The Thaumaturges of New Year's Eve » Places

         There was more cooing while Cole seemed lost in thought for one reason or another and Evette was quite content to do so. She found the little companion to be profoundly adorable and it's baby speak only the more reason to go goo-goo eyes over her. The dear kitten really did seem to admire Cole, as she expected from a young companion. Unlike Charon who, was more like a grumpy teacher.

Charon had always been 'older', even when she had found him or he found her, all those years ago there had been a younger spark to him but he was forever old, and arguably wise. Even now, the stubborn lizard had moved onto her shoulder, making low grumbling sounds, that indicated he was thinking. He was constantly complaining about the enthusiasm of young'uns, but Evette secretly knew that he was simply jealous of their exuberance. Although, that didn't stop him from being intellectually bright.

Little Calypso definitely seemed to be quite the motivator for Cole. She had known he was a bit scatter-brained at times but she didn't realise to what degree. Especially that it took a companion to actually motivate him just for simple things. Either he was really that lonely, which made Evette feel even more guilty for their long absence of contact, or his mind was elsewhere, possibly on work.

Standing back up to normal height, her back had started to ache from leaning over at that angle, she chuckled at Cole. Before she could answer it was Charon that did.

"Foolish boy, your brain needs a good scrubbing. Maybe that way it'll clear all the dust that's gathered from lack of use."

Heat rose to Evette's cheeks, thankfully the blush wouldn't be too noticable since her cheeks where already pinched from the cold. But still, she was so embarrassed from Charons comment!

"Charon!" She exclaimed, disappointed that he would come out with such a thing, but having a strange feeling in her gut about his sudden rudeness. Absolutely Charon could be rude, but there was usually a difference in his tone. Something was up. Something was wrong, but they had felt that when they first stepped out of the Green Linnet. Whatever it was, it must be closer. "I apologise Cole, that was incredibly rude of Charon." She turned her head to give him a frown and a light pat, but when she saw his almost desolate eyes she stopped. Indeed, something very evil was close.

Charon was a sort of siphon to evil, it wasn't so much that he became evil, just that the darkness would touched him, making him rude. It was always a good indicator for Evette, and on a few occasions had saved her from a sticky situation.

At the same time that this was happening, little Calypso was hungry. Evette caught Cole's questioning look and despite her worry about Charon and what was out there she tried to keep calm. As for kitty food, she had absolutely no idea and believed she portrayed that with her very confused look.

Since Evette had not being very helpful, Cole had started looking around, pausing and making a cute little 'huh' sound. Curious she turned to where he was looking. And as soon as she was looking she saw it instantly.

The Lord of Dreams.

The odd thing was, Evette knew all the stores around here, this one had never been here before.

"That's odd..." She mumbled, trailing off in thought.

"Rotten weather, freezing my scales off. If you care for me at all you will get me inside." Growled Charon, uncharacteristically at her. This was definitely cause for alarm. As was this Lord of Dreams. It was familiar.

"Cole, I'm sorry, but I think we should go inside. It seems Charon is getting rather chilly, as am I to be honest." She glanced around, expecting to see some horrendous black shadow nearby, but nothing. It was certainly getting more spooky.

         The cold got so intense, that it crept into the bones of Marie-Louise. She stopped with her artwork and started to work out a little in order to keep herself warm. Something whispered in the dark - and - it came closer. 'Who's there?' Marie-Louise said, turning around hastily holding up her flashlight with one hand, searching for a soda bottle with the other. 'No! I brought tea in a flask this time. It's too cold to be around things that can be turned into useful weapons! Oh, but I still have my tear gas gun.' She crouched in order to reach her bag when suddenly some kind of ektoplasma pulled open her eyes and entered her body.

For a while she didn't move, she lay on the ground as if dead. Then she gulped and seemed to be pretty normal again. Looking around, looking in her bag, looking on the floor, at the ceiling, at her hair and hands...pretty normal. 'I'm a girl' she said in a depreciative tone, pulling her bag onto her shoulder. 'Great.' she snorted, 'a painting chick with a useless gun and...well at least there's paint. And I have blood. It's all going to be - well, nothing less but excellent.' She marched through the gutter, following her instincts.

She saw the world in a different light now. People had a different 'color' than trees, or animals, or wizards. When she opened up a drain cover on Victoria Street, lifting it with one hand, she already perceived them them from afar, just exiting the Green Linnet, two wizards, a man and a woman, shining as gold.
'Look, who's walking down the streets like the world is a safe place,' she murmured.

