a grin for Fudou in return. "Well, hello there, my dear! Do come in and have yourself a seat. I'm afraid it's a bit late for a full meal, but the snacks and tidbits should be along shortly, along with a mug of whatever you ask the ladies for." She grins and sits back, legs crossed, her bottle-green dress a nice contrast to her pink hair. "Apologies for picking such a ghastly night to have to be out and about, though. Hopefully the mansion will be cozy enough to make up for it for a while." Bright hrms thoughtfully to herself, looking at the door to the lounge briefly. "Hopefully we can settle the very last of our plans tonight. We do -not- have much more time, for more than one reason. And since one of our plans has fallen through, Fudou, we definitely have one or two additional things to discuss."
Tepet Makara	Makara arrives after dealing with something of family importance to him as there is still a visible expression of disappointment and anger in his face although he shrugs it off as he will be in an important meeting. To make sure that no one follows him, Makara appears as a raiton that flies to the mansion and then takes human form once he's on the ground. "Thank gods I hunted for new shapes." He says to himself as he greets the others. "Greetings, hmm where is Tiziri? I expected she will be here or that she is late" Makara however lacks knowledge about what happened. "I've been busy lately with certain affairs but thankfully it's been resolved besides something."
Fudou the Mountain	"Tiziri may ahve decided to go to ground for awhile..." answers Fudou in answer to Makara and possibly to give Bright Journey and Silk more context as well. "At least...that is my guess. She's flighty like her totem. The slight pushb ack on her wanting to immediately go for the jugular coupled with her tension about the situation may have led to her withdrawing for the moment to consider other options on her own. We shouldn't wait for her." He seems...disappointed. The hint of a frown now on his lightly bearded features. "I shouldn't be surprised given the tendencies of her shahan-ya but...I had hoped. Anyway. Yes. We should decide soon. You have some almost hoping that a fight breaks out and honestly I may be counted among them. If the Hunt comes then it comes. I'm inclined to agree with our sword-maiden friend on that front even though I get the need for cautiousness. Who is it we need to lay hands on then? Are they themselves dragonblooded or mortal?"
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk smiles at Makara's entrance. "I'm afraid that Tiziri isn't coming tonight. She hasn't been out of her tower lately. I'm not willing to go snooping on a friend so I don't know what she's doing." Silk gets up from her chair. She's dressed rather plainly next to Bright's dress in an off white linen shirt and leather pants. "I'm personally unclear on who we are going after. I do know that I can pull of whatever disguise or seeming that you need me to do. It's one of the things I've learned to do very well."
Misa	If it weren't for an attendant leading her in, Misa might've gone entirely unnoticed. Not that she's sneaking, mind- just that she doesn't make much fuss of herself. She's entered the room with none of those new weapons at her side- instead, just a simple mundane slashing sword- albeit well-filigreed and elaborated. Seems fond of it. She takes a seat in one of the chairs with a simple bow of the head, hands folding into her lap as she listens in. "If I might offer an assist that does not involve my swords- if, once we find this person, we can get some kind of lead on where they have begun putting out feelers I can likely find the rest of the loose ends to be spoken to."
Bright Journey	Bright gestures expansively to the various chairs and couches about the lounge. "Please, all of you, sit and have a drink. No need to discuss business before getting comfortable." She smiles warmly and follows her own advice, savoring the taste of the mulled wine as it flows down her throat. "Now," she says in response to Fudou and Silk. "Unfortunately, Tiziri, Fudou and I all sort of disagreed on how far we wanted to go in resolving this. The difference is Fudou stayed and listened, and Tiziri was..." Bright sighs sadly. "She was upset. She favored killing not only the merchant and the priest, but hunting down the merchant's master mentioned in the letter and anyone else there. I can't imagine that doing anything but making things worse, to be honest, rather than making them better. I think we can expect to not hear from her for some time." Bright continues, "That said, we have to hash this all out, and time is running short. We should finalize our plans tonight and whatever we decide, stick to it. To answer your question, Fudou, I tend to think the merchant is a normal person. So far he's done little but murder a child that knew too much and hid. That doesn't sound like an Exalt to me, frankly. It's an educated guess, of course, but I stand by it. We know little of the priest he contacted, though. Hard to guess whether the priest will come alone or in force. I don't know what the merchant told him or if he was believable, but he obviously couldn't tell the priest everything." Bright pauses and turns, another grin lighting her face as she sees Misa. "Hello, hello, come on in as well! Actually, I've been remiss as a hostess--I'm not sure Misa -or- Makara have been here before." She stands up and gestures, arms wide. "Welcome! Hopefully you'll find tonight restful. I realize we're not here for entertainment, but above all else we should all leave as friends, committed to one plan."
