Five Years Later...

[undergroundmods]

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A lot can change in five years. Students who were at Redbright have now started their careers. People have moved out, moved in, started a new life together or apart. Some move on from the city while others return to it. But while the lives of its residents continue to grow and change, London remains as it has ever been: a focal point for magical power.

A tentative peace
The last five years have not been without conflict, both internal and external. The vampires have played with the politics of in-fighting and backstabbing. The werewolves have overthrown their leader and chosen a new alpha. The witches have suffered one scandal after another. And the fae have quietly engineered a small change here, a personal revenge there, until finally with Redbright and Hillingdon acting as neutral parties a peace agreement was reached between Circle Daybreak, the Islington Nest and the East End Pack. Their territories are still beholden to the same rules (e.g. vampires are still forbidden to enter East End territory and vice versa) but they are no longer in open conflict. Small steps, perhaps, but positive ones.

A delicate balance
The year is 2022. The balance of power in the city is now evenly split between the East End Pack, Islington Nest and Circle Daybreak, thanks largely to the rise of the werewolves and the new President Laura Roslin who simultaneously holds the post of Werewolf Representative.

Samantha Okeke lost her position as Witch Representative following allegations of corruption, and has been replaced by Diphylleia "Dee" Absin, a much more co-operative member of the Night Council. While Samantha has retained her title of Mother of Witches, there are rumours that she lost her powers during a confrontation with a powerful fae. Circle Daybreak firmly denies all such speculation.

The connections between the Redbright Institute and the Hillingdon Clan have grown stronger since the former is now perceived to be a more neutral force rather than tied to the Night Council, although Hillingdon certainly still has the less clean-cut image of the two.

Meanwhile, the Seelie and Unseelie Court have largely withdrawn from public life in the mortal realm except in isolated corners, though they claim the right to go where they please throughout the city. Consequently, there are no barriers preventing travel between the realms, which seems for now to be an acceptable compromise.

And after all, politics is the art of compromise.

Looking ahead
All in all, the vampire and fae presence in the city has reduced as the vampires move around and the fae decide that if they're invited it can't be that great a party anyway. The number of witches has recovered thanks to an amnesty allowing those who were once members of Circle Midnight to return (though the faction itself has not reappeared).

The biggest change that has been noticed first by staff at the Redbright Institute however is the increasing number of meta humans, in particular young meta humans, being discovered in the city. Often these are humans with no knowledge of the supernatural developing their powers for the first time. The reason why has yet to be discovered...

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[knightscode]

Lancelot is here with both of his dogs, Lily who is now an older and more sedate lady and Sadie who is cripplingly shy and wants to hide behind Lancelot at all times. He's got one hand on her ruffling her floppy brown ears soothingly while he nurses a beer with the other, and Lily is busily curiously exploring the garden on sniff patrol (and Boxer, of course). She circles back every so often to make sure everyone is still there, but there are lots of interesting smells to be checked! It's quite distracting.

"Lily used to be like this," he's saying, "but she grew out of it after she met enough people and realised they were fine. I think she will too, but it's still early days. She likes Faolan, at least, so I know she has good taste."

He winks playfully and takes a sip of his beer, turning to look slightly at Sadie who wags her tail uncertainly at him. Hello, Lancelot. Is she being good? She hopes she is. It's very busy here, and she's not sure what she's meant to be doing. She's sitting, is that good? She hopes so!

[reticence]

Correction. Lancelot is there with both of his dogs and his -- whatever they're going by these days, Faolan's never been very good with labels. But they live together and they picked up Sadie together and that's Faolan's claddagh that Lancelot's been wearing for the last five years now, so. Take it for what you will.

Honestly the appetizers are a little fancy for him. The whole thing is a little fancy for him, but he's been invited and Lancelot seems to be enjoying himself so far, so he's hoping the alcohol will settle his social anxieties soon enough. (Not too much though, he's learned that lesson the hard way thanks.) He had excused himself for a moment to fish around in the selection of drinks before he managed to select a beer for himself and trail his way back to his seat next to Lancelot. Popping the drink open and taking a healthy swallow before holding a hand down for Sadie to come to him, if she'd like. He'll stay put now, really he will.

"Talking about me?" he says, as he settles. "I hope it wasn't anything incriminating..." He'd only caught the last sentence as he'd joined them but he's 99% positive that he's talking about the dog. Well. 95%.

[specifiercity]

Arthur's playing a good co-host, only popping into the kitchen occasionally while food prep is happening to ask Eames if he wants any help (purely a courtesy) or to grab drinks. He's fairly relaxed in this setting and he and Eames have hit an easy rhythm taking care of the house and the dog as a team.

He's nursing a beer at the moment, watching Boxer cautiously try to figure out Lily and Sadie with an amused smirk. Boxer's improved so much even since Arthur first met him and it's nice to watch him approach this situation with relatively low anxiety.

"More about the dog," Arthur says to Faolan as the other man returns. "Lancelot figures she has good taste."

[falsify]

"I'm not sure I can say the same for Boxer," he says with a little amusement in his voice, also watching the dog in question with a smile as he tries to figure out if Lily is a friend or not. "He'll love anyone who plays with him for a bit."

To be fair, it was trained into him a little to help curb any anxiety or aggression with nee people, but also he's a big baby even at 8 years old who wants attention all the time.

[knightscode]

Lancelot watches Sadie weave around to lay down under Faolan's chair now he's back and bump her nose into his hand, smiling a little before glancing out to make sure Lily isn't crashing into anything.

(She isn't, and is mostly trying to lead Boxer in chases around the garden. At least they'll tire each other out.)

"That's a good trait to have, though! Well, perhaps not in a guard dog, but in a pet it's good."

It means they're less inclined to barking matches when walking in the park, anyway.

"Sure you're going to stay happy with just the one?" A little teasing now, since Lancelot is self aware of his own dog problem. He looks over at Faolan and smirks a little. "I convinced him Lily needed a friend."

Or, Lancelot supposed, perhaps the dog itself helped with the convincing. Sadie has charmingly shy puppydog eyes.

[falsify]

Boxer's getting into it, he's not scared of other dogs the way he used to be, and Eames lets out a soft laugh watching him cautiously following Lily's lead. He's a rough and tumble boy when he really gets into it though; Lancelot's probably got a night of dog washing ahead of him later.

The question gets a bigger laugh out of Eames though, and he shakes his head, "no-- god, no. I barely have the time and energy for that one."

[reticence]

Faolan runs his fingers gently over Sadie's muzzle then back to gently play with her ears as he listens to the other men talk. He suspects it calms her as much as it does him -- perhaps that's why they are so in tune with each other. Because there is something of the rescue dog in him as well, and Sadie isn't technically Lancelot's second adoption, but his third.

He catches the smirk that Lancelot tosses him and cannot help but quirking something of a smile back in return. "I don't really know that there was much convincing necessary," he admits. In other words, he knows he's whipped and he's not really ashamed to admit it either.

[specifiercity]

Arthur's still watching Boxer and Lily, mulling over his beer. "I think Boxer likes being an only child," he says dryly, "he doesn't even like it when I have Eames' attention for too long."

He has the long-suffering tone of a man who has had too many mid-afternoon naps on the couch interrupted by the wet nose of a dog who wants to get in between his cuddling dads.