Half-and-Half

[Gwathdraug]

Forgotten on the table where he had left it Percy's phone lit up. The light was followed quickly by a buzz that shook the cups sitting on their saucers making a faint tinkling sound alongside the vibrating hum.

The text on the screen read 'Knight of the Order, the Honourable Catastrophe' in letters small enough that they were difficult to read.

[Kokuten]

Percival looked over at the phone. To anyone else, it would be difficult to understand just who was calling. That was because no one expected Percival Bredon Caxton to have a sense of humor, or a soft heart. He set his cup down, and reached over to the vibrating phone. It took him a moment to think of something to say before hitting the green icon to accept the call.

"Roberto's Chipper, 'We Fry'm you Try'm, how can I help you today?" was Percy's answer in a voice somewhat unlike his normal baritone.

[Gwathdraug]

"Shouldn't it be fry and buy?" The voice on the other sound of the phone responded without missing a beat. "Try sounds like... no one knows what they taste like? And that the workers certainly don't. I guess it could be a gag business though?"

Percy could imagine the confused look on Riley's face as she tried to figure out the logistics of whatever monster business he had created in her imagination as the flow of the conversation paused.

"Oh, uh - yeah! I'm calling because I looked for a bit and found out I have no idea at all where you are at!" Riley would be nodding right now, as if she had just dispensed a big slice of frosted wisdom. "So - to be sure - this isn't interrupting anything... salacious-" An eyebrow would have been raised. "-between you and the Mi-Machine is it?"

[Kokuten]

"It's terribly salacious," answered Percival, after bouncing around Riley's suggestion for his answer to the call, as it had definitive merit. The issue with his next few words was that he was loath to lie to anyone, even someone he was trying worm information from, like Lyra, and much less his dear, younger sister.

Still, he wanted to maintain some sense of secrecy, he wasn't done here, and further he didn't know the extent of Lyra's relationship with Riley, and vice versa. "I'm in England, trying to sort out some personal business before I pick back up at the school. Mi-Machine -- as you call her -- and I stopped by the family home in Bangor to tell the folks about our wedding arrangements. So now Miyuki is busy entertaining mum for the day, trading stories and doing girl time. Since dad loves you more, I figured I'd just go have some caffeine at a cafe here in town, instead of disappointing him with all the boring things I do."

He tilted his head to one side, looking over at Lyra's chair, "Since you're on the line, how are you doing?"

[Gwathdraug]

"Oh. Uh, yeah - well, you know dads?" Riley's voice was somewhat sheepish and the stage magician seemed distracted just short of being tongue-tied. "I bet the other two are making a team effort of it though! Would they mind if I kidnapped you for a nip? Don't yell too loud - I'm doing maths to get Erin to you and then back - but I might need back-up for a... thing?"

[Kokuten]

"Ooooough," Percival winced audibly, and then hissed a slow, sharpish inhale. "I'm actually a bit engaged at the moment, and not in a place where I can just... Suddenly disappear."

He spoke carefully, looking over his shoulder at the other patrons in the cafe, then stood. Putting his messenger bag in the chair, and throwing his back-up notebook into the fire. As much as he wanted to continue here, he would have to hope Lyra was waiting for him when he came back. "You know what. Let me come to you. I've a quick method, if you would, something subtle. I just need to make a slight detour to the men's wash room."

The Alchemist made his way towards the little hall that Lyra had disappeared into a moment before, looking for the doorway. "I'm going to lose signal, but I should be seeing you shortly. Love you, bye!"

He hung up, pushed open the door, and left England.

Percival appeared next to a small spring in the Sprigganwald, having entered through a trilithon, one of several mounted around this little body of water in the mystic forest. It was a sunny day, and the sky was blue, which made it that much easier for Percival to look into the water to find Riley. A couple Spriggans taking water by the pond watched him. The ethereal pool gave him an idea of where she was, but always had trouble revealing her completely. There wasn't much time to press the spring for answers, so he took the loose guess. Another of the trilithon's lit up, and he stepped through it.

[Gwathdraug]

It was darkness that met Percy's arrival. Complete and total. A weightless, sightless thing only accompanied by the scent - the sensation - of damp earth that had never been touched with a hint of light. Something about it weighed itself towards it feeling as if he had been dragging into an endless, despair-filled toil where his teeth dug and cut through rock for want of anything else.

