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Fox:
A scheduled meeting with Fox is a pretty easy one to obtain, with her phone number and all of that stuff at hand. Vorpal knows how to reach her, at the very least. She sets the location as the lobby of a fancypants apartment building right next to Rittenhouse Square Park, with a coffee shop and the like in the lobby. The towering building sidles right up to the park in the middle of one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the city, bustling in the afternoon with people getting lunches, coming and going, walking past outside.
Inside, on one of the couches, Fox lounges in a pair of loose sweatpants and a hoodie over a t-shirt. Her hair is damp and braided back from her face, her eyes are a solid emerald green, and she's got her feet curled up underneath herself, a pair of slip-on mules sitting on the floor in front of the overstuffed chair she's chosen to wait in; she warms her hands around a large mug full of something caffeinated and steaming.
Klaire:
Klaire has Rook with her, he has his service vest. He is regal and prepared to help Klaire however possible. Klaire is a tiny bit late, but looks apologetic.
She takes a seat across from Fox, Rook sitting patiently next to her. She is dressed in a jacket and jeans, and smiles.
"Hello Fox, thanks for meeting with me."
Fox:
It's a pretty quiet lobby, and so Fox spots Klaire and Rook when they enter; the little Thyrsus just stays where she is, though, taking a sip from her coffee. "Of course," she answers with a sort of lazy cheer, politely ignoring Rook in his service vest. There's a subtle movement of something inside the pocket of her hoodie, maybe a small animal turning around. "Thanks for calling. What can I do for you? Can I get you a coffee or something else to drink?" Those sharp little teeth she normally displays don't make an appearance today; all of her wildness subdued and hidden somehow.
Klaire:
Klaire gently pets Rook, and immedietly seems slightly calmer.
"A coffee would be nice, if you wouldn't mind." Rook looks up expectantly. She adds on the next bit with a smile. "And do you know if they have anything pet friendly?"
She looks around the space, judging how close others are. "Is this a safe place to talk? If not I can...well." She taps her forehead.
Fox:
A little wave of her hand, there. "I never offer what I'll mind. I know it's the polite thing to say, but I'll never offer what I mind." She unfolds herself from her chair, slipping her feet into the wool mules that look straight out of the most recent L L Bean catalogue. "I'm pretty sure there are peanut butter cookies over there," Fox agrees. A vague look around the lobby, and she rolls her shoulders. "Probably not, honestly. We can head upstairs, though."
A beat. "We live here," she adds absent-mindedly. Because every scrubby little mess of a vulpine lives in the most expensive real estate in the city. Obviously?
Klaire:
Klaire nods, getting up to order peanut butter cookies for herself...or well...for Rook. Rook looks estatic but is well behaved and just sits next to her, waiting.
"If upstairs is safer, then I am ok with going upstairs. I've been told you're trustworthy so I'm hoping they are right."
She looks around the place. "Who is we?"
Fox:
She calls over after Klaire, "Hey, just put her stuff on our account, yeah?" and cradles her drink in her hands. "Upstairs is, as Vasya would say, safe as a properly constructed timber frame house on a good, solid foundation, built to code, in a flood zone X, 250 miles away from the nearest fault line." A beat. "He's very precise about these sorts of things." Her green eyes glitter with amusement, there.
A shrug. "I try to be," Fox agrees. "I'm shit at lying, and I hate what it does to people." One of her hands waves vaguely. "My family." That is -- apparently -- the public answer.
Klaire:
Klaire smiles at the offer to put it on their tab, she was going to pay but...well food is food. One cookie has already dissapeared down the German Shepherd's mouth, and she keeps the rest in the bag.
"Well, I am glad Vasya is so confident as it's safety. I am glad you are bad at lying, but I'll admit I'm bad at trusting people."
She looks out of the cafe, ready to follow Fox to the safer place.
"Well, if you wouldn't mind?"
Fox:
A little shrug of her shoulders then, as if dealing with people who are bad at trusting just means it's a day ending in y. "The saying 'safe as houses' requires more precision once you become aware of just how tenuous one's safety in a house can be, I guess," Fox offers; there's another little bit of wiggling in that pocket of her oversized sweatshirt, and she wiggles her fingers at the cafe staff familiarly before padding over to the RESIDENTS ONLY elevator. There's a card scanner to the left of the elevator, but she doesn't take a card out of her pocket; rather, she just swipes her empty hand over it for the benefit of anyone else in the lobby, the scanner beeping cheerfully and turning green. She places her arm across the open elevator door to make sure it doesn't close on Klaire and Rook before following them into the elevator and hitting the 'P' button.
It's always weird being in an elevator; it's one of the more awkward of liminal spaces. Fox hums a little bit to herself, some snippet of something traveling through her head, as the elevator goes up and up and up and up. The door dings open to the penthouse, and she holds said door again in the same way. "Under the auspices of Hospitality," and the capital H is absolutely audible, "I welcome you to the sanctum of the жар-птица, also known as the Firebirds, cadre of the Wise within the community of the Awakened of the Consilium of the Martyr's Tree and Children of the Martyr's Tree of the Lesser Convocation of the Northeast." A pause. "That means if you don't try to hurt me, I won't hurt you, and I welcome you in and you come in of your own free will."
