Looking for John Pendergast

Betony Rue waited a little ways down the street from an elementary school.
The next missing child on Betony Rue's list was John Pendergast. He had been confirmed to have left school and never arrived home. Not having to worry about visitor policies would allow her greater flexability in time. It also allowed for more people to join her if they wished. The more eyes the better, after all. So she had posted a notice stating her intent and given an invitation to join the search. It was short notice but Betony didn't really care.
It had taken some time but she had found where she thought the John child might live. She had gotten a local phone book and thanked the heavens that Pendergast was a rare name. She had then gotten a map and checked the locations of the addresses listed with that of the school the child had attended. She was fairly sure she had the right address. The trouble was knowing which route he would have taken home from school. There were at least three good options and who knew what types of short (or long) cuts he might have gotten into the habit of taking.
Betony Rue checked her watch for the time. She planned on leaving on her search as soon as the hand turned to 4 o'clock. Any who want to help had better have arrived before then she thought. She was a little impatient to get started.

Kevin walked casualy down the street towards the meeting place that was bullitin board reading his hastily scrawled copy of the direction and looking at his watch he hurried along faster. He smiled feeling the wind on his face though his smile almost soured at the sight of the other changeling already waiting but shook off his initial reaction and put on a slight smile as he approached. "Hello I take it you saw the note as well about the missing children."

"I am it's author," she said to the tall demon man.
"My name is Betony Rue Jasons. I take it you responded to the note." There's a hint of sarcasm barely heard in her voice. "I don't believe I've meet you before." she held out her clawed hand expectantly.

Al-Adin smiled his big monkey smile, as he bounded down the road. (keeping his speed a far more reasonaly 20 mph), he pulls up when he sees the two changeslings.
"Hi, I'm Al-Adin, the fastest thief in all the land!" He gives a bow. "I heard there was looking for children?"



Narration:
The lights are on in the pendergast home.

After shaking hands and introducing herself Betony gets down to business. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a couple pieces of paper and hands them to each changeling. They have notes about three missing children; John Pendergast, Alexander Reed, and Alicia Crandall.
"We will be looking into the Pendergast child right now. All children vanished without a trace, some from their own bedrooms. Since these disappearances were noticed, we can safely assume there are no fetches, if indeed one of the Others is responsible. If you have any further information than what was in the new report, you may say it."
Betony Rue put her paper away and continued. She thought briefly of asking them for advise, but decided it might undermine her authority in leading the group. From what she had seen with the Bright One, changelings around her needed to feel the leader knew what they were doing.
"If either of you of a persuasive disposition, I would like to know now. Most tend to find my methods of social interaction hostile which would not put us on the right foot when we question the parents or any others."

"I'm dashing, and have a nice smile. does that count?" Al-Adin is really trying here.

As much as she hated to admit it "It does."
His smile and seeming blessing would probably help more than her skill at lies and intimidation.
"Well then, let's go see what we can learn." Fully expecting them to follow, Betony Rue walks straight up to the door and raps twice.

After shaking Bethany's hand he remained silent for a moment as he listened to both her and Al-Addin speak and nodded his head slightly to her words and to the statements given by Al-Addin before he gave a slight smile. "I guess now it is my turn to introduce myself, "I am Kevin Sydney it is a pleasure to meet you both, as to the question of further information I saddly must say my dear Ms. Jasons I do not have anymore to add. Though I can promise you I am quite good when it comes to social interactions. Also as to not having seen me around despite what my appearance would seem to say, I tend to prefer to keep a low profile and have been focusing more heavily on making somthing of a stable life for myself as opposed to being imbroiled in the affairs of the Freehold."

Betony Rue's mouth twinged slightly, like she had tried for a moment to smile but habit had snatched the expression back within her.
"Hello. Mrs. Pendergast I assume. My name is Betony Rue Jasons. This is Mr. Adin, and Mr. Sydney. My companions and I would like a moment of your time. I know this must seem strange, but we would like to ask you some questions about your son's disappearance."

When the rundown form of what had to be the young boy's mother answered the door his entire body language and expression changed a kind, gentle understanding expression plastered itself on his face stanidnt just to one side of Bethany and noting her aborted attempt at a smile and the blunt delivery of their request to someone who just lost a child he almost sighed alittle but held back the urge and simply stepped forward next to Bethany and extended his hand to the boy's mother. "Ma'am I can only begin to guess the sort of pain you are currently going through. I am certain that only a parent could ever possibly feel the level of fear and anguish that a missing child can bring on, and I know it must be odd to find three strangers knocking at your door asking about it but I do beg you to hear us out. Our intentions in this are good we only wish to do anything we can to help find your son, after all when a child goes missing the entire community should come together and do anything they can to get that child back home safe and sound."

The situation got suddenly a bit too serious for Adin, so he shuts up before making things worse.