Tepet Makara	"Ah I see, won't touch upon it for now" Seeing as it's a sensitive subject and he read the room, he won't speak about it especially as there is a much more serious topic at hand when it comes to the organizers of the tournament. "Oh the owner of the dojo is with us?" He glances at Misa as it seems they meet before but briefly. "Despite my dynast and Immaculate markings in my armor, don't let that fool you since I am a dragon of shifting silver" He mentions it to her to clear misunderstandings just in case "For this merchant, has the place where he usually does his business been found yet?"
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk nods her head to Bright and swaps out her juice glass for a mug of the mulled wine. She takes an appreciative sniff and nods her head. "Please help yourself to whatever you want." She then walks back over to her overstuffed chair and sits back down. She looks around at Misa for a moment "Didn't bring them or are them just well hidden?" She smiles with a twinkle of mirth in her eyes." Silk waits for everyone to gather round so she can find out what her role will be and what outfit she gets to wear this time.
Fudou the Mountain	"I have to bring this up again..." says Fudou slowly, arms folding now. "Have we considered simply letting the hunt come and dealing with it as appropriate if they would come? I'm forced to remind you all again that attempting to simply hide yourselves in Great Forks from now until....I don't know....a new age...is somewhat folly. when will the next 'mistake' happens when you're overheard having a conversation? Some of us truck very closely with Dragonblood who have no idea of what we are. A simple mistake can lead to disaster because we're trying too hard to compress ourselves into this one location instead of simply being ourselves. If this merchant submits names and someone comes calling isn't that simply to be expected?"
Misa	Eyes sliding over to Silk, Misa's brow raises a moment as she considers the opinions about the room. "Debatable," she says, shrugging slightly as she looks back to the rest. "But that aside, there is certainly not a shortage of options. Meeting the hunt would be one, though I understand many are concerned for the incidental damages of the conflict. Fudou has told me one or more of you can help bind someone to not share information? Find the first one and the rest will follow with the leads that first gives."
Bright Journey	Bright frowns, but thoughtfully, not in disapproval as she sips her wine. "Here's the thing about dealing with the Wyld Hunt. Don't get me wrong--I know well that they want us all dead no matter how much we try to stay out of their way. I won't deny that morality is a concern, but killing them of all people is perfectly fair game. But if we do that at all it has to be far, far away from Great Forks. I'm loathe to do anything that could jeopardize our safety within thee city and we would be poor citizens indeed to bring that trouble to our doorstep. And if we do it, it has to be after we're certain the descriptions of us haven't made it to the Immaculacy. There's no way they won't try everyuthing to get at us if they know who to look for. "That said, nothing says we couldn't do it in a way to implicate someone else. We -did- already lay the ground work for that, did we not?" She gives makara a meaningful look. "Or we could deceive the priest. One way or another, though, either the merchant has to be convinced to forget aboutt us--and I could try to do that but it's possible others might shake him loose of that--or he would have to die. And remember, he already murdered one kid and took steps to have all of us murdered. Don't feel bad for him if we go the latter route."
Fudou the Mountain	"So unite then." Fudou frowns now, resting his hands onto his hips now and growing more aggressive in his stance. "Are we common mortal scavenger lords that need to carefully consider what some mercenary company might do to us? Accept this: You have the power and ability to move this city and shape nations. Wer're not -obligated- tojust sit and dance and tip toe around the fact. IF they'd bring more forces together hten let them. Do you not think that the Silver Pact wouldn't send forces to assist if some of their ilk offered to take a stand? You need only be willing to do it. If you're not -willing- to invoke the change that you look for then we're just walking in circles." He then gestures abit, "Understand, I"m not saying that this subterfuge is out of the question simply that you are only delaying the inevitable. Right now you at least have the advantage of knowing more then they do. We couold send messengers out to rally allies..." He then shakes his head to the last part, "I'm no assassin. That is not my way. If he must die then...he must... We've sacrificed mortal sailors just doing their jobs after all... But therein lies my point again. Simply killing him doesn't solve anything in the big picture..."
