#FiorA.Callum1

[sanguisxferox]

—Inside the Lightless Headquarter (Uptown)

Subdued clacking fills the empty hall as the Emissary walks quietly across it. The Lightless Headquarter hums with his Goddess presence and it’s always a comforting embrace to be here―more so since he has lost his family. Though, while he welcomes the silence within these walls and outside in the Lafayette Cemetery no.1, Fior doesn’t like how quiet things have been. A disaster had been avoided at the Solstice celebration and territories fights are still much present, but it’s been too peaceful; like calm before storm.

Still, worrying about these things isn’t something he should do, but his inability to reach out to the Nameless have been weighting on him. Hence why he despises them―that amongst many other reasons. They are pests. At least, there’s one of their members he knows for sure, but will most certainly not reach out to her for pourparler. She’s been dead to him ever more so since she’s presented herself to him, proud to be a Nameless. It’s repulsive. Also, negotiating with that woman would be a problematic conflict of interest and he’d have to recuse himself.

The soft tapping slows down as he spots the Lightless Leader. The Emissary bows his head as he always does, before closing the space between them and sits at a respectable distance to converse with the shapeshifter. “Leader Loughty, good evening. I sadly have to report that the Nameless are still making it difficult to reach. At this point, it's clear it's done on purpose.” Fior is cold as always, or at least since he’s lost his wife and children in 2018. He had once been much livelier, but his work hasn’t been affected by his grief, so he still remains the best candidate. But his coldness―or strong lack of emotions―is due to his weighting grief, nothing else.

@callumloughty

[sanguisxferox]

Fior would agree, the length of a life isn't an issue, it's if it's meant to be that length or not. Even gods fall―and that's the point, that all must fall eventually. It's part of the cycle; life, death, life, death and so on. It's why he doesn't rush to his death, because that isn't his choice to make; his time will come too and then, he'll be reunited with Agnès and their twins Kai and Nova. Maybe in the next life, they'll get to be together again and share a happier fate. He rubs his temple at the information. "The Deathrunners are too arrogant and megalomanic to have that kind of person with them. Then again, I agree, they could use the witch to empower their messiah." That'd be a serious problem.

He's not surprised Leader Lal knows. Though, it's the way his Leader says it that concerns him; like the threat isn't taken seriously. Or maybe the Lotus Eaters know something they don't. He hopes the subject won't come up during negotiation.

"If I understand correctly, he knew where to find you and if he met Lal―and it wasn't by chance―we can assume then that he has met everyone. My concern is that if that's the case, how long has he been eyeing New Orleans to know all of that?" As an Emissary, Fior makes sure to know as much as possible about who he meets. It's why he's so wary of the Nameless, 'cause his fucking sister is with them and that's all he needs to know about them to make an opinion with the little he has. But this is worrisome and he's putting it mildly.

It should be a crime against both life and death itself to live so long especially by such unnatural means and the reason Callum had sought to end it. "I think he has the potential to be a new player. He's a blood witch that is hundreds of years old and I doubt all his travels have been for sight seeing. He was getting power- If the Nameless or Deathrunners get him on their side, we might have an actual fucking problem." No mention of the Lotus Eaters but Suresh hadn't seemed inclined on recruiting him. From what Callum had heard from the Naga it seemed he didn't care for the idea of two ancient beings being on the same side.

And speaking of the Lotus Eaters- "Lal is perfectly aware of O'Caomhain. He thinks I should call a formal meeting if I'm so worried but last thing I want is the Deathrunners to know if they don't already." That wasn't what ruffled him up so much though. It was more the idea of the sex part of that whole event.

"Here it is. Last time I tracked him. 1303 in what's now France. Not too far from his home but too far for me to track further. And now he's here in the city and bold enough to come right up to me."

[sanguisxferox]

The Blood witches he's most familiar with are the Cohen family―specifically Henry and his uncle; when the latter was still in town back in the days that is. They live long, but if the rumor about them is true, Fior has always assumed their prolonged life came from their direct connection to the God of Travelling. But a regular Blood witch being that old―that's not something normal. "Blasphemous." He mutters under his breath. Witches aren't meant to be immortal. "He must be dangerous if you deem him more of a threat than the Nameless. You spoke of a territorial dispute―do you think he could be a new player on the board?" The Emissary pauses, it ain't his place to offer thoughts, but when it comes to negotiation, he needs to quickly think of solutions.

"If we need more power―maybe we could offer support to the Lotus Eaters in Tremé, if they accept to fight against the Blood witch with us. This could be beneficial to strengthen our alliance against the Nameless in Mid-City." He's annoyed by the situation, even though his face tells a tale of indifference. They could ask Cohen if he knows anything, but last time Fior had asked for a favor, it had almost backfired on the Blood witch, so he's not sure it's a good idea to ask for more at the moment.

The term zealot meant little to him when all of the factions could point fingers at one another and say the same thing. Didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. "Send- I don't know, a nice fruit basket to make up or something. What is it families do for that?" Most formative years had been spent with extended family which left Callum more blind to such things. That and the fact he was only half listening to the words spoken no more than someone might hear an annoying gnat beside their head. There but an annoyance.

"Black. No, Green. No-" He suddenly paused in the searching. Everything had their own colors for a reason. Black was hunted, green were just generally nasty people, and the dangerous were in- "-Red." His blue eyes landed on a red leather bound book amidst the red and he was quick to snatch it while weathered hands flipped through the pages quickly before at least turning to face Fior.

Undead, undead, necromancer- there it was. "Territorial dispute between me and a blood witch in Ireland when I was in my thirties. Tried to kill him. It didn't go as planned." Not the whole truth but enough. "Immortal. Trust me, he should be dead after I got to him. I researched him first and kept notes, tracked him back to seven hundred years ago but unfortunately, they didn't keep many records back then."

[sanguisxferox]

He doesn't comment; frustration often opts to blindly find a scapegoat instead of the proper culprit. He's unbothered by it―this has nothing to do with him. The Nameless are assholes who clearly have no interest in making peace, only to cause chaos. "She's a zealot." The Emissary replies. No matter what she no longer is to him other than death, they've taken very different path and she's more interested in dragging him to her side than understand how wrong she is. There's no reasoning with her. He doesn't speak to her for the same reason he refuses to speak to Mathias―too much bad blood between them. At least, with the Deathrunners' Leader, he has the excuse that no one knew about him back then and that even though it ended up with the death of his family, the Lightless learned about the sacrilegious things those fucking Higher Ups had been up to. Though, it's not like his Leader to be so―distracted?!

Fior is about to ask when he's told there's something more concerning at the moment. As detached from his feelings as he is, Fior can still worry in his own way. What could be more dangerous than a new faction that had just wiped the floor with one of the original four factions? "If I may, what has you so worried?" He looks around. "Do you remember the color of the journal? I can try to help finding it."

Books and books and books, he was going through as many as he could, most of which he had brought back with him when returning to America. The shifter didn't even seem to notice Fior right away as he flipped through another book before quickly discarding it in the small pile forming at his feet. He gave an aggravated sigh as he grabbed another before finally looking to Fior, "Seems no one is capable of bringing me any good news," he said bitterly. "Don't you have like a- a cousin or something over there?" Fior had mentioned that before though clearly Callum was only barely paying attention to the presence of the other.

Another book dropped to the ground and a sigh. "Either way, they're not my main concern right now. I'm looking for one of the journals I brought here. About eighty or ninety years old. Something in there I need."