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Fox has been ... suspiciously absent... for the last two days. Sometimes Fox just wanders, but usually she texts a lot. Her texts have been intermittent (just enough to keep Vasha from suiting up and going to kill whatever has obviously kidnapped the woman that duty kept him apart from for years) but she ... has not been around!
Whenever Vasha arrives from whatever he arrives from, or wakes up from whatever he wakes up from, or whatever, little signs lead from various places in the apartment along with tiny paper arrows.
VASHA, GO THIS WAY.
NO, THIS WAY.
OVER HERE.
OKAY NOW SIT DOWN RIGHT HERE PLEASE.
(The last sign is over his favorite chair in their room.)
The handwriting is obvious, and the paper has been reinforced by Matter, if only so that Fox's Nimbus is clearly splashed all over the damn things and it's as much Not A Trap as Fox can make it.(edited)
This is precisely what the Seers would do if they wanted him to think it wasn't a trap.
You can never be too paranoid in Vasha's line of work. (Is it really paranoia if they're actually trying to kill you?) Whatever the case, Vasha doesn't seem overly concerned with what he finds, following the trail along to the chair, then circling said chair with a critical eye. Eventually, he plucks off the note and settles himself onto the chair to flip open his little humidor and pluck out one of his prized cigars. A clip later, he's lighting it up with a match and relaxing back into his chair with a contented sigh.
Watch this!
Guess who got Mind 2?
FOX!
Guess who knows better than to show off Incognito Presence by appearing too close to Vasha?
ALSO FOX!
So once he lets out a contented sigh? Fox appears slightly off to one side of the doorway and just far away enough from Vasha that she's not in arm's reach. She knows, okay, but also she moves with an inhuman liquidness, because if you're going to pull off a trick like this, amp your dexterity way the fuck up first.
Fox is scrubbed clean, wearing a pretty, loose green cotton dress that sets off the color of her eyes, and holding a bag of pelmeni; the smell arrives when she comes out of hiding.
She puts her arms up in a 'tadah!' gesture, and says:
"Tadah!"
Vasha squints at Fox when she appears in his perceptions, frowning just a tad. But it's his 'I'm looking for something to be critical about because that was very good' frown, not his 'I am actually displeased' frown. Apparently he can't find anything, because he chuffs approvingly with a slight twitch of the shoulders, followed by a very leisurely and slow bit of applause.
He plucks the cigar from his mouth and rolls the ash in the tray slowly as he smiles up her way, "That dress looks incredible on you."
The Thyrsus holds still while Vasha squints, and frowns, and looks for something to critique. When he can't? Her smile beams all the brighter, and she manages somehow to hold on to the bag of pelmeni while also posing her hands underneath her chin like she's getting Glamour Shots done. Fox is very pleased with herself.
Possibly disproportionately, for an Apprentice-level trick. But! She pap pap paps barefoot across the floor and slings herself into his lap. "It should, it's my favorite. I like the color."
The bag of food gets set on her lap and she rustles the top of it. "I brought food." Her green-gold eyes glitter, and she leans over to smooch the corner of his mouth.
"I imagine it would look even better on the floor," Vasha opines without skipping a beat, dropping his cigar back between his teeth as he smiles winningly. After another quick series of puffs, he returns his cigar to his hand and crosses his legs comfortably in his seat.
"More seriously, that's a useful trick. Just remember that people don't know you're around, and it's really easy to hear things people wouldn't want you to hear. Even by accident. It's easy to forget they've forgotten you. Easier than you'd think, anyway."
"Oh, it will," Fox assures him, leaning in to nose at his ear and grinning broadly. "It will." Terribly, terribly pleased with herself. She curls up contentedly in his lap, offering him back a winning smile, too.
"Mmm." The Thyrsus listens to him, absently curling her fingers along the back of his neck. "That is good advice," she agrees, and then leans to whisper, "you should have a food. I brought food." She playfully chomps at his cheek, giggling.
"Oh, you brought food?" Vasha blinks innocently up at her, his smile still firmly plastered on his shit-eating face. "I should reach in the bag, should I? For the food?" Vasha points at himself, then at the bag, as though to confirm what she's suggesting that he do, as though he weren't fully aware already. Before she has done and smacks him on the back of the head, he reaches a hand into the bag and fishes around a bit before pulling out of the dumplings seemingly at random.