Tepet Makara	"Hmm if we kill the merchant, there may also be the possibility that the priest may sense that something isn't right and may possibly send investigators or worse, dragonblooded investigators" Makara ponders on what to do with the dilemma at hand as it seems to be a tricky subject. "If we have to kill him, a lunar may steal his shape but the problem is if they know how to act like him perfectly" He may be a Lunar but he is no changing moon after all. But when Bright mentioned that the ground works may be laid, he knows what she means. "Oh right, people saw me chasing Caeleen away because she was shape-shifting in public and had no choice but to do it in order to fool any watchers of the organizers. Maybe if we meet the merchant, he may trust me because I'm a "valiant prince of the earth whose the nemesis of the anathema" or something like that. If he trusts me, I may pry him for information"
Misa	"I suppose it should be pointed out that heading off this threat does not mean maintaining that holding pattern forever," Misa muses, frowning almost in surprise at herself for the comment. "Head off this problem, leave those who would come for this place unawares, and do something more proactive after. Even have someone establish a bulwark space between here and, say, Lookshy to draw attention with a more militarized settlement, something to that effect. For the moment- I still hold that we ought to handle this one in such a way that we clear any chances of lingering loose ends."
Silk Moon Lotus	"I'm not against killing the merchant. I want to make sure we are doing it for the right reasons. I'm much more willing to kill immaculates for the lies they have spread about us for the last...thousand plus years. Also, it's not just this merchant in the city. There are the Dragons as well as some Sidereals here. I don't know their intentions at all." Silk pauses a moment to let it sink in for everyone. "I can make any mortal think that I'm whomever we want me to be. The Immaculate is my bigger concern. I worry that they are a dragon and not so easily fooled or killed." "Once this business is resolved, I'm sailing to the West. Bright has asked if we could stop at the Caul."
Bright Journey	Bright sighs and nods, swirling her glass idly. "My goal is to calm things down, not provoke a response from the Realm. Rest assured, Fudou, I intend to be proactive and I have a lot of plans in place, and have no fear: I -will- change the world. But violence doesn't sway hearts and minds, it allows us to keep on living so we -can- change hearts and minds. I know I have no intention of taking over Great Forks, and your desire to take the fight to the Realm aside, I'm guessing you don't want to do that either. Am I right? I don't know a thing about running a nation, frankly, and it's not among the things I desire to learn." She gives Makara a confused look. "What? I'm not sure I'm following you. I'm not sure I recall the name Caeleen at all, to be honest, but don't worry about it. I was talking about the undead you used to make the attack on the ship look like an attack from the shadowland. That ship had our information stored on it, remember? As for deceiving the priest or the merchant, rest assured Silk is virtually unbeatable at that. She'll be in charge if we go that route. I'm sure some Lunars are excellent at that too, but I know Silk can do it, so let's go with that, if we try to fool anyone." "And as Silk said, after this we're looking to take a trip out west. I wanted to ask you specifically about tthat, Fudou, since without Tiziri I'm not sure trying to visit Raksi is a great idea. But I do want to meet a shahan-ya, and I'm told the Caul might be a place to do that...and you might know much more. Can you tell me more about what's going on there, and who might be there?"
Fudou the Mountain	"Caeleen was a lunar who appeared foolishly in the stands during the tournament and Makara played the part of a dynast trying to chase her off and declare the strength of The Realm. If anything she might have only helped to tip off what was going on but she had newly returned to Great Forks and we're not exactly 'illegal' here after all. We've simply been nice about it to avoid provoking Lookshy against The Three." Fudou sounds tired and mildlye exaserated, "It's fair to not want war but as I told Rishi you -will- have to fight. Changing hearts and minds will require bloodshed as well. There's no escaping that. So we provoke The Realm? So what. It's a battle due to happen. If we know it's coming we can prepare for that and be in a position to strike or make the first strike but to just ...." He lets his words trail off and then adds, "..Let's not forget it was I that suggested attempting to silence the merchant by binding him and earning his silence without killing him...and tying up loose ends as well as the Lady Misa and Silk have said. I won't say -don't- do that but I will say it does not actually fix anything. Two weeks later, one of you slips up infront of a Sidereal or Dragonblood and we're right back where we are right now. That's my point." After a pause he then asks, "And before I forget, why west and The Caul?"
