Absit Omen RPG

[Your name/nickname:] Elle
[Your affected characters:] all
[Start date of absence:] A week ago
[Approximate date of return:] April
[Reason (optional):] I just resigned from my very stressful job and I'm super excited to start fresh with a new company! But quitting and starting somewhere new will likely take a lot of my time and energy as I adjust ... Bear with me! I'll be slow as always.

Just an update - April has come and gone and I'm still just as slow. It will likely be a few more months! As I don't want to hold anyone up, please feel free to assume my characters are supporting plots in the background. Ping me on Discord if you need me or just want to talk! 

Anton,

Hey cousin! Is that weird to say? I hope not. I wanted to send you a few copies of what we call 'animated photos'. At least, I think that's what they're_... (Fauna trails off)

So, here's a few animated/moving/GIF-like photos of the wedding. Here's one of you, dancing every dance, and making sure everyone is smiling and having a good time. Is that Micha in the background, laughing at you? Maybe! There's one of Artur on his phone. Here's one of my mum and your uncle at the altar looking ridiculously happy (and beautiful)! Here's another of Artur on his phone. Though I was hesitant about the flowers (I mean, I must have worried over every bouquet), I'm so glad that so many of us wore flower crowns, because here's a pic of Tia and I, and I'm fixing the flower in her hair, and getting distracted by how pretty she looks. But I'm not the only sappy one - here's one of Abby making eyes at Sasha.

Here's another of Artur on his phone. Oh, he's looked up. He's saying something in the photo - can you tell - is he talking about DnD?

I think so.

See you soon and let me know whenever Micha would like to go to Diagon!

Faun

Tia,

I've been thinking about where we should take our next holiday, and Abby joked that Croatia has a million castles and a bunch of them are supposed to be haunted.

So I looked it up and actually, Dubrovnik is supposed to be beautiful, and then there's Trakoscan, and we should go sometime! If you'd like. We can admire the castles from a safe, far distance. But we should go, and walk hand in hand on the crumbling cobblestone streets, which are a different sort of cobblestone than all the old towns have in the U.K. (I think).

Love,
Fauna
~(sexy Auror)~

(I can't believe I wrote that but this time it's true - at least half of it - you're biased, because I mean - you know what I mean - anyway!)

Fig,

Guess what! I updated my business card. You know, that idea I borrowed from Trevelyan? Here's a copy of my new card that you can keep in your jacket pocket where all the other cards live:



Faun

Sasha sighed heavily while Fauna held her breath, willing the guard to be quiet so she could hear him. She didn't enjoy bringing up the full moon, either! Her eyebrows drew together as he mentioned the suspicious sounds around Moira's cottage. Abby had been there, too?

"You and Abby were at Moira's cottage during the last full moon?" Fauna restated, surprised. Abby had mentioned something to her about a sleepover, but had she said it was during the full moon? At Moira's cottage? And that there had been strange sounds in the night?

Fauna didn't think so. It was odd, but she'd noticed some distance from Abby since December, since the pentral had left, and she didn't know what to do to make Abby feel comfortable enough to talk to her again.

Sasha mentioned unsafe streets. Moira had likely told him about sighting the werewolf in December, and perhaps even about the desecration of Iona's grave in February. The often-anxious Sasha seemed completely unconcerned, which Fauna hoped meant he had nothing to be concerned about.

But she wouldn't bet on it.

"Uh, it's possible," Fauna answered his question distractedly. Maybe someone knew Moira had seen a werewolf, or knew that Moira would be vulnerable after February. The McBoids had all felt followed, watched recently.

"So, you were with Moira and Abby when you heard some strange sounds outside," Fauna emphasized their names without meaning to.

Moira and Abby, Abby and Moira.

"Did you check around outside in the morning? Whatever it was could have left tracks or left something behind," she shrugged her shoulder for the guard's benefit, but her gaze remained serious. Fauna mentally retraced her own steps from the first time she'd visited the McBoid land, and how easy it was to catch her foot on a rock, and how far it seemed from the large cottage to the smaller, and how she'd passed by the grave of Moira's mother where the oak tree was standing guard.[1]

1.	Waning Moon Fever

Fauna glanced at the teapot with as much longing as Bagnold had glanced at the beer menu earlier, but he was ready to leave after a minute of chit-chat.

She pressed her mouth together and hesitated in the small office. Her earlier fears of being locked in had subsided, but there was clearly something going on, and if she sat down with the couple and tried to make conversation, perhaps she'd find out more. In the moments that she paused and stayed behind, she discovered little tidbits of information that others did not when they rushed about as if there were a Grim on their heels.

