The Night Train

[undergroundmods]

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It's the 22nd of January and the sun has disappeared behind the horizon. You're waiting at your nearest station when a sleek, metallic grey train pulls up at the platform. No one else can see it, only those who are aware of the supernatural world. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Night Train. Tonight the leaders of the Night Council will be making their annual introduction to the supernatural community – aboard a train that will make stops in every borough with a significant supernatural presence. Hop on and off whenever you like: this event is designed to be open to all. (Though for some reason the train won't be passing through East End or Seelie/Unseelie territory...)

The event takes place from 7pm-12 midnight Sunday 22nd January.

Rules of entry
• No weapons. Any weapons or objects that could be used as weapons will be confiscated.
• No drugs or alcohol except that provided at the event. Don't try to sneak any in.
• No violence. The train is cursed with a hex that will punish any trouble-causing passengers with a lightning strike. The Council doesn't mess around here.

Carriages
The train has five carriages, each one with a different theme. While the Night Council members are dispersed throughout the train, they are under no obligation to stay in their carriage and will likely move around to network and meet fellow members of the supernatural community. There are cameras and security guards in every carriage to ensure there is no trouble.

1) PRESIDENT / VICE PRESIDENT. At the front of the train is a carriage decked out as if for royalty. Surprisingly spacious, the carriage is decorated with gilt trimmings, a thick wine-red carpet and leather seating. Portraits of previous Presidents and Vice Presidents line the wall. Coffee, tea and wine is being served at tables interspersed throughout the carriage and finger sandwiches are available.

2) WITCH REPRESENTATIVE. The next carriage along belongs to the Witch Representative. It's rather like walking into a greenhouse: the entire place is full of herbs and other plants, and there are tables where you can sit and ask for advice or magical favours from witches with varying specialities: a healer, a herbalist, a psychic, a medium and a potions maker. Magical butterflies flutter along the ceiling and among the flowers like colourful lights. A small bar at the end of the carriage serves a variety of herbal teas.

3) VAMPIRE REPRESENTATIVE. The next carriage along belongs to the Vampire Representative. Decorated in a tasteful dark red, about half the carriage's length is taken up by a wine bar that serves a variety of alcoholic and blood-based drinks and snacks. The other half consists of leather seating where the seats face each other to allow guests to talk while enjoying a drink.

4) SHAPESHIFTER/META HUMAN REPRESENTATIVE. It seems that Yasmine decided her aim for the night was to let loose and avoid talking, since this carriage is basically a narrow dance floor. Club music blares out from speakers on the ceiling, there's a disco ball and strobe lighting, and all the windows are blacked out. A magical seal ensures that the noise is contained within this carriage, so you won't hear any of it until you step inside.

5) EMPTY CARRIAGE. There's nothing here apart from rows of seats that you might find on any ordinary train. A sign on the door says "WARNING: THIS CARRIAGE IS HAUNTED. KEEP OUT." If you ignore the sign and go in anyway, you might feel a sense of unease. The shadows seem unnaturally long and the lights will flicker on and off. Magically sensitive types will feel a strong sense of impending death and may experience visions of the seats being ripped apart and blood spattered on the walls. If you stick around even after that, the most magically sensitive person in the carriage will experience a vivid hallucination of their own death at the hands of a vampire. If you manage to endure that without fleeing, PM the mod to continue. (Don't worry, no one will die.)

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Night Council NPCs

[brightwitch]

Sylvia Redbright, President
Sylvia can be found in the President's carriage with her customary glass of red wine in the early part of the evening, though later on she will make her way through the rest of the train. She seems distracted, however, and may occasionally be seen whispering with her fellow witches, in particular Peter Vrinak and Nora Shannon.

Peter Vrinak, Vice President, and Nora Shannon, Witch Representative
These two spend a lot of time talking together, moving between the President's and Witch's carriages. Nora seems unhappy about something. Rumour is that she was aiming to be chosen as Mother of Witches, but the signs ruled her out.

Yasmine Merad, Shapeshifter/Meta Human Representative
Yasmine starts out in the President's carriage but checks out when it's clear that the witches are embroiled in their own intrigues. She stops by the Vampire carriage to grab a drink and stare balefully at any vampire who looks at her the wrong way, then finally makes her way to her own carriage to forget the rest of the Night Council and just dance. They have to do these things every year, she may as well enjoy herself.

Samantha Okeke, New Girl in Town
There's a reason for the distraction among the witches, and Samantha is it. Having recently returned to the city of her birth, the signs have confirmed that she is to be the new Mother of Witches. No official announcement has been made and it's meant to be a secret for now, but somehow rumours seem to be spreading throughout the train... Samantha won't confirm or deny, but there's certainly a spring in her step as she moves through the carriages, happy to introduce herself to anyone who seems important.

