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.)

Comments

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?"

[knightscode]

What will he say? Lancelot considers that a moment, eyes lifting away from Sylvia as he does so to scan the room absently.

"I'd say she hasn't run off," he says finally, "that Daybreak is still assisting her, but that her experience with Circle Midnight is something she needs time to heal from. I'd say that I'm happy to see vampires and witches getting along so well after what we all went through so recently, and that hopefully that means we can except a good relationship with Islington going forward -- since witches are so close to his heart."

His eyes land back on her again finally and he twitches a small smile.

"Unless you'd prefer me to correct that."

[brightwitch]

She doesn't return the smile. Nothing about this is funny. "A positive sign of future co-operation, fine, but let's not overdo it. This is not something we want young witches to emulate. Keep the focus on how you're continuing to support her and if you don't get asked, don't bring it up. The best outcome will be to let this fade away quietly into the background."

It'll be news now because the press love any hint of a scandal, but when they see there's nothing behind it except Lancelot being his usual ridiculously optimistic self they'll soon grow bored.

[knightscode]

It may not be funny, but Lancelot doesn't think it is the most dire thing to happen to them. It could definitely turn bad if they don't continue to get along as well as they appear to, but he'll cross that bridge when he comes to it.

"I'll make it sound as dull as I can," he answers simply, since he's pretty sure that's the idea. Make the press have as little of interest to write about as possible. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

[brightwitch]

He's got the right idea and Sylvia nods, satisfied. She wants to nip this in the bud so it never has to concern them again. Of course, their solution is all about making sure this doesn't become a story rather than actually helping Nancy and she does feel a twinge of guilt about that. She looks down at the table for a moment, then back to Lancelot.

"Things change," she says. "Regimes change. She won't hear it from me, but perhaps you should warn her to be careful. Relationships with vampires tend to end badly."

That's as politely as she can put it. Nancy won't listen to her, she knows, and she has no reason to look out for the girl any more, but Lancelot does. At least she can leave the whole thing alone with a clear conscience.