         The Anthropomorphic Council was a convention of magic animals that was held twice a year and also in times of despair and threat. every animal that was companion to a wizard or witch had to come, of course not everyone followed those orders. This time things seemed to be different, something had happened, something was going on and so almost every magic animal had come.
The Council stood under the principles of Balance and Protection of the Living which lead to the fact that every magic animal was some kind of potential spy to it's master, was he evil or good. Of course a lot of those magic creatures sympathized with their hosts and kept everything a secret, not every animal inclined to the principles of the Council, some just came to spy on the others in order to seek advantage for themselves.

Something was coming, something purely evil, something so dark, that even the darkness was afraid of it. Something was growling under the Park Monceau. To the passing pedestrian it sounded like the Metro or construction work , but every magic animal would now know, that something was preparing to rise, something very old and very forgotten. The cold got stronger, especially in this place, it was minus 6° Celsius and the animals where instinctively looking for a shelter.

They approached a small building and those that where capable to do some spells, changed the inside of the rotunda into a warmer place, with candles and a little more space. It would be still a little narrow, but not like in a tin of sardines. As Weston the Owl arrived and flew over their heads whooing "Late, very late.." a miniature pony and an otter already started complaining. 'Oh dear, couldn't you find some place warmer? Why must you lead us to this dangerous place? Are we bait or something?'

         That warming smile, he was trying so hard to be brave and that just made her even prouder. He was such a great guy that if anything happened to him she wouldn't know what to do. This whole mess, for lack of a better word, while it somewhat terrified her also made her feel as if she really had to put her foot down. Evette was stubborn at the best of times and now she was feeling rather bull-headed. She wanted to charge head first at whoever dared threaten them. But that simply wasn't the way to do it, they were smarter than that, more cautious than that. But, it meant that Evette was prepared to do whatever it took to protect the people she cared about, especially sweet Nicole.

Despite everything she couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Which kind of turned into a half smothered cough. It really wasn't appropriate to be laughing at such dire times! They were being threatened for goodness sake! Although, she had to admit that the idea of going to a rather dirty apartment wasn't the greatest for a reunion with Cole after so many years. But if it meant that they could take a step closer to discovering who was rising, then she would travel to the darkest depths of the world with Nicole.

"Oh Cole, why on earth wouldn't I come with you? I may be a bit uptight sometimes but I'm not averse to getting my hands dirty, especially now since this could be life or death." She scrunched her nose at the last part, as terrifying as it had been moments ago and it still slightly pinched her stomach, it just felt awfully surreal.

Surreal... It was odd, she was a wizard, someone powerful enough to manipulate what people saw. How was that not surreal already? Either way the initial freak out was dying down, nothing bad had happened so better to be proactive and figure out as much as they could beforehand.

"So my dear," She looped her arm through his, "Lead the way?"

         All at once he got up impulsively to get a closer look at what was in front of him. There were several photographs of men and women, that were possibly wizards, possibly something else entirely. In reality, he was still a little convinced of the whole alien invasion theory. Which of course did nothing good for his reputation.

'There's something missing...Oh. Now I start to talk like I'm on TV! I should really stay less on my own.' But who would understand all this nonsense and him being quite the loony sometimes? Maybe that guy from the editorial staff at parisvoice, Cole. He had always proven to be a good listener and seemed to understand his pathways of thinking, although he had never added anything to it..., a decent man. And a hell of a confectioner! Oh those wonderful toothaches...
Suddenly his funky smartphone beeped Michael Jacksons Thriller...he took it out of his back pocket and read:

Hey, dude. Listen, I gotta talk to you ASAP. You at home?

'Speak of the ... no that's mean, it's a good friend Tameril! And you're going to meet him.'
He wrote:

No problem. Got myself a day off, come over!

'I hope he brings something nice to eat, because I spent all of today's money on your fish, dear cat! Savour it!' And with a smile he thudded back on the couch, daydreaming about...well, ...aliens.

         The Raven flew overhead in the moonlit sky, back to the confines set by the laws of familiarity, however his disappearence from his masters side would not go unnoted, and he knew there would be consequences to pay.

The Raven looked somewhat broader, less rugged and alot more bullish than he did when he departed, only he knew why, and when he swept in through a high window and perched on the high beams inside the cathedral he creeched to let his master know of his return.

News had reached his ears of the meeting set to be held by Weston the Owl. He'd never much liked the owl, but he never much liked anyone.

The Raven was prepared to attend but of course, he had his own agendas.