The apartment -- because technically that's what it is -- is the entire top floor of the entire building. There's a huge living room full of comfortable furniture with a fireplace, a big kitchen off to one side, and through the large glass door on the far end of the visible room, a balcony surrounded by a high glass wall has lounge chairs, a small pool, and a hot tub, as well as ... a pigeon loft?? Sure, why not.
As soon as Fox steps out of the elevator, the wiggling in her pocket becomes a rat crawling up her front and curling into the hood of her hoodie, making himself comfortable near her neck. "This is Proper Ratthew."
Klaire:
Klaire follows cautiously, watching the hand over the elevator. Rook is well trained to be around people, including elevators, and Klaire gives him a second cookie once they're inside that liminal space.
As they hit the top floor, Klaire's jaw fights to not drop, she takes a moment to compose herself before answering.
"I...yes? I'm not sure if I need to accept or what the right way to is...but I think that sounds good."
Her hand goes to Rook, who snuffles her affectionately. Her eyes go to the rat, giving a small nod of appreciation.
"It is...really spacious. Thank you. But...well I do have questions and I don't want to take up too much of your time."
Fox:
"You can if you'd like, but Hospitality offered doesn't actually need a formal acceptance; all you have to do is not be a dick, which, like, you know. I wouldn't have invited you up here if I thought that was likely." She kicks her shoes off toward a pile of boots and shoes near the elevator door and pads toward the living room. "Yeah, no worries. I just figured, you know. It's easier to speak freely here." Once she sits down and sets down her coffee, Fox shakes her head briskly, eyes briefly closing, and sighs contentedly. Gold eyes blink slowly and she flashes a sharp-toothed smile. "Ask away."
There is a vague scent of weed in the air, for those with sensitive noses. Fox hasn't been through scrubbing the air recently and Leta's proclivities are fragrant.
Klaire:
Rook seemed to notice the smell, straightening up a little bit before relaxing at a motion from Klaire.
"I hope this is a peaceful meeting so no...I won't be a dick."
Klaire takes off her own shoes, joining Fox in the living room.
"I think first off...what are the rules to me joining the group? Ylva, and moreso Vorpal have helped me realize why I need to join but I want to know how I do that first. Secondly, how binding is it? If I join can I never leave?"
Fox:
Absently, she scratches at her cheek, looking off into the near distance as she considers her answer. The rat-spirit (which presently just looks like a normal rat wearing a little vest) climbs up onto Fox's shoulder and starts grooming the hair behind her right ear. Fox mostly ignores it, as if this is very normal. "That's an easy question and a difficult one all at once. Because basically the big rule is 'don't be a dick, and also, don't tell anyone who isn't beholden to one of the big supernatural communities anything, and don't work with the people who want to kill us,' right? But also there are a lot of ... smaller versions of that same rule which people spend lifetimes debating and learning. It's sort of like, uh... " She pauses. "So there's this story about a student who goes to Hillel and Shammai -- the two big Torah scholars of the Second Temple era, before that nice young Jewish man the Romans killed came about -- and he says 'if you're really a good teacher, you can teach me all of Torah while I'm standing on one foot.' And Shammai tells the guy to get bent and chases him away, so he goes to Hillel, and Hillel says, sure, stand on one foot. So the guy does, and Hillel says, 'Do not do to others what is hateful to you. Now go and study.' It's kind of like that."
She picks up her coffee and takes a swallow of it, letting the warmth of the earthenware seep into her stubby little fingers. "So... " A pause. "If you join can you never leave? You can leave the Consilium of the Martyr's Tree, or the Children of the Martyr's Tree, or the Assembly -- that last one is the Free Council, which is what Vasya was offering you, there are three distinct organizations of Wise in the Philadelphia area, but they are all linked and all recognize each other's authority, it's complicated. Anyway, you can, like... move to Boston, you know? And join one of the organizations up there. Or go to London, and join one of the organizations up there. And like, if you decide that you'd rather work most closely with the Sin-Eaters and someone there, or some organization within their society, is willing to take responsibility for you, and you're a member of that, then fine. At least, fine by me, I'm not gonna gainsay that. But in one form or another, you are going to need to belong to some sort of organization like this one for the rest of your life. You can't just tell us all to get bent and expect there to not be people saying 'mmm, no, I don't think so.' Especially not in this city. Like."