Or a werewolf.

She paused, giving Colby and Moreen Liteoller a tired smile.

"Thanks for showing us around today," Fauna fell back on the blandest of niceties. Whatever they were wrapped up in with the safehouse and the tunnel leading from it, it felt worth saying. How were they supposed to know that Bagnold got grumpy with everyone, that it could be something as simple as the sun peeking out behind the clouds and reminding him of the moon, that it wasn't necessarily who they were, or their safehouse, or this small office, or the lack of wands in their pockets?

"If you need anything, or notice anything suspicious - full moon or otherwise - please know you can ask for me," she hesitated, "and Bagnold at the Ministry."

Fauna nodded at the fireplace, keeping her gaze on their faces as she took a moment to rummage in her soggy jacket pocket.

Moreen glanced quickly at the fireplace where a dusting of fresh green powder shone on the logs. Colby didn't seem to look anywhere, his face slackening just a bit. Fauna fumbled but found her card - it was bent at the corner and had plain black lettering on it only visible to wixes and squibs. She planned on crafting something nicer once she earned her Auror title. She planned on showing that one off to Jonas Trevelyan, too.[1]

She swallowed, casting one more glance at the fireplace, and held out her card to Moreen.

"My number's on there as well."

Colby's expression cleared and he nodded, lifting his hand in a half-wave.

With that, Fauna headed out of the office, shooting a frown at the back of Bagnold's head as she dragged her feet behind him.

She might have told him something of her impressions if he'd looked back once. But he didn't.

She caught up to him by the entrance, where the cold draft from the door had brought out his friendly side. She managed a smile at Mickey, half-listening, and raising her eyebrows when Bagnold looked at her meaningfully.

Oh, right! The tour group hadn't been allowed in to tour the lighthouse. Yeah, that might be important.

And now Bagnold was offering up her contact information. Numbers. Mickey looked as surprised as she felt.

She blinked at Bagnold, fishing in her pocket for another card. Oh shit! She couldn't give muggle Mickey a card that would look blank, could she. He had a mobile phone. He held it in his hand, and she rattled off her number. Numbers!

Mickey and the other tour guide wished them safe travels and turned to the group. Once outside, in case any muggles were watching from the window of the pub, Fauna and Bagnold weaved around the cars until they reached the path leading to the beach.

"You know, Bagnold," Fauna started. There was so much - so very much! - she could say.

She'd wait until they returned to the Ministry. She'd wait till she had a cuppa.

"If you ever feel like you might want your own phone, just let me know. You can ring people on it. Which means talking to them. You can even send texts, which are like really short letters or memos. That would be perfect for you."

Fauna chuckled under her breath, imagining him sending a grimace emoji.

"Or if you don't want to try a mobile phone, maybe an automobile would be better," she gestured at the parking lot they'd left behind. "Whenever you're ready to leave a conversation, you can just hop in a car and go."

She turned on the path and glanced behind her, checking for muggles.

"Kinda like apparating."

Fauna grinned at Bagnold through sheets of rain. Steeling her stomach, she flicked her wand and apparated to the Ministry, leaving Bagnold behind for the first time since they'd arrived.

1.	Jonas is her inspiration for the card!

As Fauna listened, she kept her face as neutral as she could. Yes, Sasha's family had been killed at his home that had mysteriously burnt down later on, and Sasha's sister, Jacoba, had been poisoned by Ira's tainted potions. Fauna had gone over this in her mind many times before, aware that any number of criminals could be holding a grudge against Sasha, but in a way, his life had been spared each time. She wouldn't blame him if he ever felt that what they'd done was worse.

They went after his family. Those he loved.

They didn't leave flowers on his door and a cursed note that might kill him. A note that just as easily killed his muggle neighbors and harmed his dog.

He wasn't being watched, that he could tell.

"No previously forgotten faces that resurfaced."

She latched onto that sentence, which seemed to sum up the situation. That, and his expletive.

Sasha rarely swore. Fauna reached her hand out a few inches on the table, then stilled, reminding herself that she was here as an Auror first, a friend second, and the best she could do for him right now was to get as much information as she could and then help get him out of jail.

"I know," she still said sympathetically, ducking her head for a moment.

"Listen. From what you've just told me, and from what we know at your flat, I don't believe this is connected to your family. It's too..."

This time, Fauna hesitated. It was too strange, too chaotic. No matter how much Sasha tried to get on with his life, tragedy kept finding him. Someone had missed him earlier, the note said. But when? Years ago?

