The "Research Department" has its offices off the "East Room" of the old library, through the glass doors, up the stairs.. which are bronze, not iron, as Faeries have never gotten along well with iron.

It is where Fey know to take problems, and the latest one seems serious.

Proge the Goblin is a friend of Gremian, and was recently introduced to Botach.  Like many Goblins, he works for the Department of Sanitation.  They have infiltrated it so well that they can fake records easily, hiring friends, coming and going as they take up each other's Human identities.  Proge is third Goblin to be Pablo "Proge" Jiminez, dedicated sanitation worker who is not afraid to get his hands dirty loading the barges that take city trash to distant landfills.

Proge enjoys fishing and owns a fishing boat, a decent sized powerboat.  (as a Goblin, he also enjoys the taste of a fresh... still flopping... fish) Maybe he had planned to go fishing with a few friends.  Or maybe Gremian and Botach were meeting up with him for another reason.  Whatever the story is, what transpired has worried them.

The Goblin seems to be lost on the Mortal side of the Veil.  They met at Proge's home in the Bronx.  He can't see Gremian and Botach as anything but Human.  He knows them, but only as Humans.  Even more disturbing, he sees himself as Human.  Fully Human.  He thinks he is Pablo Jiminez, and he has the mail and ID in his wallet to prove it.

Naturally, his Fey associates thought it was a joke.  At first.  But it became clear- this is what Proge believes now.  He lives completely and absolutely in the Human world, as a Human, no memory of his Fey nature remaining.  Proge dismissed talk of "Goblins" as stupid teasing from his friends.

And of course, a problem like this had to be brought to the library.  It's where Fey go for help.

In the library, Alisa stood at the checkout center, ready to assist people in logging books into the system. Alisa still found it hard to believe at times that she had managed to land a good paying job like this, when her only working experience up until then had been... far less flattering. It felt like it had taken her two weeks to finally get rid of the urge to ask people "Can i take your order, sir?" when they came to check out a book: The first time it happened, she had been too late to stop herself from saying it, and she had felt about ready to slam her face through a wall in embarrassment.

Still, all things considered, she would be doing whatever guardian angels watched over her a disservice if she'd complain about simply having a thing or two she thought she'd never live down. And, she had to admit, she was rocking the white dress shirt and buttoned black vest and pants pretty well, if she said so herself. The only downside is the white made her hair look greyish by contrast, but again, it was nothing worth complaining about given the amount of benefits the job had. Not like she'd ever consider dyeing it anyway. And besides, were it not for the uniform she'd have ended up showing up at work in her regular clothes, which would have made her stand out like a sore thumb in these more dignified surroundings.

She felt her coat pocket buzz, and slipped her hand in to look at her phone. Her roommate apped her, and a quick look at the screen told her what the message was about. She quickly tapped 'B2' and slid the device back, her eyes scanning for signs of someone wishing to check out or return a book.

Virana walked into the library and smiled slightly when she saw Alisa at the counter and pulling a book she had checked out a couple weeks ago out from a pocket in her trench coat walks up to the counter and sets the book down.

"So I see your still here, so I assume that you like it here."

Virana was a regular at the library now after the last big incident in which she had helped out the library with and had seen Alisa several times and had even talked to her parents about her, and of course with the fact that she always wore her trench coat when she was at the library made her stick out but also a lot of people avoided her as the veil didn't hide her solid black eye's.

Alisa beamed a smile back in response as she took the book, leafing through it quickly to check for damages before checking it back in to the library.

- "Oh, definitely. Part of me still thinks getting told i was hired was an out of season April Fool's joke, but it's been slowly sinking in and i'm... taking my time with it, i guess?"

She had noticed the woman's solid black eyes, but -- like most under the Veil -- assumed it to be contacts of some kind, and Virana's clothing choices helped that image along just fine. As she worked, her phone buzzed again in her pocket, but she paid it no mind as she checked in the book, and carefully placed it on a trolley behind her before turning around again.

- "The job takes some time to get used to, but it's the good kind."

Flea perched atop one of the bookshelves, lying low, and watching the recently arrived employee. Flea felt sorry for her. It mst be dreadful, she reasoned, to go around thinking you are a human. Humans wee pretty awful, in her experience, and she cannot imagine why anyone would prefer to be one, when they could actually be an elf. Even a stuck up, snooty, arrogant High Elf. Flea preferred Wood Elves. They, at least, shared her love for the natural world.

The little fairy scowled. She knew damn well why nobody could tell this newcomer who she really was. Others had explained it to her, in patronising tones. Flea was very small, very grubby, and often smelled dreadful, but she was not stupid. People often assumed she was, because she seemed so small, and that meant she could not possibly comprehend complex matters. Yes, she did not grasp things like human technology particularly well, and she was totally uninterested in things outside her personal purview, but that did not mean she was dim witted. On faerie matters, she was as bright as the next pixie - possibly more so, given she had survived this long in an environment that would have killed most of her kind stone dead within a week.

Flea wasn't stupid. And she definitely knew this was a bad situation.

A changeling could be trouble, and a High Elf blooded was going to be worse. They shouldn't be there, in her library! Sooner or later, being around this many fae-kind, there would be a slip up. Someone might say or do the wrong thing, and then whoops! Pointy ears down there would learn the truth. And that would bring all sorts of recriminations. You don't keep a tree safe from fire by standing it in a burning clearing! She knew that all too well.

The Library was slap bang in the middle of Flea's territory, and she had pledged to protect it. In her view, that meant getting this new person out of there, before doom and disaster rained down on the heads of everyone there.