Kevin did not falter or even miss a step the same soft comforting expression still on his face as he dug deep down and met the woman's eyes giving a slight nod to her words. "It is true we re not from this neighborhood, but we all live in Sacramento, and to be honest we have all three experianced what it is like to lose the people who were important to us, and we don't want to see others suffer the way we did. So when we heard about your son going missing we just wanted to do anything we could to help. I know we must sound insane to you, three random strangers as we are, and honestly what is the worst that can come of letting us try to help. Maybe we can help, maybe we can't we just want a chance to try, if you let us after all what harm can three more sets of eyes and ears out looking hurt." He was not really stretch the truth with this statement he honestly ment most of it though of course he saw it more from the perspective of the one taken than those left behind. He almost teared up abit talking about losing those important to him he could not even remember his family aside from a few disjointed memories of an old vacation.

"Look...I don't know who you think you are, but I don't need any private investigators."

With that, the door slams in your faces.

"That wasn't very nice." Al-Adin frowns.

Betony Rue felt the wrath well up within her like scalding steam in her heart. While she restrained herself from rending the door from its frame, going in to tear open the woman's gut, and stringing her intestines on the wall, she still found herself yelling.
"Why? You are foolish to think the police investigation will find him. They don't care about some missing child. They're idiocy has the paper and news filled with murder. It's the high profile crimes that will get their inept attention, not some minor amber alter.
"And now you are so much the worse for turning away, out of hand, people who want to help. You can wallow in your sorrow and pride for all I care. Should we find your son, I hope you choke on it."
She turned sharply and began walking with a forceful gait to the street sidewalk.

He gave a slight sigh and shook his head lighty before falling into step behind Bethany for the moment and he ran a hand through his hair gathering his thoughts once more after her rather loud outburst he honestly hoped the poor woman had not heard. "You really should not get angry with her. Her child is missing and now here we are wierd people banging on her door, you cannot balme her for suspecting we were gawkers or vultures of some sort here to take advantage of her misfortune. Either way you are the one leading this little investigation so where to next"

Betony fought to regain control of her breath and was finally able to regain composure "Without knowing the child'd route home from school, it would be unlikely we find anything useful by simply searching up and down streets for a fortnight.
"We'll go and look into Alicia Crandall's disappearance. She vanished just recently, just after I put up the note actually. The girl was taken from her room though, so we'll need to get into the house with or without permission if we want to find out anything."

Al- Adin starts "OOOh!" But notices that they are still in front of the house, he directs the other to the street and whispers "I can get into homes, its my specialty!"

"That's good. We'll see if can talk our way in first. if it's anything like that self pitying woman, I'm sure you'll get a chance to use your skills."
Betony Rue pulls out her map and notebook, checking back and forth between the two for a minute before folding them back in her bag.
"There's a bus stop fairly close to where we need to go. I'll pay your fair if you don't have the change." She starts walking confidently in the direction of the nearest bus stop.

Kevin just sort of shrugged to himself and rooted around in his pocket then his wallet gathering the busfare as he followed behind Bethany and Al-Addin not saying much of anything just thinking quietly to himself and watching the two of them

Al-Adin pulls out the few large coins he has on himself, just enough for two more bus fares.

Derek Noble cursed a bit under his breath as he headed into the bathroom down the hall from his office at the Wagner Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts. He had intended to show up at the time and place indicated in the scratchily-written note posted at the freehold bulletin board, the one from another freeholder seeking assistance in looking into the disappearances of several children during the recent past. Unfortunately, he’d had to stay after in order to look after one of the students from his Fundamentals of Acting class. Cynthia Ness had gone to a rather dark place in trying to find her character’s motivation in the scene she was working on. "That’s the risk of Method acting,” Derek mused. "Sometimes it takes one to places better left unexplored.”

Even though none of the missing children – thankfully – were from his school, the disappearances concerned Derek. "Any kids disappearing is a bad thing,” he thought to himself. “Especially if it’s at all possible the Others are responsible.” He actively redirected his thoughts – though not entirely successfully – away from thoughts about what it would be like for a child taken by one of the True Fae, but was not able to completely suppress his shudder.

Once in the bathroom, he took a moment to wash his hands and splash some water on his face. He set a manila folder on the counter and opened it, revealing downloaded news accounts of the missing children and his own handwritten notes about the cases he’d heard about. He studied the notes and the articles for a moment, then took a moment to study his reflection before saying, aloud “Here goes.”

In his reflection in the mirror, Derek could see the green sparkles in his eyes brighten a bit as he called upon and expended the Glamour necessary to activate one of the Omen clauses, Reading the Portents. After a moment he saw projected upon the mirror’s surface – superimposed over his own reflection – an image of three other changelings. One he recognized from description as Betony Rue Jasons, the Autumn Court ogre who had posted the note seeking assistance in looking into the disappearances. He also recognized the runnerswift accompanying her, Al-Adin, and the incubus, Kevin Sydney, as fellow members of the Spring Court, though he knew each only in passing. Studying the image of the changelings walking together, he noticed and was able to make out a street sign.