A Conversation
At around eight o'clock in the evening, the following conversation takes place between Sylvia and Samantha in the President's carriage. They greet each other with a hug and kiss to the cheek – clearly, they know each other – but an attentive observer may note that Sylvia's smile is a little strained and Samantha's a little too effusive.

Samantha folds one arm across her waist, lifting her glass with a teasing smile. "So, can I finally call you 'Auntie' now instead of 'Mother'?"

"Oh, God." Sylvia makes a face of mock horror. "No, it's fine to call me Sylvia. I also accept Madame President and Chancellor Redbright."

"Madame, really?" That gets a small laugh from Samantha, who shakes her head. "I forget you have other titles. So where is the line between Circle Daybreak and the Night Council, now that you're no longer Mother of Witches? If I had a witch issue I wanted to talk about, I'd go to Nora, right?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?"

Samantha shrugs, her smile disarming. "I just want to know how everything works."


[ooc: Any of the Night Council NPCs are available to interact with, just say which one you want to talk to! This event also introduces a new NPC, Samantha, who is here to shake things up a little. Feel free to say hi.]

For Sylvia

[stauncherhearted]

It was no secret who Nancy was here with. She'd arrived on Cooper's arm, beaming with pride, looking perhaps the best she'd felt in quite some time. She was working on tracking down an honest job, her part of a promise to Cooper if he won. She couldn't be actively working with her boyfriend on the very council that pardoned her, with the assumption she'd get an honest job.

Turns out it's really hard to get a job when you're twenty with no experience or formal education.

At one point during the night, nursing a martini from the Vampire carriage that certainly wasn't her first, she manages to cross paths with Sylvia, though she's certain the older woman knows why she's here at all. "Hello," she says warmly, all the same. It's hard not to feel good to night. "Lovely picture of us on your facebook." She's actually really not that happy about it.

[brightwitch]

"Nancy." Her smile is an automatic one. Sylvia has seen Nancy with Cooper and she does not approve. "Thank you. Did you have a good New Year?"

She's starting with small talk. Sylvia would like to hear from Nancy directly what on earth she thinks she's doing. Whether or not she does anything about it... Well, it's no longer her job to care, but thirty years spent looking out for the witch community is hard to shake off.

[stauncherhearted]

"I did," she said honestly. "Cooper and I had a low-key evening at home, which was exactly what the both of us needed." She knows Sylvia has seen her with him, so there's no reason to pretend they're not dating. Not like they've been together for over six months now, or anything.

She'd mentioned she had a boyfriend; she'd just never bothered to give a name. Funny, though, no one bothered to ask, either.

"And yourself?"

[brightwitch]

"Family holiday. It was refreshing to get away for a few days, regain a sense of perspective." She pauses, taking a sip of her wine. "So, you and Cooper. The election must have been interesting for you."

It's all she can do not to shake the girl and tell her to run. Why hasn't Lancelot stopped this?

[stauncherhearted]

"I can only imagine." Nancy had never had a proper vacation in her life. Hopefully she'd get time to change that.

She nods. "It was." But not for reasons she would think. "But I'm really proud of him. He's got a lot of great ideas, and even ran a nest back in America, so he knows what he's doing. I think he'll be really good for the Night Council." Nothing but the deepest fondness for Cooper floods her words.

[brightwitch]

Nancy is obviously completely head over heels, so Sylvia will take her opinion of Cooper with a pinch of salt. She'll make that judgement for herself. Right now, she's more concerned about Nancy herself.

She nods as if she's finding this all terribly interesting. "How long have you been together?"

[stauncherhearted]

"A bit over six months now," she says easily. "We've been living together since September." Since Redbright moved against Midnight. Nancy had gone for safety to Cooper, over a Daybreak witch.

[brightwitch]

Yeah, Sylvia can put two and two together. Her eyebrows raise fractionally. After everything they've done for her, Nancy had neglected to mention the fact that she was shacking up with a vampire. She supposes she shouldn't be surprised. It's further proof of how closely Circle Midnight and the Islington Nest were working together when Raymond was in charge. It means she was right to act she did.

But still. The cheek of it. "You didn't tell us that at your hearing." Her tone is noticeably colder. "Did you not think it relevant?"

As discussed!

[knightscode]

Lancelot is on a wary sort of alert the entire time he's on board this train, for several reasons. First, because the easy on/off access of people in and out of multiple carriages is something of a nightmare from a security perspective. They've tried to keep guardians stationed in every carriage but with people moving through all the time he's on edge. Secondly, the whole train along with its occupants is constantly firing off his magical sensitivity in a way that does nothing to ease his concerns. He's resolved to try not to touch anything he doesn't recognise directly just in case it sets off more.