The problem was, this was a human sized person, who was not supposed to know about fairies. Flea was a six-inch tall pixie person, complete with wings and squeaky voice. She was totally unequipped for this sort of thing. All she could think of was to pester the woman with bugs and rats in her home, and that wouldn't make her leave her job, just find a new place to sleep. It was so frustrating!

She pouted, and watched. She needed to talk to her friends, the big faeries, and explain how concerned she was. Maybe one of them could take her away and dump her in a different city, or in a desert, or something. Somewhere a long way away. That would be perfect!
This message was last edited by the player at 02:58, Sat 16 May 2020.

Botach had thought his new life in New York would be filled with interesting new experiences sights and sounds. he had only been in the country for just over 2 weeks and so far he had been content to visit the human attractions as he wanted to fit in. Why humans were obsessed with high buildings had bewildered Botach until he remembered they could not fly. Not for the first time he pitied the humans there restrictions. Botach was reminded how he did not like being trapped in a metal box as it plummeted to the ground but otherwise had enjoyed seeing the sights as humans said. Times square had in many ways felt more reminiscent thana  gathering of the seelie court with all manner of bizarre performers, flashing lights and sounds at every corner. Curiously it was also filled with humans offering gifts for free and demanding money once they had been received. it was an interesting form of bartering that Botach had never experienced before.

Botach had been interesting in perhaps visiting the river and would have quite enjoyed a swim to the bottom to see what treasures lay beneath. Botachs hopes of exploring his curiosity was cut short however by the horrifying revelation that Proge was now, for all intents and purposes, human. The discovery inspired a deep seated fear in Botach and he visibly avoided physical contact with the goblin who had provided his papers only a week prior. Botach stood dumbfounded as he looked his greatest fear in the eye. The banality, limitation and fleeting life in a single mortal form. He had known old friends amongst his kind that had chosen to become a single mortal form but this was very different. Very disturbing.

Botach left slightly before Gremmian and took a taxi before asking to go the long way to the library. Botach found that the taxi drivers were very inventive and he had seen many interesting streets in the city go past with the same requests. He tipped the driver $50 after paying. It was strange how money made humans so amicable.

He had remained quiet for much of the journey back to the library as he continued to process the ramifications of what he had seen and now twice as determined to start working with the library in earnest. He snapped out of his daze as he approached the reception desk and caught the last snippet of the conversation and decided add his own thoughts unasked. "But not the best kind eh darling. I keep telling yeh, there is a fortune to be made in this city. Once I find somewhere they play for real money i'l take you along and  show you why they call us lucky."

He turned his mischievous smile towards the other lady, he had seen her around the library in passing but never introduced himself formally. "Nice to meet you miss, names.." He glanced quickly to Alisa and back to Virana before continuing. "..Joseph Ivor but everyone can call me Joe. You uh read many of the fairy tales here? I hear some of the stories here really come alive off the page." A mote of light seemed to run across his eyes for a moment as he looked up at her.

Alisa chuckled for a moment in response.

- "Ah, but if i had a nickle for every person believing they could strike it rich, i'd be rich myself."

She wanted to reply with her name, but the pause while Botach was talking to Virana helped remind her that professional etiquette would not allow it, so instead she subtly tapped her name tag where her first name 'Alisa' was written in clearly recognizable letters, though her handwriting somewhat resembled Comic Sans.

"I'd wager that a cent from every dollar I've won would have you richer still. Just never let it be said that Joe didn't make the offer Miss Alisa. I extend the offer to all in attendance of course. High stakes without a crowd just doesn't have the same edge and from experience your less likely to be accused of cheating. All baseless of course but its a bit of a blow to my self esteem."

Oscar wandered into the library, flicking the remains of a foul smelling stogie into the street gutter before entering the premises proper. If he had his way, he'd already be lighting up another. The nicotine buzz was a mortal sensation that he truly enjoyed, but evidently there were laws about smoking inside buildings now, especially libraries. Oscar didn't care much about mortal laws, but the Fae had also decreed that he was not to smoke inside the library and Oscar grudgingly consented.

"So, what's all the hooplah about?" he asked seemingly to no one in particular as he plopped his squat form down into one of the leather wing-back chairs. "Word on the street is that we have a problem." While Oscar could be very subtle, especially in his dealings with mortals, he had little patience for Fae 'cloak and dagger' politics. If the powers that be needed help, then Oscar wanted them to get straight to the point as soon as possible.

He glanced about the room, recognizing a few of the faces but also observed a fair number of strangers. He drummed his stubby fingers on the leather armrest and waited for someone to answer.

Alisa gave Botach a half-bow to thank him for the offer.

- "Ah, but as with all gambling, winning is never the problem. I've seen people win big, and then proceed to blow through their winnings in less than ten minutes. It has left me rather... jaded when it comes to gambling, i'm afraid. As they say, 'The House always wins.'"

When Oscar entered the library to make his announcement, she blinked for a moment. 'Word on the street' was something she had not been expecting to hear, especially not in the library, but she figured she shouldn't judge. Instead, she decided she'd keep her ears open for some context while continuing to focus her attention on Virana and Botach, who were still at the counter.

A crisp coldness seemed to grow in the air as Felix wandered in, the lanky blonde wearing a black coat with a red scarf wrapped tightly, covering the lower portion of his face. A thin portion of ice seemed to form beneath his footsteps, melting as he left them.

 he was somewhat in awe, looking about, not a familiar visitor to the library both due to his relatively recent arrival in town and various recent circumstances, but the words spoken of a problem drew his attention quickly.

"A problem..?" He asked."Is.. is it safe..?"

