A Daily Mail Exclusive [open/closed]

[protagonized]

#herodog trended in the UK for a grand total of forty-eight hours in early March, long enough to spark several articles about the incident in various local tabloids and newspapers, a fifteen minute segment about it on BBC Breakfast (complete with an animal behaviour expert), and two @herodog and @londonherodog Twitter parody accounts. Then the world turned and the sensation died down and few people remembered Maria Mitchell's little brush with fame.

Except Maria herself, of course.

She had been at a low point, but the hero dog ended all that when it dragged her off the tracks and away from danger after she'd drunkenly fallen off the platform, right in the path of an oncoming Circle Line train. The dog had done more than save her life, she'd tell her friends. It had given her purpose, a reason to stop drinking and start living.

She became obsessed with finding the London Hero Dog. If she could find it and thank it, or--well, they obviously shared a bond so maybe she could give it somewhere to live for the rest of its life! Right! The universe was telling her she was meant to adopt this dog.

She just had to find it first. And maybe look at some cell phone video she'd drunkenly recorded later that night...

i - No Good Deed Goes Unpunished (18 April - Open to Previous CR)

Simon's phone has been ringing at odd hours since Friday. He's taken to just ignoring the calls, since the number is usually blocked and whoever it is must not want to reach him that badly because they don't leave voicemails or a callback number.

But today is a bit different, because today he gets a text message. It's...huh, who would be sending him a video? This is all really--

Simon pales visibly.

"Oh shit. Oh shitting fucking Jesus Christ."

He hands his phone to his companion. The video is about five seconds long, showing a white dog that blurs and then suddenly isn't a white dog anymore. The only other message is a hashtag: #herodog

ii - How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? (21 April - Open to Hillingdon House)

Hillingdon House. Simon's heard of it, of course; he's reasonably well-versed in supernatural politics these days and as a shapeshifter he know that Hillingdon House ought to be his spiritual home. Had things been different and Sylvia Redbright not scooped him up and put him in her school back when he'd been a confused teenager with brand new powers, he probably would have ended up here. Shapeshifters from Hillingdon had been some of his first contacts within the supernatural community; Redbright had just gotten to him first.

But he'd never actually been here until today.

He takes a deep breath. What he's about to do is unsanctioned, potentially suicidal. He's probably just a couple of steps away from ending up a statue in the Night Council chambers, but he will definitely end up a statue in the Night Council chambers if he is the reason that the entire supernatural community ends up being exposed to the normal human one.

Simon doesn't know how Maria--he knows the woman's name now--found out about him, but Maria knows and she's threatening to go to the press about it. The Daily Mail would probably pay thousands for an exclusive on the witches and vampires and shapeshifters and everything else who currently inhabit London. They'd have a field day with it.

"How do I place a bounty?" he asks, approaching a likely-looking person.

iii - The Statute of Secrecy (29 April - Closed to Guardians)

"I've got a stalker," Simon says, and it's meant to be a joke but it's anything but. He looks even more exhausted than usual.

"I saved one person and suddenly I've got a 'hero dog' groupie."

He laughs hollowly. "She's trying to blackmail me into being her boyfriend. Says she'll expose me if I don't."

Comments

ii

[knightscode]

Lancelot's eyebrows loft slowly at that, clearly surprised but not entirely alarmed. He sips his coffee, thinking and studying Simon at the same time.

Expose him. That could mean a number of things, and he doesn't want to assume anything, so better to get this all out.

"Well," he says finally, setting down his cup and leaning onto the table. "What does she intend to expose, and what proof does she have?"

[protagonized]

Simon pulls out his phone and shows Lancelot the video she sent. It's grainy, but clearly shows him changing back from dog to person.

"She says she'll sell it to the papers. I don't have a fucking clue how she got it in the first place."

He's usually so careful.

[knightscode]

Lancelot turns the phone on the table and squints at it, tilts his head curiously then sits back again and reaches for his drink.

"Say she faked it?" He says finally, "the quality is terrible -- on its own she can barely prove it's you. No legitimate paper would run it, it might make a small stir in gossip magazines but nobody would believe it save a few."

[protagonized]

"Might...be a bit late for that now."

Oh god, what has he done?

"Another shifter's gotten involved."

[knightscode]

"She's seen another?" Lancelot guesses, frowning a little in thought. "Does she have more videos? It could make things more difficult, but... it isn't impossible. If we can find out where the sources are and delete them we can then find a witch to remove her memories. Assuming she hasn't spread the information too far it shouldn't be too difficult."

Although being sure of who she's told might be trickier. Still, setting up cover-ups is something the Night Council is rather good at. They could make it work.

[protagonized]

"Not...exactly." Simon looks distinctly uncomfortable. Even more uncomfortable than he had before.

"I tried to take care of the problem myself. I...asked someone from Hillingdon for help? Just to scare her off. And that's why I'm telling you."

Simon takes a deep breath.

"I think I made it worse. I definitely made it worse. And now I've got a hunter from Hillingdon treating her like a bounty."

[knightscode]

A bounty? Lancelot's eyes widen a fraction for a second before his expression morphs into a frown. That isn't.... ideal.

"Do you know their name? The hunter."

He's already digging out his phone and beginning to write a text message. He doubts it's Faolan, but Faolan probably will know the person and might be able to help them reign whoever it is in.

[protagonized]

That is not a pleased expression on Lancelot's face. Lovely.

"Daryl, I think? Or Dwayne maybe? He's American. Thick Southern accent."

[knightscode]

Definitely not Faolan, then, and not someone Lancelot recognises by name alone. He finishes typing rapidly and hits send, lets out a slow breath.

"We'll see if he can find him. Did he give you any idea of what he planned?"

It could be fine, or it could makes things worse. It all depends on this man's style, personality, if he's going to do something lethal. If he's subtle or if he might stir things up unintentionally.

[protagonized]

"Information-gathering, is what he said." Simon takes a drink of his coffee, wondering when it had gone cold.

"This...is probably making things worse, isn't it?"

[knightscode]

"That depends what he considers 'information gathering'. I don't know him, but Faolan will. We'll see what he says, and hopefully we can work this out."

Lancelot pockets his phone again, thinks a moment.

"It might not make it better," he admits finally. "But that all depends on this man's methods."