To hide away, hide away

[whatmatters]

1. SPY TACTICS [OPEN]
Ringer realized not long ago how objectively little she knew about the various factions she was dealing with. While Reznik had taught her the basic tidbits of each, their strengths and weaknesses, their loose affiliations, there were disputes and alliances forming that she found herself tragically ignorant to and often surprised by. For these reasons, she made the choice to set her more aggressive protective hunting aside for the moment to instead begin spying on people.

It didn't matter so much what significance the person held in their respective faction. She was trying to learn relationships between factions, who belonged to which, and so on. Sometimes it meant accidentally following a human who wasn't involved in any way. Most of the time, however, it meant following people she knew to be witches, werewolves, fae, and so on. Anyone who might be interesting.

The girl wasn't deliberately provocative in her pursuits, but she wasn't meticulously careful either. After all, she had no training for this kind of thing specifically. Ringer lurked in shadows and tried to follow a block or so behind, tried to appear distracted and caught up in her own world, and simply hoped that was enough. It was only a matter of time before someone caught on.


2. CAFE RESEARCH [OPEN]
Along with following people at night and in between her studies at uni, Ringer spent her free time studying. After the library became a tomb of isolation, she opted instead of the noisier and more oblivious patrons at the cafe. She turned up almost every day to grab a table in the corner or near to, ordering a tea and occasionally a scone or the like, laptop open on one half of the space in front of her while the other was filled with a book, or two, or three. For the casual observer, it would look like research for a paper, perhaps for a class on mythology or media. For those in the know, it might be obvious, but that only helped her to begin making more allies - or enemies.


3. GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN [CLOSED to Annie, early Feb]
All work and no play makes Ringer a dull girl. After a pleasant, albeit short, chat with Annie in the street, Ringer had done something rather un-Ringer-like and invited the girl over to hang out. She ordered some food from the Indian place down the lane, had a couple bottles of wine on standby, and had even ensured her television was prepared to play movies that they could rent if they chose. She didn't really know how things like this worked, but had heard enough stories and seen enough films to have an idea.

When the time approached, Ringer double-checked that her apartment was clean and that no signs of her real name were about for casual consumption. It wouldn't be hard to find if Annie went digging, but Ringer was hoping she wasn't that kind of acquaintance. The risk wasn't great enough for her to be concerned. After the final sweep, she settled in with awkward anticipation, waiting for Annie to arrive.


4. 'I LOVE DOGS' [CLOSED to James, mid Feb]
Ringer drank tea every day, like any good Brit should. She took it where she could get it, for the most part, and it never occurred to her to question why the one she drank this morning tasted any differently than the usual beyond trying a new cafe. Even when she began to notice that she was feeling off and some of her thoughts seemed new and not entirely justified, it never entered her mind that she might have been cursed or poisoned - or simply consumed a love potion.

She didn't know exactly why she felt compelled to visit James Memon at work. Objectively, it seemed like a terrible idea. There was no way of knowing how many of his colleagues were also members of the supernatural and it wasn't as if she had any special relationship with the man to merit her appearance, despite her one-time claim of being family. So when the secretary asked why she wished to see Mr. Memon, she said the first thing that popped into her head: "He's been talking to me about a case. He should be expecting me."