In reply to Botach (msg # 6):

Virana turned to look at Botach as he introduced himself.


"I'm Virana, the fairy tales tend to stay on the pages around here usually. As to gambling, the closest I come to that is at the track when I race with my car, I would rather trust in skill then luck of the draw."


Virana flashed out hir tails knowing full well that the veil would hide them from anyone who wasn't fey, or from Alisa if it wasn't time yet for her to know the truth about herself, but it would make it plain to the other fey that she was a Kitsune and a special one if she was able to shapeshift as young as she was with only two tails.

But she turns back to Alisa.

"How is it getting around town, I know sometimes it can be a pain, I have an old moped that you can have if you want."

Gremian was dragging his feet on the floor as he entered the Library. He adjusted his leather jacket. He moved closer to Botach and Virana. "Hello, I'm going to the East Room. You might be interested in joining me there." he suggested to them without interrupting anyone. Gremian looked at Alisa. "Welcome to the library" he said with a tip of an imaginary hat, giving her a good view of his bald head and larger than most ears. He didn't wait for a response and walked away toward the Research Department's offices.

Gremian carefully went upstairs, trying to be as silent as his claws would allow. He waved to the group. He sat into a free chair. He pouted, waiting for the reunion to start formally.

Much as Virana had already guessed, Alisa gave no reaction to her showing her tails to the others. Instead, she smiled in response to the offer.

- "Oh, that'd be nice, actually. It'd take some time to arrange storage space for it though, but i know a few students who rent a storage box together that i think i can join in on."

She reached behind the counter, and held up what appeared to be a skateboard as an answer to the question how she had been moving around the city, before putting it down again. She gave Gremian a 'Thanks' for his welcome as he walked away.

Virana smiled.

"Well let me know, I'll have my father dig it out and make sure it's ready, then when you let me know you have a place to park it I'll head back home to pick it up and bring it here for you. But I need to get going though after the meeting I'll probably be finding some books to check out."

Virana turned away from the counter and headed up the stairs towards the research department.

Botach nodded to the ladies turned his attention to Gremian and smiled. "Sounds like a good idea my friend. I presume the discreet gentleman in the chair will also be joining us?"

"Discreet? Funny guy." Oscar stood up and followed the others to the East room where he took another, less comfortable seat as he popped an unlit cigar into his mouth.

Felix followed the group in silence, pale long fingers grasping onto his coat sleeves as he walked towards the mentioned office. Once inside, he settled against a wall. "Why am I getting the sinking feeling that refreshments won't be involved?" He asked.

As the group discussed a little ways off, Alisa went back to standing ready to wait for another person wanting to make use of the station. With no one nearby, she fished her phone out of her pocket again, checking the display for the contents of the reply she had received a moment ago, when she had been busy with Virana's book. Reading it, she winced. D4.

- "Sunofabitch got my carrier..."

Muttering below her breath, followed by a far more audible sigh, she sent 'E2', along with the agreed upon smiley to indicate the previous shot had hit something. After that, she sent out a message to another student, asking if they had a place for her to store a moped she might be getting her hands on. They'd be working side jobs as well, so she didn't expect a reply anytime soon, but they would eventually.

Flea moved across the library with swift, silent motions. A jump here, a scuttle there. A little flight, then a hop and a skip. Being so small, it was easy to be soundless and unnoticed. Right until erupted up from behind Oscar's seat, and balanced on the top of his head. "Whassssupppp, biatches!"

She looked at faces expectantly, then her wings drooped in disappointment. "Did I not say it right?"

Apparently, she had been very busy recently. The reeking stench of rotting garbage - and worse - clung to her, and it was so strong it was practically a physical cloud.

Oscar beamed as Flea landed on his head. Either the smell of garbage was one of his favorite aromas, or he was genuinely happy to 'see' the diminutive Fae. "Hey, baby. What's going on?" he asked, his eyes rolling up as if he could somehow force himself to see the top of his own head. Oscar held up a finger to the top of his head and wiggled it, a silent signal asking his friend for a high five greeting.

Flea gave the finger a big slap. Which is to say, she gave it a tiny boop, by giant sized person standards. Honestly, if these big people were normal sized, they would have far fewer problems in life. All that extra weight sucked the juice out of their brains, which is why they did not understand the important stuff, like what she did. Right? Damn right!

Still, she answered the question all the same. "What's going on? Are you even paying attention? Have you seen the new girl down there? Who thought sticking her here was a good idea? I mean, sure, don't tell the elf girl that she's an elf, the pointy-ears will get really pissy. Don't reveal that faeries exist. Don't let her find out about them! So the best place to put her to make sure she stays ignorant is... inside a building run by, and frequented by, half the goddamn faeries in the STATE? In MY library? Have you all been sniffing glue again? I told you, it makes your thinky parts get stuck together so they no work no more, capiche?"

She flomped down to sit in her backside, with her legs crossed, still atop Oscar's head. "Whoever came up with this plan is thicker than a hippopotamous sandwich."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:49, Mon 18 May 2020.

"First of all, that glue sniffing episode was a long time ago and I only tried it again a few times since then. But I ain't on it now and I had nothin' to do with the current situation." Oscar replied to Flea, his eyes still rolled upwards in an effort to somehow see her up there. "And I agree, the whole thing with her here in a place that is supposed to be safe for us to be who we are...it's messed the eff up."

He chewed on the unlit stogie as he continued. "Someone needs to clue her in as to what's going on so things can get back to normal. I hope her being here ain't related to this mess with people forgetting exactly who they are."