A pause, there. "So, Philly is in a lot of ways a lot more relaxed than anyplace I've ever lived." A beat. "Way less full of dickheads and stupid rules bullshit than Maine or Russia, that's for fucking sure. Way less full of vampires getting into territorial pissing than Vienna or Georgia. The supernatural societies here generally get along, and there's generally not a bunch of like 'oh no, a mage told a vampire's thrall something about mage society, let's wave our dicks around about it for six fucking months.' But the one hard rule that everyone follows is that like... whether you call it the Veil or the Masquerade or 'don't do that shit or Winter will fucking spank you,' is you don't tell someone who isn't already In The Know about shit unless you then bring them into one of the societies."
"Make sense?"
Klaire:
Klaire nods, scratching the side of Rook's neck absentmindedly. The dog is fascinated by the rat.
"But there are groups I can't join. Like the Lost. Because those ones are dangerous to join? And...becoming a vampire means dying which I'm not particularly into."
She takes a deep breath.
"It makes sense why I need to join. It protects everyone including myself." She hands Rook a cookie who finally breaks eye contact with the rat to eagerly gobble it up. "I guess the best way to put it is that I am averse to change. I have been alone for a while so it is...I dont want to say scared but more... worried about the group I end up joining. I'm not sure what group is best for me and I don't want to rush blindly into a decision."
Fox:
"That's a very reasonable to be concerned about," Fox replies, as Ratthew clambers up around her shoulders and underneath the curtain of her stringy hair, hiding from the dog. "Like I said -- you're not chained to a particular group, and if you decide that -- for example -- you don't like the Free Council or the Children of the Tree and you'd rather be connected to the Adamantine Arrow or the Mysterium, or you and Ylva want to move to another city, it's not like... " A vague shrug. "And I can't speak for the people in charge, but like, if you discover in six months you'd rather be associated with another society and they accept you as a member? Sure."
"What do you need to help settle you at least temporarily?"
Klaire:
Klaire pets Rook and stares at the wall for a moment, deep in thought.
"Temporarily, at least knowing what some of these groups focus on and how they might ask me to help. Im certain I will be asked to do things for whichever group I am a part of. I am a private investigator, myself and Rook specialize in finding missing people. What groups would be most interested and amicable towards someone with my skillset?"
Fox:
Her forehead wrinkles up then, and Fox takes another sip of her coffee, hands curled comfortably around the warm ceramic. "Well, honestly? Most, if not all of them. The thing about us -- about mages in general -- is that we're pretty intent on... finding things out." Her tongue ticks against the roof of her mouth. "My response to you is... how do you feel about hierarchies? Do you prefer a strong hierarchy, where people's rank and status are important to them, or a looser hierarchy?"
Klaire:
Klaire nods, fully focused on Fox now. "Looser. I don't particuarly care about moving up in whatever group I'm in. As long as I'm helping people thats usually makes me happy."
Fox:
"Okay. So. With that in mind? Probably the Free Council or the Children of the Tree. I'm biased, because I left the Mysterium a few years ago, and I've never been particularly fond of the Silver Ladder, but the Free Council are much more... anarchist? In a good way, like, not in a Fox News kind of way but in a ... 'let's argue a lot and try to do the best by everybody' kind of way," explains Fox. "And the Children of the Tree are more... like a tribe than a research fellowship or a business structure." She takes another sip of her coffee and then sets it aside. "There are hierarchies, and mages generally expect to be understood and respected based on their accomplishments, but the Free Council and the Children are much more... yeah." Another one of her expressive shrugs. "The downside is that like, the people who are really into hierarchy sometimes look down on those of us who aren't up our own asses about titles. When I was in the Mysterium, it was very much... "
"... they viewed the Free Council as like, as responsible as a combination liquor store, gun shop, fireworks shack. Which... eh. I don't agree, but it's not entirely untrue. Hierarchy of some sort is a little necessary to keep all of these egos in line."
Klaire:
"I get that, now that you're mentioning it the hierarchies do put me off slightly, but ego is usually a problem. Between the two, I think I would prefer research over more...tribal? So...would you say the Free Council is where I should start?"
She shrugs. "As for looking down on others for being less strict, I think thats the least of my concerns. Its not something I'd be particuarly happy finding out is within my own group, so I'm fine without those options."
Fox:
"Well, it's tribal in terms of organization, as opposed to like... an anarchist commune. Neither one is wrong, it's just a matter of what you're up for. The Children of the Tree do an awful lot of research, and officially, when it comes to local politics, the Free Council and the Children of the Tree caucus together. Like Bernie Sanders caucuses with the Democrats in the senate, even though he's an independent. The two of us together make up the local Assembly." She pauses, adding, "I am one of two Tale Keepers for the Children of the Tree -- it's a position of some trust and status -- and Vasya is a Citizen Agent of the Free Council, so I can't say either choice is wrong, you know?"
"Start with the Free Council. See how you go."
Klaire:
Klaire nods respectfully, patting Rook gently. He has finished his cookie and is snuffling her hand for a second one.
"Thank you for your advice Fox, I think I will join then, and see how it goes. I don't want to take up too much of your day, and I should probably tell Ylva what happened here so she doesn't worry too much."
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