Last, but not least, the occupants. Samantha is stirring things up, Peter and Nora are colluding in what no doubt is to be something that will make his life difficult and Sylvia is obviously tense about the vampires being back on board. He regrets that he's avoiding drinking anything.

He sees her talking with Nancy, and just knows he's going to be beckoned over as she leaves before it even happens.

Sylvia looks up, and Lancelot lofts his eyebrows in an answer question before closing the distance between them. He's dressed in his usual grey suit, no tie because they make him a little itchy but smart enough to pass.

[brightwitch]

"Let's walk," says Sylvia briskly, because she wants to put a good amount of distance between herself and Nancy before speaking to Lancelot. There are too many vampires who might be listening in here; the President's carriage will be a better place to talk. She moves through the corridor between the carriages, relying on Lancelot to clear the way for her if necessary.

"I have a question for you," she says as they enter the carriage. "Why didn't you tell me about Nancy and Cooper?"

He's Nancy's ward. He's the one the Night Council entrusted to get Nancy back on the straight and narrow. To hear the news from Nancy herself so long after the trial is not only irritating, it's embarrassing. They should have been informed about this.

[knightscode]

He keeps pace with her easily, holding open a door and waiting for her when things are a little busy and need more force.

The question, though, he'd been expecting.

"That she was dating him? I didn't know," he answers easily. As well as the fact that she didn't ask, but that's neither here nor there. He supposes if Cooper had remained less in the public eye then it might not have mattered so much. What must matter now is that a member of the Night Council is dating her. "Are you worried for her sake, or for what it looks like?"

A genuine question, since each would require a different style of damage control -- personal vs public.

[brightwitch]

He didn't know?

He's supposed to be looking after Nancy, and he didn't know. He says it like it's no big deal either and the look Sylvia gives him manages to be incredulous and withering at the same time.

"Both," she snaps, sliding into a seat near the back of the carriage so they can have at least a modicum of privacy. "This was a high profile case. She said herself that they've been living together for six months – that was information the Council should have known. You should have known."

[knightscode]

He follows her and comes to a stop in front of Sylvia as she sits, considers that a moment -- turning over the situation in his head.

"If she's been living with him for six months she hasn't been in danger during that time. She's been relaxed, no bruises or problems. My focus was on keeping her old life with the fae and circle midnight away from her. Islington..."

Lancelot frowns, tilts his head a little.

"She was a blood worker before. It isn't a stretch that he might have met her that way. I can look into him, if it's a concern, but considering his current position that will need to be done carefully. Still, from a public perspective it isn't a loss. She's gone up in the world. Prostitute to relationship with a new, more moderate vampire representative. So far he seems better than Raymond, and he can't hate witches entirely if he's dating one."

[brightwitch]

She listens to all of this at first with irritation but by the time he's done she can't help an amused chuckle, shaking her head. "You see the positive in everything." It's a sweet trait, it really is, but in her opinion he's altogether too trusting. "I don't think she's being harmed. I'm concerned that she kept this from you. No one accidentally keeps a secret like that. Either you're failing to keep tabs on your ward or she's very good at hiding things she doesn't want you to know. That worries me."

If she kept that quiet for six months, what else has she been hiding? Sylvia dreads to think.

[knightscode]

"She's probably good at hiding things. I expected her to hide things from me." He holds up a hand quickly, as if to quell any concerned prompting. "I'm a community officer, I've dealt with people like her for longer than I've been dealing with witches. Most of them lie. They lie because they don't want to disappoint you with the truth, because they're scared of authority, because they want to believe in the fiction of things being better than they are, because they want the space they'll get if you believe they don't need help, because they want the help you'll give if you believe they're trying more than they are, because it's a habit -- a whole host of reasons. Nancy is no exception. She has a lifetime of habits to break. That takes a long time, may take years. I pushed for her to be pardoned because I knew that, because I knew she'd need help and exiling her away from the friends she had would likely mean she would make worse habits. I'm still a figure of authority for her, of course she'll lie to me. I report to you, and forgive me for pointing out but she doesn't trust you. All the same, I don't believe she's hiding anything malicious or anything that will be a threat for you. If anything, I think this will be good. She's young. If she's really in love then she'll be very aware of her boyfriend's reputation, it might force her to try harder in improving her own. It might mean she'll even make good with you for his sake."

[brightwitch]

Hearing all that is somehow reassuring and not reassuring at the same time. He certainly has a lot of ready-made excuses. The reasoning makes sense but it doesn't get to the heart of what really has Sylvia bent out of shape, the thing she hasn't admitted yet.