Edna Birnbaum was the "wise elder" of the Library staff. She is a well dressed conservative looking gray haired person, certainly not looking at all like the kind of person who believes in fairies.  The kind of person who dismiss it with a bitter glare and a grumbled "nonsense."

Those that know her, know better.

She looks a little surprised today at the number of New York's faerie folk who are currently assembled in the library.  Other than for scheduled get togethers, this hasn't happened in quite a while.  It means something.

"Something's happened, hasn't it?" she asks.  "Dennis has saying that for a few days now.  He says there was a flicker in the Veil.  But.. that's not the whole of it, is it?  Some kind of trouble has come up, hasn't it?"

Gremian cleared his throat. He moved to the edge of his seat. "I don't know if it is trouble, but it is definitively troublesome... Thrice! Now, thrice times, I've eaten cooked fishes with Proge. Cooked, like well done. Not because it could be fun or fancy or whatever. No, because Proge thinks of himself only as his human persona, Mr Jiminez! Won't eat raw fishes. Even disgusted by me doing it. Don't recognize other goblins. Don't see my green skin. Nothing Fae goes through his skull anymore. And the only reason I believe he hadn't been kidnapped and replaced is because he still looks like the goblin I know!" Gremian nervously looked at the people.

 Felix frowned, thinking on the matter. "Sometimes in the mountains one of ours would infiltrate a town and have trouble returning. The veil clouds their eyes and minds sometimes when away too long but you said you see him regularly?"

"Maybe he's under a curse or something?" Oscar offered. "He coulda pissed off someone powerful and got Whammied. BaM, he doesn't remember who he really is."

Gremian shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. "Well, I've skipped a week or two here or there... But the others Gobs at the Sanitation... Well, Proge wasn't alone in a human settlement. And after the second time, well, I've checked for thing like a human lover, child or even an adoptive parent, but nothing like that. Not even a new employee card."

Gremian looked at Oscard with a raised eyebrow. "Hum... I don't know curses enough, but that would be the worse case of bad luck I would I have seen in forever. I mean, Sanitation isn't on the path of most non-gobs... And there is a few other Gobs that would probably been more prone to be curse than Proge. A good Gob that Proge... Hum, do fish kings curse people for fishing?" He asked afraid to hear a confirmation. "And that would make no sense anyway, because Proge is still fishing. "

"If it is a curse it's probably best that we all learn who cursed him and why. If it is some feud between Fey... the spillover from that would not be pretty. But Dennis said the veil flickered... a curse might be the simplest explanation, maybe it's what we should hope for.  Gremian, this needs investigating, your way, as well as.. some more scholarly work.  I'd like your help... and those who would offer to help you.  Volunteers are welcome."

"There is also another matter.   Alisa is new with us.  She still isn't... aware.. of herself.  But I don't think this is the same as poor Proge.  I believe she is a true changeling, and therefore, has a reason to be in the circumstances she is in.  But she may prove useful.  Whether she knows it or not she is naturally sensitive to magic, all of her kith are.  And... she is a native Spanish speaker.  Since our trail begins in the Bronx, this can be very useful."

Once matters are in Gremian's hands, Edna decides she has to ease Alisa into this, carefully.  This is a delicate matter, but Edna knows the faerie world well enough to know that seeming coincidences often aren't.  Alisa is new, here, but just in time to help deal with this odd turn of events, and that might mean something.

She fills Alisa in on what she'd like her to do.
"Something peculiar happened to one of Mr. Gremian's friends, and it may be related to something we've studied here.  I told him you might be able to help, as it occurred in the Bronx, which is largely Spanish speaking and you are a native speaker.  I must point out, though, that Bronx Spanish tends to be of the Dominican-Puerto Rican variety, and the vocabulary can differ.  Though there is a small Mexican community centered on East 138th street... that's not the point, any language talent can be very helpful here... although...
You will here some strange things being discussed.  Don't be alarmed.  I suspect, that on some level, you'll understand that you shouldn't be alarmed.  It will make sense, when it supposed to make sense.  Does that make sense?"

When Edna approached, Alisa took a break from the jokingly sending back-and-forth of various expletives to her roommate for hitting her carrier a moment ago, and put her phone away again. Fun was fun and all, but she did keep an eye out at all times to check whether there was anything that needed doing job-wise first. When Edna spoke, it took her a small moment to register this wasn't about the phone, but something else.

- "Umm... Not really?"

She gave her what she hoped would pass for an apologetic look, before elaborating.

- "Look, i'm happy to help, but the Bronx doesn't exactly have the best... reputation? Now, don't get me wrong, i'm not saying Mr. Gremian looks like a gangster or something, but it'd be helpful to know what the problem is about, at least, so i can have some context for when i need to start translating. That, and confirm i'm not ending up, say, negotiating with a gang for the release of his cousin or something crazy like that."

Botach listened in uncomfortable silence and spoke up when a chance presented itself to the other fae.

"I have seen the results of a great many curses, even cast a great many myself in different times yet i have heard of none so potent or precise that a fae would forget themselves but remember everything that transpired within their human persona. Even if it was a curse, i cannot imagine what wrong Poge would have had to have done to warrant such cruelty. I would like to join Gremmian with his investigation if he is agreeable? I know very little of the city but i have other talents that may be of use. Rarely met a human that couldn't be bought with money either and i have plenty of that if nothing else."

Amongst those with knowledge of fae he had slipped into his true form through the veil, the clothes being real remained however and made for an odd contrast with his nearly featureless body. he stood immobile and unreadable as he waited for some affirmation or denial of his request.

