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."

Comments

[anniesgonemad]

"You're welcome." Phew. Okay, good, Annie actually breaths a sigh of relief as she steps into the apartment, removing her flats as she did so. The size of the apartment doesn't escape her notice, but she doesn't say anything about it. That's really really rude, and she'd rather not be rude. Besides, she'd hate if anyone said her place was huge. Which, alright, it was pretty big, but it was originally a family home, and her grandmother owned it. The Crestas had a good amount of money, anyway.

Bare feet follow Ringer into the living space. If anything, the sparseness reminds her of Finnick's place. She'd only recently been adding some of her own touches to it- flowers, a particularly handsome picture of her and Finnick together that her grandma had taken, that damn formerly-cursed harp.

"Oh- wow, I was going to offer to pay for any takeaway, Ringer- you didn't have to. Here!" She starts to move back towards where she'd left her purse by her shoes. A bit of scrounging around has her producing a 20 pound note, and she holds it out. "Take it. Then maybe, uhm we can open the wine? Maybe find something to watch as, ah, background noise? And we can just... hang out? Sorry. I'm really bad at girl's nights. And, ah, being human most days, I think."

[whatmatters]

Ringer, in socks, appreciates the gesture. She moves to the kitchen to start pulling the food from its bags and set out on the counter. Then she's working on opening the bottle of wine. When Annie runs off to grab money, Ringer starts to protest before realizing it might be more polite to accept it. She's not really sure, but she definitely doesn't want to end up in a ridiculous 'I insist; no, I insist' back and forth.

"Thanks," she says instead, pocketing the money and making a mental note of the debt. Ringer finishes opening the wine, then grabs plates, utensils, and glasses out for them. "Help yourself."

She pours out the wine as she tries to think of what to do next, viewing the interaction as a potential series of logical moves rather than just interacting as people. Being friendly is hard. At Annie's admittance of also being bad at girls' night, Ringer relaxes a little.

"Then we'll be bad together. That makes it easier." She offers Annie a glass of wine before pouring her own. "How are you?"

[anniesgonemad]

Oh, wow, that went easier than expected. She lets out a sigh of relief, hoping that it's quiet enough that Ringer won't notice. She was always the first to offer to pay for anything, and usually polite society insisted on playing the 'no no, I insist' game over and over again.

"Thank you," she says, dolling out a bit of takeout for herself to much on. Or to distract herself. Either one works.

Another sigh of relief at Ringer's admittance. "okay- good. I'm glad I'm not alone in this." She accepts the wine with a bit more assurance in her smile. "I'm alright. I've been- well you know about Croydon." She's back on the couch by now, watching Ringer. "I've been helping Finnick." Sorry, Ringer. She'll be on about him.

[whatmatters]

Ringer ignores the small sigh, more than likely to make a similar gesture in their near future and hoping the courtesy will be returned. She takes a small sip of her wine before grabbing herself a plate to follow Annie's lead. It does make for a wonderful distraction. She glances up occasionally to show she's listening as she finishes serving herself, then joins Annie on the couch.

"Tell me about Croydon," she replies curiously. Ringer's heard rumors, but not details and could use some. It might help her understand the dispute between the witches and the fae a little better, the one that prevented her from shooting her guest's aforementioned boyfriend. "How is Finnick?"

[anniesgonemad]

Okay, Croydon. Annie can do Croydon, and visibly brightens. "Oh- it was a disaster. This Unseelie, Eames, was going to give it the Midnight witches, but Daybreak decided they wanted Croydon instead." This was business and it was something she knew and could speak with some authority to. So there was a clarity to her voice as she set her fork down to better demonstrate with her hands.

"So no one wound up with it, and since there's some truce between the witches they won't attack one another, and it became the fae against Daybreak." She shakes her head. "We lost. Finnick's been..." How to describe how Finnick had been? She worries at her lower lip, imagining worry creasing his brow, how fitfully he'd slept.

She leans back and sighs. She can't tell Ringer that. Not entirely. "It's been hard. But there's a little bit of a silver lining, I suppose- He's been lorded!" And that, that she was really proud of him for.

[whatmatters]

Ringer watches with a hint of surprise and genuine appreciation. It's actually nice to see someone talk passionately about something other than murder or hunting for once. More so, to see someone who when firs they met was more than a little down to now come alive and be so animated. The ends of her lips twitch with the hint of a smile as she listens. Although that fades with the actual information being provided. It's more than she knew.

"Did Daybreak win it in the end or is it still unclaimed?" That part, she doesn't know. She remembers how angry Finnick was though, talking about the Daybreak witches trying to keep the fae out, something she's still not entirely sure she disagrees with in a general sense.

But Finnick is unique in this case. Because apparently he does have a weakness for humans. Or one, at least. And that makes him better than most other fae. "Tell him I said congratulations. How are you with.. everything? You're not a fae or a witch."

[anniesgonemad]

Annie's blissfully unaware of Ringer's reaction to her, well, her lucidity. When they'd met, she'd been a wreck, and she hated when people met her like that. But Ringer was a good woman and wasn't holding it against her. After all, here they were, and they were actually, well... Annie wanted to consider them friends.

"Daybreak won it in the end," she sighed, taking a drink of wine. Precisely why Finnick was so angry. He didn't like Annie to see that part of him, though she knew it was there. He could be so terrifying when he was angry, and she hated to see it. But she didn't like seeing him unhappy period. He'd been so unhappy for so long. "They want to remove all dark magic, and make it so fae can't come in and out of the territory." Annie had promised Finnick he could always come and go from Faerie at her grandma's flat, laws be damned.

"I will!" Look at that, maybe she could have Ringer and Finnick be friends, too. That would be astounding. He needed more people he could talk to. "I'm- I'm alright. I can't stand witches..." not after what they'd done to Finnick. "But some of the fae- I'm human." Stupid, weak human. "But my loyalty is to Finnick, which means to his court. I want everyone to get along but that's- I know that's not possible. So long as he can come and go and be safe. That's what I want." It wasn't exactly answering the question.

[whatmatters]

Ringer nodded slowly, Annie's words echoing the sentiment that Finnick had expressed upon their last meeting. She still didn't understand why it was that Daybreak hated the fae so severely. Keeping the fae from getting a hold in this realm was one thing, but trying to banish them completely was another and it seemed the group was aiming for the latter. Again she felt small and insignificant in the larger supernatural world and couldn't help but wonder how Annie dealt with it, being even more intimately involved with it than she was.

"Do the fae treat you alright?" Annie was dating Finnick, but she was human too and Ringer knew how the fae liked to treat humans. Ringer also wondered exactly how much of Annie's life revolved around her lover. She said firmly, "It's not a failing to be human. It's a strength."

[anniesgonemad]

"Do the- Oh! Oh, yes, yes, they do. I, uhm-" she stifles laughter with a sip of wine. "I only know a few. Finnick, he- he hasn't been introducing me to others. Not unless he has to. But that's going to change!" The conversation had been hard, but important. He'd needed to know how she felt, and he did. They'd come to a compromise, and all was well. "But the fae I've met, most of them have been very kind." Eames was a good fae, even if he was intimidating as all get-out.

The majority of her life, as it was, lately revolved around Finnick. She didn't mind it. She had her grandmother, of course, and her own private research, but her world was Finnick. His world, too, was Annie.

She looked down, blushing. "Oh- no. That's- wow. That's ah, a really good way to put it. We do, err, see things differently. More... immediate, I think?"