It didn't make sense. They would return anytime. They were in no rush. They'd left a curse on the note, which could so easily be dropped, touched, taken by the wrong hands. They could miss Sasha again and again, and they didn't seem to care.

Flowers had been a theme this year - sent to her, sent to Virgil, sent to Bagnold even. Where else had there been flowers? There'd been wolfsbane in the telephone booth with Penny. And oh right - the white flowers at Iona's gravestone, arranged around the skull left there.

Fauna frowned. On the table, she fidgeted with her sleeves for a moment. She didn't want to ask this question, didn't see the connection, but she needed to verify. Level Three was checking on the strange owls spotted in the trees. Not a fun job. So she could ask this question for Two.

Fauna met his eyes again.

"On another note - has the full moon been quiet for you? I mean in the past few months, since December. Mad things always happen on or around the full moon," she widened her eyes just a little. Always stating the obvious! "I'm just curious. It doesn't explain today, but I hope you haven't had any trouble with anyone during the full moon, lately?"

The guard snorted. She ignored him, focusing on Sasha.

Fauna took a deep breath, "Sasha is in jail."

Muggle jail! She gave Quill the pertinent details about Sasha's phone call, Baldur's sickness, and Moira rescuing Baldur, fully aware of poor Anton overhearing everything. Technically, Sasha was safe and unhurt. He was just inconveniently stuck in jail as well.

That settled, Fauna took a closer look around the flat, answering what she could of Anton's questions and letting him tell her if any of Sasha's belongings seemed out of place. Sasha was right - it didn't look like anyone had broken in.

She headed into the hallway next, assured that Nicholas' wards were deterring the muggle neighbors.

Fauna stood several feet from the flowers on the door, looking at each flower first, and then at the whole arrangement as she might study artwork in a gallery. Her brow furrowed as she jotted notes and a sketch in her notebook. The flowers each fought for attention, crowding and overlapping each other. They were all different types and sizes, except for a curious shape in the middle of the door.

A red, flowery heart. She didn't know these flowers by name, and yet something about them looked familiar.[1]

Fauna waved her wand around the flower arrangement, checking everything she could think of that would have killed muggles and sickened a dog. Was it the flowers themselves? Something behind the flowers? She found it - a sickly green glow around the door handle. The curse's trace stretched from the door handle and wafted down the hall in a blurry green line.

The curse led her to the stairwell, where she nearly collided with an Auror who was levitating a card off the ground.

It read: 'sorry we missed you.'

'Sorry we missed you. We will return... anytime.'

But not tonight. Levels Two and Three would make sure of it.

1.	Lorelei left the same type of flower, a red oleander, at the Wold house earlier in March - thread

Fauna cracked a smile at Sasha's joke. If only they could ward their homes with holiday decorations, any place that Abby bestowed her decorative blessings on would be a fortress!

Abby. Her smile faltered as she listened closely. She nodded when Sasha said that any gifts had seemed entirely innocuous.

"No extra strangeness on Nine. Got it," she agreed lightly.

Virgil, Level Nine's paragon and prodigy, had received an anonymous package of poisoned chocolates at his flat, but only she, Level Two, Bagnold, Virgil's flatmates, and possibly Morgenthau knew about that. Actually, the list of people who knew was substantial, but that didn't mean that anyone had told Sasha about it.

Onto her next question! She only had a few, but it would help her know what to focus on while they got Sasha out of jail.

"So if this is the first time that you've been targeted, whoever did it decided to visit in person, or sent someone to, er, decorate. Flowers don't just magically appear on doors," she cracked her own silly joke, covering a slight smile with her hand.

"If they wanted to mess with your door while you were in class, it's possible that they know your usual routine."

Fauna imagined that Sasha almost always attended class. The culprit either didn't care if he were home or not, knew him personally, or had been watching him.

"Um," Fauna paused, lacing her fingers together on the table as she thought. "The cops have probably asked you this dozens of times, but has anyone threatened you recently? Anyone you can think of that has a grudge against you? Again, whatever you feel comfortable telling me."

Without turning her head, she glanced in the direction of the guard.

"And have you felt watched at any time in the past few months? Have you noticed anyone following you? On the way to class or work for instance, or while visiting friends?"

By friends, Fauna was mostly thinking of Moira and Abby, but she didn't mention them by name yet. Moira might have told Sasha that the McBoids (Moira and Duncan and Donnan specifically) had been feeling watched since the beginning of the year. Moira might have even told him that she'd discovered a human skull nestled in a bouquet of white asphodel flowers at Iona's grave site.[1] Either way, it would help to know if Sasha had noticed someone or something unusual tailing him.[2]

1.	At The Grave, Moira admitted that she had felt watched recently
2.	That 'something unusual' would be a creepy owl, watching Sasha from time to time. Sasha is welcome to have noticed this over the past month or so!