Flea listened for a while, then piped up. "Okay, I know how important this is. I'll fly down to the places the forgetful spends most of his time. I'll ask the local animals what they have seen or heard. Someone might have turned up to do this. They'll remember. And they're far more honest than humans! It is impossible to do anything unobserved these days. Bird, bug, or fish - someone saw something!"

Gremian looked in front of him as Edna left the room. "Wasn't expecting to be in charge" he said under his breath. He nodded as the other Faes suggested how they could help.

Me neither, I don't know what Proge could have done for such punishment. He responded to Botach with a shiver. "You are more than welcome on my team, it's not like I have the luxury to refuse someone", he added with a forced smile.

He turned toward Flea. "I don't know his favorite bar, but I know his home, his workplace and his favorite fishing spot. Should not be to hard to show you on a map, I guess. You think that the fish would want to help me or him, considering that... that we fished?"

Gremian then looked at Felix. "How do you bring back someone with clouded eyes to the mountain?" he asked. "Maybe we could use something similar for Proge."

Finally, Gremian looked around, unsure. "Hum, well, the curse thing, I don't know how to look for that, nor I know how to spot magic users. In my spare time, I break machinery and build clockwork dolls. So I definitively need help for that..."

He sat back in his chair, tensed.

Viran had remained silent as she thought running things her parents had talked about before finally speaking up.

"I know from stories my parents have told that there have been Kitsune who have played pranks similar to this on both fey and mortal alike, making them forget one life if they have been leading multiple ones. But I'm almost more worried that this could be something more powerfull, as in those stories the fey would still see other fey as they truly where, to me this almost seems like it is where someone pulled that kitsune prank but also was somehow powerful and skilled enough to alter the veil to make the veil see him as a mortal and keep him from being able to see fey in their true forms. I think we need to find someone who knows the veil, and I can help with some of the canines in the areas we look at and provide some transport, but the vehicle will most likely stick out."

"You all are thinking about this all wrong." Oscar chimed in, chewing furiously on his stubby cigar. "You gotta focus on the victim. Who would want to mess with him? Who are his enemies? Who did he piss off recently? Did he owe someone powerful something big?"

He rolled his eyes up again to try and look at Flea. "I'll go hit the bars and talk to the humans if you want. I mean he thinks he's human now, maybe he's been spending more time with them recently."

Botach considered Virana's offer of the use of her vehicle and shrugged. " I do not imagine it matters much if the vehicle is noticeable, we need only hide our true selves from the hapless mortals wandering around. Any fae would likely know us for what we are anyway. Is there anyone in the city that specialises in potent curses?"

Flea hops off Oscar's head and onto the table, where she sits cross legged. "The fish tend not to be aware of people catching them. They are very stupid like that. Suddenly, they are there and then BAM! One vanishes, and they can't figure out why. But some of them might still have seen something. It can't hurt to ask!"

By the reception desk, Edna is still talking to Alisa.

"I would not ask anything you aren't comfortable with," she says.  "If you have no desire to go to the Bronx... well, there are other ways to help.  Although in defense of the Bronx... its old reputation is more Hollywood than reality now.  This is New York, not Baltimore.  Things are not what they used to be.  I like to think we had a hand in that."

They did, of course, but very few people know that.  Those that do prefer to let the Police Department and modern, scientific policing take the credit.

Edna looks at her watch.

"Dennis isn't as timely as he used to be," she says.  "There are some things we will have to discuss.  Alisa... just a librarian's question, here... what kind of things do you like to read?"

*** *** *** ***

Dennis Flattery does appear, shortly thereafter.  The tall, gray haired librarian uses a cane these days, having had knee surgery.

"There's something going on with... our friends?"  He asks Edna.

She nods. "Gathering in the research department."

He nods back.  "Let me see what's up, and what's amok."  Leaving Edna at Reception, he walks into the Research Department, the back rooms where the public is never permitted, where dedicated researchers track down rare old books.  Or at least, that's what the public believes.  With the collective lore of the city's Fey available, old rare books are not hard to come by.

"So this is quite a collection," Dennis says as he enters.  "No coincidences, they say.  So.. can someone fill me in on today's issue, and what it may have to do with a lost memory?"

Alisa gave a somewhat embarrassed sounding chuckle, scratching the back of her neck.

- "Ehh... Yeah, likely. I haven't been here long, so the only version i'm familiar with is the Hollywood version, and i haven't been adventurous enough to see for myself for fear of it being proven right. So yeah, i'll go along."

In response to Edna's question, she tilted her head slightly.

- "Books? Umm... Historical fantasy i think it's called. There's also epic fantasy such as Robert Jordan of course, but generally speaking, i suppose you could say 'Historical out of interest, fantasy for fun'."

'Well, when we bring one back.. usually ti is... by force." he trailed off a bit at the thought."After a lot of kicking, screaming and exposure they usually snap out of it but, I don't think that will work here. I won't lie, the idea of a curse seems likely, as you say , you see him regularly so the sudden change seems odd."

Virana looks at Dennis as he comes in and speaks up.

"It seems we have a goblin that believes he's human and can't see fey for what they really are."

Virana then turns back to the others.


"There might be a possibility that this is a random event, essentially he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and not intentionally targeted. My parents have stories of mean spirited Kitsune that would randomly target others, both human and fey alike just for their own pleasure, my hope is that that's all this is. Someones bad random prank, and before you say it can't be that, as a punishment years back my father cursed a fey and made them believe they where a fish, they drowned themselves because they refused to breath air, every time anyone tried to pull them out of the lake they acted like they where suffocating before they jumped back into the water, but there are others that would do something like that just for their own twisted enjoyment."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:06, Sun 24 May 2020.

In the research department.