Tepet Makara	"I'm guessing you weren't there at that time during one of the arena fights. Although I admit I'm not exactly one of the more subtle of lunars, at least I don't shape-shift in public or in an audience row like Caeleen Selena" He clarifies to Bright regarding who Caeleen is. "I'll also help Silk in deceiving the merchant.....well if you allow it" He then turns to the topic regarding the Caul. "I plan to go there mostly for research reasons and recently.....family reasons. My brother has been deceiving me lately through letters that he's in the Blessed Isle but he was in the Caul all along doing illegal businesses but I don't have the specifics as I got it from an astrologer in divining his future. I am mildly familiar with the Caul since I was assigned to Faxai once, one of the Realm held cities and has a shrine representing Pasiap. My mentor had to reassign me for he fears it's too dangerous, since the continent is a battleground between the Realm and the followers of the rumored Black Lion." "I've never meet him though but I heard he has other lunar generals as shahanyas"
Misa	"There -are- more Shahan-ya than Raksi," says Misa with a surprising confidence for a woman who is most certainly not a Lunar. "But we keep spinning out topics- it sounds like, despite philosophical disputes, we're largely settled on binding this merchant somehow? I'll simply ask then, as I mentioned before- if this gives leads to others they might have told, make me aware and they will likely bear fruit."
Bright Journey	Bright looks, well, enlightened and grins a bit. "Ah! Oh, right, her, of course. I think I remember being told the story but I'm not sure whether I was told the name or not. Honestly, I could have simply forgotten it. It's not really what I was referring to, anyway." "Anyway, I'm sure you're right about having to fight, but believe me, my goal is to show the world we can work together, to fight agaist threats from outside. If we do have to fight, I need to make sure we do it in such a way that we're the heroes, like in the fight to save Elderloch. Right now, if we take on the Wyld Hunt we would almost certainly be turned into villains. We could win the battle but lose the war. I think we should fight when it's more to our advantage." Bright pauses thoughtfully and eyes Fudou sidelong. "Sidereals and Dragon-Blooded. I think I know whom you mean by the latter, and Silk told me about one Sidereal she knows, but are there more? How...interesting." She smiles, with just the barest hint of a smirk. "You see, Fudou, two can play that game. And I bet I can make at least one of -them- slip up in front of -me-. Why don't I try to find out what it is they want from us, hm? No need for us to be in the dark." "And as for the Caul...hm. I didn't know you had any plans there, Makara. I asked about it because I heard there might be another shahan-ya there, frankly. I'm hoping it's one who's not quite as prickly as this Raksi is supposed to be, though I won't deny a bit of disappointment at not being able to meet such a powerful sorceress. Anyway, though...the Black Lion. I don't think I've heard the name. Is he someone who might be interested in meeting me? I'm assuming I'd have to help him in his war to get an audience." Bright turns to Misa, still smiling, though more warmly. "We can try to deceive and bind the merchant. I can absolutely convince him, especially if he's mortal, and make him forget that I did so. I know there's a spell to keep someone from speaking about certain things, but it's...ugly, I admit. I didn't want to learn it." "Oh, and to answer your question, Fudou, 'Why West?' is something best left to Silk."
Silk Moon Lotus	"Well, I can make people not speak of a topic with a spell that I know. I would rather not use it if we don't need to do it." $r "As for going West, I have felt a pull if you will towards the West since I learned sorcery. I don't know what is out there. I have to go and Bright agreed to come with. I don't know that the Caul is my final desitination but I'm going to head that way. I have a ship, and anyone in the room is welcome to come with. I'm not sure how the Black Lion will react to a pair of solars so a lunar that can at least help with in roads would be nice."