A pair of arms grabbed out at him first in restraint then in an awkward embrace slung across his chest from behind. The black veil that had blinded him was gone as if it had been nothing but a trick of his eyes and was replaced with the scene of a small, one-room hotel suite. A single bed, a few lamps here and there and a half-fridge bustled under a ironing board built into the wall. Riley was sitting at the only desk in the room, her body sprawled, arms-out, across the surface where she was still staring somewhat sullenly at the phone she had just been speaking over. The table had been clearly moved from further back in the room to sit in front of a set of slim windows with the curtains pushed half back.

Erin's face, framed by familiar hair, but masked with a velvet slip of shadows had hooked itself against Percy's shoulder from where she was holding him from behind. "Percival." The alchemist's name was pronounced so succinctly that Percy knew Erin was sporting a wicked grin despite her hidden features. "Happy to see you. Give her a second to ignore you though - teleporting into the field without permission is a bit of a gaffe."

Riley, finally moving, allowed her vision to fall away from her phone as her face met the cool wood of the table. "Auuuuuuugh." The stage magician's voice was an exasperated, distorted echo to the Phantom's chipper pronunciations. "It is like sending a signed postcard with an air cannon." Riley's hands dropped her phone with a thunk and piled on top of the back of her head. "I know he knows we're going to be here, but he didn't know that we already had..."

[Kokuten]

"It's really more of a portal than teleportation, bit like riding a train versus driving a car," whispered Percival quietly to Erin. Then, he leaned his head against hers, taking a moment to take in the room. True, he hadn't been entirely forthright after the incident in the Elementalia Magicus, and this new ability of his was not well known beyond himself and a few Spriggans that kept watering at the pond. He would need to learn some Conjurer's Etiquette before doing this more.

Should he apologize first? He had been rather forward with a lot of people today.

No, he decided to be passive in this instance. So he stood there idly rubbing his abrasive, unshaven jaw against Erin's cheek, beard-burning her as he waited for Riley.

[Gwathdraug]

The shadow's across Erin's face held firm against the alchemist's teasing and as Percy moved his jaw about the parts re-exposed to the air felt cool like they'd been shaved so close as to be silken smooth. The phantom poked one of their fingers against his other - still rough - cheek.

"Oh no. Did you miss some spots this morning?" The question was murmured in an utterly faked sotto voice.

Meanwhile, at her table, Riley's head was still down but she had lifted her hands in the air to at least remain nominally expressive. "Is that really the best way to deal with our anxiety - don't answer that!"

Both arms landed back on the table with a thud. Lifting a finger she pointed towards the half-covered window in front of her. "Welcome to St. John's. I grew up in the theatre across the street."

The hand smacked the wood again. "Don't get too close to the window. One of my colleagues is down there at street level somewhere. Why?" Riley raised another finger above her head, making a small crook of a question mark. "My fucking devil's bastard of a 'lord' uncle found out my da is still alive." The stage magician finally lifted her head, her eyes still closed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "How do you feel about meeting the family Watson?"

[Kokuten]

"Son, if you ever run into Lord Alexis Valsted. Don't. He's old magic. We don't touch old magic."

I should've left a note on the table.

"You know, I've honestly been itching to meet the other half of the family; prepping for it, actually," said Percival, speaking in solid, full-truths. He raised his arm in a shrug, smiling warmly to his little sister. As he smiled, he made an account of everything he had on his person at that moment, which was nothing. He had his alchemy bandoleer under his vest, but he had no real combat ability other than the alchemist's fire. "Unfortunately you've caught me in quite a terrible state. I'm a tad sweaty, and my stubble is a little off balance."

The truth was he was trying to order his thoughts to line up everything Riley had told him. He went from confronting a part of the elder sister's past to running right into a part of the younger's. Riley seemed pretty distressed about the whole situation, and at the very least, Percival felt a little happy she thought to call him in this matter. Though, judging by everything he had learned up until this point, it would not be a pleasant visit. Seeing Riley in this state, he wanted to walk up to her and offer a little comfort, but he was still wrapped up in Erin.

So he settled for rolling with the punches.

"Tell me what I can do."