Dennis looks suddenly surprised and concerned... very surprised, very concerned.. both.  The concern is only natural for someone who has embraced his role as advisor and caretaker for the city's Fey residents for decades.  The surprise, on the other hand... might be a little out of place considering he had mentioned a lost memory before any of the Fey in the room filled him in.

"A goblin..." he muses with the lines on his face seeming to deepen.  "A goblin, no one would ever confuse Thale with a goblin.  Not at all.  And yet Breeze* said almost the same thing as you just said to me, Virana.  But about Thale, the Elf."

He takes a seat, still looking worried, trying to put things together.  "If it is two, there must be a third.  This is magic, and magic seeks certain things, and one of those things is the number three.  We must help these two, but we must also find the third."

Meanwhile, out at the reception desk...

"Fantasy for fun," Edna repeats Alisa's words.  "You know, it's always interested me that all over the world, there are fantasy stories.  The specifics change, and the themes change.  In your homeland the fantasy stories feature a lot of death and ghosts but not in the frightening horror way they show up here... not so many things like our literature seems to focus on, Elves and fairies and such... although... there was a gentleman from Mexico, Pedro Linares, who claimed to have visited a magical forest in a dream, and started to make artwork showing the strange creatures he saw there.**   A lot of people all over the world seem to think there are places like that, magical things.  Mexico or Ireland or Korea, they all have their stories of magical creatures.  Have you ever thought about that?"

She adds: "It's good that you have this interest.  A lot of people are... well they have an interest in legends and magic and such.  At least you won't think they're all crazy when they talk about it."




***** ***** ****

*Many of the Fey in the city have at least heard of Breeze the Sylph, because she has done something relatively daring.  Not only is the Sylph established in Human society, she is popular, successful, and a borderline celebrity, as she often appears on a local television channel.  She is a meteorologist, and being a Sylph, a Fey being of Elemental Air, she has a natural gift there.  Breeze seems to enjoy telling Humans about her world, although she has to use their language, "fronts" "air masses"  "precipitation".

**I did not make that up.

"Only if the Fay deserved it," Oscar replied to Virana. "Come to think about it, I have met more than a few Fae that deserved a curse like that." He looked about the research room and frowned as he caught a number of disapproving looks. "What? I'm just calling it like I see it. At least I don't go around lying to your face and then stabbing you in the back like some of you all like to do."

He continued chewing on his cigar, "I'm all in for some detective work and in distributing some old school Fae vengeance when we find the scum bag responsible for this problem."

Gremian nodded approvingly to both Flea and Felix explications.

"It's Proge the Goblin. My friend", Gremian added with gravity.

Gremian played with his goatee absentmindedly. He didn't react much to Oscar's response. Frontstabbing was frequent in the goblin ranks. As well as backstabbing when the human pilots were concerned.

"Hum, that's complicated everything, that. I would be surprised if someone on Breeze's radar would fly in the same circles as Proge. Unless is something on the other side of the veil. Do humans have sorcerers and cursers?" he was more thinking aloud than asking the question. "And for the third, I don't know where we could begin searching for them. I mean, it's not like a cluewould fall in our laps just like that."

The name of Breeze meant nothing to Botach but then he had been in the city for such a short amount of time that most of the fae he knew of off were currently standing in the room with him. Oscars comments about cursing other fae did not bother him much in essence but he strongly yet silently disagreed that plenty of fae deserved this particular brand of curse. His form shifted slightly with small thorn like shapes forming on the periphery of his shadowy flesh.

Gremains comment about clues falling in their laps made the old Puca smile and the thorns vanished as quickly as they formed. His eyes seemed to glow a little brighter. "Perhaps a clue will come to us with the right nudge from fate. I cannot guarantee it will work but if we were fated to discover this third fae then we might get very lucky."

Botach drew an ancient copper coin from his pocket, one side was smooth and plain but the other bore a faint triskele. He flipped the coin high into the air and concentrated his power on the others in the room, urging fate to lead them down the most fortunate path to find something regarding this third fae. He felt the shift in the world like a gentle whisper and deftly plucked the coin from the air and returned it to his pocket.

"Well if it doesn't bring us closer to the fae then at the very least you will have some happy circumstance occur in the very near future. The choice with what you do with this is out of my hands however."

[ Players: Alisa                        NPCs: Edna      ]
[    Area: Reception                Location: Library   ]

Alisa nodded in response.

- "Yeah, it's an old theme. Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream' for example."

She chuckled for a moment.

- "Personally, when people dismiss fiction for being crazy, that's usually a failing of their own imagination."

His eyes widened for a moment.'Thale..? What's happened with Thale?" He asked, suddenly sounding a bit more concerned.

 Felix's fists clenched, and the cold around him grew quickly, frost beginning to form , spreading from his feet on the floor. He noticed and closed his eyes tightly, silently willing himself to calm down. "...We.. we should look into this, meet with them, see if we can find anything in common.."

In the Research Department...

Thale, as many of local Fey already know, is one of the those Fey who have discovered that the Human adoration of physical beauty is something a Fey can easily exploit.. well, Goblins and the like excepted.  Thale and a few others have realized that if you are good looking enough, just get into the right circles and humans will trip over themselves trying to be nice to you.  And they will believe everything you say.  Life can be very easy, especially for a High Elf like Thale who decided long ago that hard work or deep thought were too boring to waste much of life on.

"It's a lot like Gremian's story," Dennis says.  "Breeze met Thale, but said he was distant, strange, lost in his human identity.  Not noticing other Fey.  Confused when she mentioned flying.  She called me, a little while ago.. you know she doesn't usually come by here."