Oh, does he? Does he do that after his fingers run right into a napkin-wrapped box? Is that what he does?
Yes. He pulls out the dumpling, plops it into his mouth, and chews it with the slow and certain relish of someone who knows he's getting away with something. "Thank you." He's such a dick. "For the Pelmeni." SUCH a DICK.
She expected that, probably, because this is how their relationship has always worked. That doesn't mean that Fox looks less like she's about to explode. Her vulpine eyes widen, she freezes as her breathing goes all rapid for a moment and her teeth chatter sharply. Fox doesn't even have any words. If he keeps this up, she might explode.
And so Vasha reaches into the bag again, nice and slow, carefully plucks out another Pelmeni, and brings it back out of the bag, too. He keeps eye contact with her as he purposefully has a second of the dumplings and promptly reaches in a third time.
He would never. Never in a million years would he-- nope. He comes out with a third dumpling, sniffs at it, returns it to the bag, and pulls out a third which is actually the fourth. Thus having ruined even the rule of threes.
But he also pulls out the napkin wrapped box, "Oh, dear. Some careless person left this ring box in your pelmeni bag."
She sits very very still, except for the fact that she's literally shaking with excitement. Fox (like her player) has NEVER been good at keeping presents secret. Ever. Never at all. She watches him with her eyes getting wider and wider. It will be funny to her later, the fact that he's torturing her. Later on she'll tell this story and cackle uproariously. Right now? She shakes.
And she splutters when he puts a third pelmeni out and ruins the rule of threes! Splutters wordless nonsense. It isn't until he takes out the box that she finds words again, finally exploding.
"IT WAS ME I DID IT I PUT IT IN THERE OPEN IT NOW!" Fox squeals, flapping her hands and kicking her small feet. "OPEN IIIIIT!"
Now that he's got her well and truly beside herself with frustration, Vasha smiles in satisfaction and unwraps the ring box from its shell of napkins so that he can pop the lid open and have a gander at what might be inside.
Is it snakes?!
Boy, is it ever not.
A pair of rings made from siderite perfected out of the iron from an asteroid, it contains three slender channels of metal around the outside as stripes: lunargent, brontium and orichalcum. On the inside of the larger of the two rings is etched boy with a coin in lunargent, and inside the smaller, the words girl with a bird in brontium.
The rings are affected by a Crucible spell which carries 2 charges of rote action on social rolls and may be recharged by a point of potentia for an additional 2 rolls.
The rings are specifically crafted to hold a segment of Path-aligned perfected metal against the skin of the wearer within the engraved text.
Siderite (Pandemonium) offers a +2 tool Yantra to spells concerning strengthening or protecting materials. It can cut through anything, ignoring the Durability of an object.
Orichalcum (Aether) offers a +2 tool Yantra for spells cast upon itself, and its Durability cannot be reduced by nonmagical means.
Lunargent (Arcadia) offers a +2 tool Yantra for spells associated with seeing other places, other times, and across the Gauntlet. Additionally, it reflects things in Twilight.
Brontium (Primal Wild) offers a +2 tool Yantra to spells that deflect, protect, or redirect magic. Additionally, items crafted of Brontium grant the user a +2 bonus to defend against debilitating effects.(edited)
Fox? Perfectly still again. This is her pouncing face.
Vasha was expecting rings, of course. That was all his idea, after all. But he was most assuredly not expecting these rings. He probably won't be able to wear it in the field too awful much, but it's a swiss army knife for him at all other times. He plucks his ring out of the box and holds it up to the light, examining it carefully. Then he drops it onto his palm and holds it up close to his face, squinting at it. "Amazing," he finally decides after all of that perusal. "Simply incredible."
The little Thyrsus' face turns several shades of pink as he picks the ring up out of the box; her sharp little teeth worry her lower lip, and her green-gold eyes glitter as she watches his inspection with breathless anticipation. His compliment makes her blush all the brighter, ducking her face forward so her hair falls in front of her face and she can peer out at him from behind said hair.
"I did that with just one cast," Fox offers quietly, almost shyly. "All wrapped up together. Shaping it and ... it'll hold potentia, to make you better at like... convincing people of things. Or lying. And siderite will cut through anything."
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