Hunched over Sasha's incredibly expensive computer, the harsh glow from the screen lit Fauna's face and illuminated the blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Oh Helga help me," Fauna whispered, her gaze riveted on the incriminating posts.

Her whole soon-to-be step-family had seen this! Anton, bless, had invented stories for her, but Fauna was most worried about everyone else in the world seeing her and Moira go viral on social media. What was on the internet stayed there forever, in some form. She really didn't want to cause problems for Level Three, or worse, have to explain her mistake to the tech-illiterate Pratt.

That's what she got for checking her phone while sneaking into the building, confident that the muggle onlookers would assume she lived there or had a good reason to walk past security. She'd been thinking more about the cops than the crowd, and hadn't wanted to add too much magic to an uncertain situation.

Fauna glanced up at Ms. Som.

"Back when Moira and I had arrived, we'd stopped in an alley and I'd casted a mild illusion spell around us to let us slip in without the cops noticing. But I didn't expand it to the whole crowd."

A trace of apology laced her voice. She searched Som's face, wondering at her opinion.

Fauna had several questions, like whether the posts needed to be deleted if the muggles hadn't actually witnessed any magic, but she also knew Ms. Som would know exactly what to do, and didn't want to slow her down. Perhaps the presence of Anton, too, deterred her from speaking freely. She blinked, amused, at his offer to join the school newspaper, though she understood well what it felt like to desperately want to help.

"Where did the owls come from?" Fauna frowned distractedly at the screen. "Are all of them Ministry?"[1]

1.	Side note: one of the owls is most definitely Leander's, sent to spy!

Fauna blinked awake, lifting her head from her hands. By the hair of Helga's chin, Virgil appeared like a futuristic Dionysus laden with fruit and merry drink. Coffee was indeed the merriest.

Fauna glanced at the unlit cig he sported, but no, it was not gillyweed, just a regular cigarette. Virgil! Those weren't healthy!

"Um. You don't have to - but ok."

Fauna's hand reached for the beaker - beaker! - of coffee before her words could catch up.

"Thank you," she sighed, relieved. "One of these days I'm going to remember to bring you a drink instead."

She managed a stronger smile.

"You look, er -" like a tidy miner exploring the caverns of wisdom.

"How are you?"

 Fauna amended with her usual question, earnestly wondering.

"No, sorry! I mean, please don't apologize. No sorry allowed," Fauna laughed, her face flushed and delighted. So flattering!

"I'm your type then," she gleefully stated the obvious, shrugging her hair over her shoulder and losing the beat of the music for a moment.

"My type is - well, not necessarily Audrey Hepburn, though it's like, who wouldn't be attracted to her?"

Fauna was impressed that Tia had seen that movie. She wanted to tell her just how she felt, emboldened by the bubbly air and upbeat music.

"I have a crush right now," she laced her fingers with Tia's free hand, her head leaning in slightly to Tia's touch.

"A crush on a pretty witch who knows stuff. I really like her hair - uh, brunette?" Oh help. "And glossy and - I like that we can borrow each other's clothes but also that you're a bit shorter than me so I can cuddle you and pretend to be a badass."

What was she saying now?

"Your face, just like, your face, Tia. I love how your eyes are listening - uh, you know what I mean - and for most topics you seem just a little bit amused, and I especially love it when you roll your eyes up in exasperation or look sideling because it makes me laugh and I can imagine what you're thinking - like when we're with the other curators. They'd say something like, uh actually, it's puhg-may-lion not pig!"

Fauna chuckled under her breath. "And your laugh, and your smile."

Fauna too, smiled. It was easy to laugh and smile with Tia. Fauna paused then, thank Merlin. Terrible with words. She really liked Tia's mouth, whether smiling or laughing or pursed in thought.

She leaned in, losing the beat again, but not caring. Some things - this kiss - were more important.

Fauna thought for a moment, bobbing to the beat of the music as the bubbles popped and a faint mist of gillyweed rose in the air. Tia's flat was such a bright, happy place. Her girlfriend always posed such interesting questions, and Fauna could daydream and sound a little silly when she answered and it was all good!

She glanced over at Tia's bookshelves, spotting two marble-like bookends that seemed to be supporting a forsaken potted plant rather than the towers of stacked books on every shelf. Were those bookends in the shape of figures? Or was that just her imagination?