For Fey that have too much exposure in the human world, that was often seen as a wise choice.  Keep some distance, don't give the humans too much to ask questions about.  The Veil was powerful... but no one really knew just how far it could hide things.

"We do have to start an investigation, as soon as we can.  As I said I strongly suspect a third victim."


At the Reception Desk...

Edna nods as well.  That's good.  It's what she hoped for.  But... there was only so far she could take it.  One must tread carefully around the magic of the Elves, if one didn't know the reason for things.  Alisa must learn what she is meant to learn... her way.

"I don't know how much you've overheard today.  Quite an... issue going on.  I understand you might not want to run off with strangers.  But that might not be the sole thing we need done at the moment.  If you're working here now.. have you been to our research department?"

Edna's eyes dart around.  "I could show you... we could get someone to cover the front desk for a while."

As always, Flea was not interested in long boring conversations, when she already had her mind made up. She hopped up to her feet and rubbed her tiny hands eagerly. "Right, then! I'm off to go and have a chat with those who make more sense than some of you lot! Anybody want to come with me? I know none of you can talk proper languages, like what I does, but you might be helpful. If someone is doing this, and I find out about it, I am a bit smaller than I should be for fisticuffs, right?"

Oscar stood as well, "I'll go with you. We're not going to get anywhere just sitting here farting around. Just don't go flying off where I can't find you."

[ Players: Alisa                        NPCs: Edna      ]
[    Area: Reception                Location: Library   ]

- "Well, you were strangers when i applied for a job here, and... that was based on a customer recommendation when i worked the register at McDonalds, so... par for the course, i guess?"

Alisa chuckled for a moment, before taking a deep breath.

- "I... haven't been to that department myself yet, actually. I wanted to focus on my own job here first before going out exploring. I did overhear some shards of it, something about trouble, but not the details of it."

Gremian nodded to Flea and Oscar.

"I guess I'll drop at the Bronx with Alisa, ask around. Maybe take a photo of Proge. Foxtrot! I mean, I should probably start using is human name..." He made a face, displeased. He looked around. "Botach, with what you said about nudging fate, I wonder if you will have more luck finding the third Fae by going with Flea than with me looking for clue about what had happened to Pro... Pablo."

Edna leads Alisa to that part of the library that is normally off limits to all those not authorized to be there.. and of course, those authorized to be there are all the Fey characters, and the few Humans who are aware of them and support them.

She knows the danger, here.  Can't pile too much on Alisa at once.  Can't overwhelm... that would be bad.  And that means, before the Faerie Folk do anything rash (as if that ever happens, right?) she has to get them on board.  And she had to do it, quickly, to prevent any unfortunate accidents- here was Alisa in a veritable den full of Fey, and they'd all be able to see her.

They knew the drill.  They'd pick up on her words.

Edna does one of those throat clearings which, while quiet, gets her more immediate attention than a gong would.

"Your attention, everyone.  Perhaps you have already met Alisa, who we were very fortunate to find.  Alisa working for us in reception, now, though we hope to help her discover and develop her full potential.  You know, what is it they say.. find herself.  Maybe the things she will be exposed to here might open her to new... personal insight."

Edna gives a confident "I think I did that well" smile.

Dennis gives a worried look.  "Well it's odd timing.  We're just about getting into today's issues."

"Issues, as in more than one?"

"It's two, which makes me strongly suspect it's three."  Dennis says.

"Oh.  You're ideas about things happening in threes?"

"Indeed," Dennis says.  "Miss Flea and Gremian have some ideas.  But there's more than I first thought."

The wizened old man looks at Alisa.  "Can you excuse us a moment?"  He leads Edna off for a quick whispering session.

If there was one thing that could be guaranteed, it was the capacity of Flea to make a tricky situation worse. Of course, she thought of it as helping, but her idea of help was wildly different to most of her peer group. So it came as little surprise that she rose and stomped along the top of the table to look up at Alisa. Flea, a six inch tall pixie, with wings, and covered in something that probably came out of a sewer. She stuck her hands on her hips and fixed the woman with a piercing eye, and piped up, "Well, it is about time someone told her what was going on! She was going to find out anyway! I told you it was stupid having her work here! At least now I don't have to keep hiding whenever she walks past!"

Alisa gave everyone a friendly wave as she entered the area that she had until now not been allowed to enter. She was paying attention to what was being said, something about threes -- though it might also be 'trees', which would make more sense in context -- but she figured she'd figure that out soon enough as long as she'd keep her ears open.

When Flea spoke up, the Veil changing her from a pixie standing on a table to a petite woman sitting on the edge of one in her eyes, she felt a bit taken aback. Sure, she knew some people could be a little... eccentric, but there were a couple of question marks popping up about the woman's choice of words.

- "Ehh... Why would you need to hide?"

As she spoke to Flea, it was evident the Veil was still affecting her, given that Flea's 'face' that she was looking at was still a ways above Flea herself, even standing on the table with her full height. She then turned to the others, a quick glance asking for support if Flea had a condition she hadn't known about, like xenophobia, that would warrant her needing to hide from her whenever she was near.

Oscar called out to Alisa, "Honey, you need to wake up and smell the garbage. Seriously, we don't have time for you to tippie toe into the shallow end of the pool."

He pointed to the the table where Flea was standing.

"Look right over here. Focus. Keep looking and concentrate. Let your mind go. If you got any drugs or alcohol I suggest taking some right now to make all this a helluva lot easier." He chomped on his unlit cigar and looked around at the others, silently encouraging them to chime in and help wake this girl pronto.