How this makes Circle Daybreak look. More specifically, how it makes her look. She offered Nancy a pardon not only to make the Night Council look good, but also to show that Circle Daybreak witches are merciful and that they will welcome witches back into their fold. That's why she asked Lancelot to mentor Nancy until she was ready to join a coven. Now the girl is openly aligned with the Islington Nest – choosing vampires of all creatures over her own people. She's not the first and she won't be the last, but for Sylvia it feels like a personal failure. A failure that is now being paraded around on this very train.

God, maybe she is glad that she's no longer Mother of Witches. Although if Samantha's behaviour so far is any indication, witches like Nancy may regret not taking the opportunity offered to them when they had the chance.

She lets out a heavy sigh, leaning back in her seat. "I hope you're right. For your sake as much as hers." It's Lancelot's reputation on the line, and unlike Sylvia he will face legal ramifications if things backfire. "There's a journalist two tables down from us trying to catch my eye. I expect those tabloid hacks at the London Lambast think they've got a story here. If you do get asked why the girl you took under your wing chose to run off with a vampire rather than being welcomed back into a Daybreak coven, what are you going to say?"

Samantha? c8

[longterm]

Cesare has made his way into the witch carriage, holding his drink. Like Hell he is going to spend an extended period of time in the vampire carriage after thst sham of an election that was had (not that Cesare is bitter or anything). So he's picked up his alcohol-blood concoction and taken it with him to sit in among the foliage of the witch carriage, leaned back into his chair and simply breathing in the fresh green air. He doesn't ask for any advice. He doesn't think he needs it. Instead he catches sight of Samantha and makes his way to her.

"So how did you do it?" he asks with a smirk. Ok. So maybe he does want some advice from a witch after all.

[brightwitch]

Meanwhile, Samantha has been taking recommendations from the resident herbalist about which plants are the best to use to create positive energy in her home. She has a small white jasmine flower tucked into her hair just above her ear.

When the vampire approaches, she blinks at him and tilts her head. "Do what?" she asks innocently.

She has no idea what he's talking about, of course. What could he possibly be referring to?

[longterm]

Cesare holds no qualms about replying to Samantha honestly. He has nothing to hide at this point, and even if he did, he wouldn't be worried. He's the one asking questions right now. Not her.

So he just calmly runs his fingers through the leaf of one of the plants next to him, relaxed and amiable.

"Securing such a position when the predecessor hates you." So maybe Cesare had been in the room while Samantha and Sylvia had had their somewhat forced, uncomfortable exchange. Cesare would like to find out what the hell is going on, and hopefully use it for himself.

[brightwitch]

Okay, wow. That's a big assumption he's making. But she answers with barely a flicker in her expression, the smallest of frowns creasing her brow. "I don't know anyone who hates me, so I have to conclude that you've got the wrong person. Sorry." She smiles again, offering a rueful shrug. "Have we met?"

As a matter of fact she knows exactly who he is, having followed the Vampire Representative election closely. But he doesn't need to know that.

[longterm]

Cesare doesn't exactly believe that Samantha has no idea who he is. She clearly knows what's going on politically around London (after all, how could she get her position?). The chances that she wouldn't know who he is would be slim.

But he humors her in favor of being polite, just as he does when she pleads innocence regarding his claims about her new position and Sylvia, smirks and half nods, halfs shrugs as if to say my mistake.

"Not yet. Cesare Borgia, Marquess of Islington." He holds out a hand.

[brightwitch]

She shakes his hand, as amiable as he is. "Samantha Okeke, former High Priestess. I thought I recognised you. You were one of the nominations for Vampire Representative, right? So what do you think of the guy who actually got it?"

Is he resentful? Accepting? Is he the sort who would happily carry out a little backstabbing if it got him where he wanted? All things she'd love to know.

[longterm]

Cesare barely resists rolling his eyes.

"The people have spoken," he says, making it pretty clear that he thought they made the wrong decision. "Let's hope he represents my kind adequately. Though, if not, I am sure that will be sorted out sooner rather than later." It's no secret that Cooper and Cesare don't get along. They've fought publicly in the past. Cesare is perfectly happy not keeping that from Samantha too. Cesare isn't exactly the deceitful type.

"What do you think of him?" Now that Cesare would like to know.

[brightwitch]

Resentful. Well, now she knows. She listens with interest, thinking he must be pretty pissed off if he's willing to talk about it like this to a stranger.

As for the question, she shrugs. "I don't know. We only just met. He seems... young. He's not though, is he?"

They're vampires, they could both be hundreds of years old. Now that she thinks about it, she doesn't know how old Cooper is.