"Galatea?" She raised her eyebrows, her smile widening. "You know - that statue that came to life, from Greek mythology? Maybe it wasn't a myth. It sounds like something a wizard on a power trip would do."

Galatea(s) in ancient times, then golems in biblical times, then - oh right. All sorts of animated beings in Hogwarts times. That was the official name for the medieval times.

"Oh! And suits of armor, and paintings, and all of those animated things that are sort of like artificial intelligence or a preserved kind of intelligence. I forgot about those."

Her eyes twinkling, she looked at Tia, curious what had come to her mind first. Her hands drifted to the knot of Tia's blouse, fidgeting teasingly with it, before settling on her girlfriend's hips again.

Fauna smiled, finding that person they had in common - Abby. It was good to see Sasha smile, especially after what he'd already been through tonight.

"Giada's worried about you and looking forward to you coming home."

If she sounded a little too earnest, she couldn't help it, hanging on to any nicety that she could.

Because here it was. Fauna sat back, surprised, though she shouldn't be, that the cops had looked into Sasha's tragic history to understand the most recent tragedy left on his front door.

Which sister did he mean? The older, who'd died from tainted potions, or the younger, who'd been murdered with his parents? Fauna was about to ask, but glanced at the guard nearby and decided not to bring up anything that might trigger another line of inquiry. The cops seemed to be on the wrong track, but she didn't need to make it more complicated than it already was, and it must be hard enough for Sasha to revisit the loss of his family while stuck here.

Fauna focused on Sasha, hesitating as she tried to find the right words.

"Not that I can tell, this early on."

The only possible connection Fauna could see at the moment was in the method and style. The tainted potions that had killed Jacoba had been part of a much more widespread attack that had killed 42 random victims. Ira Almasy had been behind that particular horror, but she wasn't the only one fond of using poison, nor had she worked alone.[1]

She twisted her mouth to one side thoughtfully, unable to tell him her suspicion yet.

"It seems like someone's trying to send you a message. Don't ask me what that is," she lifted her palms up on the table, and gave him a slight, rueful smile.

"Have you gotten anything similar these past few months, that you'd feel ok telling me about?" She tilted her head very slightly towards the cop at the door. Whatever he said might be overheard.

"On a smaller scale, I mean. Anything anonymous - like flowers or chocolates - sent to your work, or school, or at home?"

Yes, sorry Sasha, she had her Auror hat on, and needed to clarify a few things to move on this quickly tonight. She never would have thought that someone would leave a box of chocolates sitting unopened in their desk for weeks (Bagnold), but who knew! If Sasha had received a 'gift' earlier, she could picture him binning it obliviously once finding out it wasn't from Abby.

Abby... the one person they all had in common.

1.	Poisons and Painkillers plot

Fauna would have agreed to just about anything after those series of kisses. Avoiding curses, though? Easy! Their evening would be nothing but pleasant and fun.

When Tia headed to the turntable, Fauna stayed cozy on the sofa to watch her, admiring her ankles, of all things, and the small of her back that peeked out from under her cropped blouse, and then distracted just as pleasantly by her words.

Muggle movies, muggle records.

Her eyebrows raised a little as a soft smile crept up her face and stayed there. No one had ever made such an effort to understand muggle things before, to better understand Fauna who had come from that world. Of course, Tia was an inquisitive and openminded person, and she enjoyed learning new things for curiosity's sake, but Fauna felt sure she was the catalyst of this interest, and it gave her all the warm and fuzzy feelings.

Daft Punk?

"No, I haven't - oh wait!"

Fauna sat up straighter, listening closely to the intro. She bobbed her head a bit. Her shoulders joined in with the bobbing. And then -

"One. More. Time," she sing-songed with the song. Who hadn't heard of this? Wixes. But Tia knew!

"The French blokes in the helmets. They were in all the raves and clubs and on the radio when I was growing up. They still are! I think they started in the 90s."

Fauna rose from the sofa, "They wanted to look like robots. I don't remember why?"

She'd only heard their music and a few things about them. Fauna paused, then widened her stance and moved a few steps forward, accompanying each exaggerated step with a stiff arm movement before she died of embarrassment. What could she say? She wasn't meant to be a robot.

Tia was so far away! She had to reach her. Fauna ducked her head down, laughing, and she danced normally (normally for Fauna) the rest of the way to her girlfriend. She danced a little in place near the turntable, patiently waiting for Tia.

In the meantime, unable to resist, she blew on the nearest soap bubbles until they drifted away and popped.