Dennis sighs.  Fey were always like this- they always stumbled when issues multiplied.  They came from a very simple universe, where there was never any real urgency in anything, and so they never seemed to be able to prioritize in the way of Humans.  Most of them, at least.  So they needed help, that way, and Dennis was the one to do it.

"I think," he said in his somewhat hoarse voice, "we cannot lose sight of the original issues for the meeting here, Gremian and his friend.  And we have Gremian, who was going to go up the Bronx with..."

"Alisa expressed a preference not to do that, and perhaps it's a lot to ask of a novice employee," Edna suggested.

"So it is," Dennis agreed.  "Flea, do you think you could help Gremian look into this?  You do have some... interesting... friends who help you out with these things, yes?  That leaves us with the issue of Thale."

The old man turned to Alisa.

"We do a lot of... coming to the assistance of friends, here, especially those in very unusual circumstances.  It's what friends are for, right?"

Alisa took an audible sigh, before focusing back on Flea, honestly wondering what she was supposed to focus on. That aside, if the woman was nervous enough to hide whenever she was near, she honestly failed to understand why focusing on her would somehow make that better. She did find out what Oscar meant however, occasionally catching a hint of Eau de Dumpster coming off Flea, and she could almost see something shimmer about her, but then Dennis spoke up, and she grunted, rubbing her eyes, making a mental note to try and get an early night in. If she was starting to see things, she figured she was more tired than she felt.

- "Actually... i did want to help, but it's just... I need context to properly translate, language can be pretty case sensitive. As my roommate likes to say: Capitalization makes the difference between 'i helped my uncle Jack off a horse' and 'I helped my uncle jack off a horse'."

She looked at the others again.

- "So... Could anyone tell me what this is about? It's fine if i don't get all the details, but i'll need at least a basic idea. I understand wanting to help a friend, that's perfectly fine, but... i don't want to do more harm than good here, y'know?"
This message was last edited by the player at 10:13, Tue 09 June 2020.

Gremian waved back at Alisa when she entered.

Then he smiled as Flea and Oscar tried to get Alisa to pierce the Veil. Smile he hid from Edna and Dennis as best as he could. He didn't wanted them to think that he wouldn't hold his promise to the Library.

"Hum, well, I've got a friend who lost some of his memories. It's hard to explain right now, but we suspect that he might have been hit hard on the head or drugged; I guess that would be a good explanation, right?" he asked Dennis and Edna for their approval with a glance. "And there is another library friend that acted the same, Dennis just told us. And so we suspected that there might be more than just those two. We were about to split in group, to cover more skies. Me in the Bronx, cause my friend live there. Edna initially suggested that you would come with me, then not. Otherwise, we were still picking team."

Alisa gave a quick nod at Gremian. It seemed someone was jumping people in the area, which she suspected was some kind of gang at work, which she supposed was why Edna was a little reluctant to share that information with her.

- "Oh, well that makes sense. Then sure, i could tag along, though i'd have to say that i'm not exactly an expert on drugs, so there may be some translation issues there."

"At the moment we are up to two friends with this issue" Edna says.

"Three.  Such things always come in threes.  Unless it's twelve or seven," Dennis grumbles.

"Well let's be optimistic and hope for just three then," Edna says.  "Although, two that we know of.  And we can't do something for someone if we don't even know who the someone is, can we?  In fact, at the moment we don't even know exactly what happened.  We should... I don't quite know, I've never heard of anything quite like this."

Dennis takes a deep breath.  "So... anyone know where Thale might be?  We can start on both at once, I hope."

Flea shrugged dismissively. "There's nothing that happens in this city that I can't find out about if you give me time. Animals are everywhere, even if you can't see them. Never underestimate the talkative nature of a cockroach, I always say! Well not always. A lot, though! I can send word that bugs are to help Gremian in the Bronx, while I go with Oscar and do some poking in the fishy place, if you like! I mean, I know I am super awesome and everything, but I can't be in both places at once!"

"Can we just do something already?" Oscar groused, piggybacking on Flea's comment. "We're not gonna figure anything out by sitting here on our asses and saying 'three' over and over again. We get it, there's a third crap pile out there waiting for us to step into it. That's life, Dennis. Suck it up buttercup. Stop worrying and start doing."

"I.. I would like to look into Thale, if possible. I don't know him well, but we met a few times. He'd been a help to me, getting me here so, I want to help."

OOC:  From here we really should sort out the next scenes.

So far it's going to be:

Gremian goes to check on Proge?
Flea and Oscar visit the Fishy Place... (What is the fishy place?, where Proge has his boat?)
Felix visits Thale... or Breeze first?

And what would the others like to do in their next scene?

OOC: I'll go along with Gremian then :)

OOC: Proge is a good starting place with Alisa.

Gremian has an advantage here in that he knows Proge, and so, he has options about where to meet him.

The most obvious way is simply to meet Proge at his home- Gremian has been there.  Meeting at the Waste Handling Facility where Proge works (and explores) is a possibility but is more obvious- Gremian is "unauthorized".  Being a Gremlin, he could probably sneak in without difficulty, but this might be tricky for Alisa.

The other question is: They could give Proge a call and arrange it, or just surprise Proge.

Well, i don't know Proge and i don't have any pull with the waste processing plant, so it'll be safe to say i'll let Gremian take the lead on that one :P

I'll call Proge to set a meeting with him, preferably at his favorite bar after his shift, under the pretext that I will be in the vicinity at that time. I'll also mention that I will be with a coworker.

Alisa and Gremian are off to a new thread!  Mott Haven awaits.

Now... do the others feel like doing?

Well, Oscar and I are supposedly off to question the fellow's fishing buddies/actual fish, I believe!