After taking a moment more to thoroughly study the image, in order to make sure he didn’t miss anything of importance, Derek turned away from the mirror and paged quickly through his notes and the articles about the missing kids. "The portents tell me that meeting up with those three is likely to be very significant to my near future,” he thought. “Let’s hope the portent is a good one.”

“Aha!” he exclaimed as he noticed in his notes the address of one of the missing children, John Pendergast. Tapping the address excitedly, he said out loud "That makes sense, after meeting to discuss the matter, they must have decided to gather some information about the missing kids. That means they’re either going to be there soon… or they’re there right now. I’d better get going!” Gathering up his notes and articles, he paused for a moment to thank the Wyrd for this insight, then grabbed his jacket, locked up his office and headed to the street corner he’d seen in the image, hoping he wouldn’t be too late yet again.

Derek got there just in time to see the group of changelings get on a city bus. He smiled to himself, realizing that if he'd been even a couple minutes later, he'd have had no idea where they'd gone and might have. Instead, he followed the bus, watching for the group of changelings to depart. As they did so, he parked his car and approached casually. When within about 10 yards, he called out a greeting. "I've been looking for you. I apologize for not making the appointed meeting time, but I'm glad to have caught up with you." He nodded to the other two changelings while approaching Betony and extending his hand. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Derek Noble. I think we share a common intest in sorting out what is behind some disappearances."

Betony was suprised at Derek's approach. She hadn't expected any newcomers after the search had gotten under way. It made her a little suspicious.
Betony took his hand in her delicate grasp. Her barbed claws barely pricked the skin but were full ready to peel the skin off should he try to escape their grip.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Betony Rue Jasons, as you probably know from my advertisement. I'll be frank though, I'm curious how you were able to find us, since you were obviously late to the appointed meeting place."

Derek smiles widely in response to her wariness and nods his head. He doesn't in any manner try to escape her grasp, but rather allows her to feel the unusual warmth of his flesh, which is akin to a slight fever or the heat of passion.

"I don't blame you for being curious, and given what we're looking into, a fair degree of caution is pretty smart. As to how I found you... well, I had intended to make the meeting at the appointed time and place, but got detained at my workplace, so I used the Wyrd to guide me." He looks into Betony's eyes as he continues. "The portents gave me clues where you might be found, and indicated that this meeting is likely to be of some importance. Let's hope that relates to success in finding out what is behind these disappearances."

Kevin kept his mouth shut as he looked at the new comer not quite as suspiciously as Bethany did but never having spoken even two words to him in the past, and only havign seen him in passing at the few court related fuctions Kevin even attended in the last year he had no idea what he was dealing with in this one. Scratching his head for a moment he simply seemed to lose interest and get lost in his own thoughts as he stood there.

The man felt a little feverish and Betony's first instinct was to taste his blood to decern any sickness. However, she'd found that method didn't work well in the mortal world so she put her mind to other matters.
She'd heard of Lost able to see futures and read fates, so his story made sense as far as that went. The claw released his hand and gestured to the other two in attendance. "This is Al-adin and Kevin Sydney. They have also offered assistance, though more prompt. We are currently looking into Alicia Crandall's disappearance, having been turned away by the Pedergast boy's mother." As she explains, Betony begins to walk onwards to the Crandall residence.

Derek reaches to shake hands with Kevin Sydney and with Al-Adin, clapping each on the shoulder as he does so. "It's good to see you both again, and to finally have a chance to work with both of you," he says. Looking at Betony again, he explains. "I was introduced to both of these gentlemen in passing at Spring Court functions, but that was when I was still figuring out my way around things and I was pretty overwhelmed with meeting lots of new people."

As Betony walks away, he dashes to walk alongside her a bit, looking at her as he continues. "Since you organized this little effort, just let me know how I can help. And you said one of the children's mothers turned you away? Any idea why she did that?"

"She thought we were weird." Al-Adin chirps in.

"Mr. Sydney thought her grief to be the cause of her suspicion. I personally found her selfish and dismissive. Al-adin is likely correct though. Her main concern seemed to be that we were," Betony Rue decided for once to put it politely "unexpected."

After listening to the others' description of how things went with John Pendergast's mother, Derek nods and shrugs. "I suppose the woman probably is just afraid to talking to strangers about her loss, and answering the same questions over and over. So, rather than do some more of that, maybe she wants to just be left alone to sink into her grief and sorrow. It's not the most useful thing to do, but it's understandable why she might react that way." Derek thinks for just a moment, then decides it is probably best to not compare the woman's stance to that of one of the Courts. Instead, he continues.

"It's probably just that, she didn't know you and she's hurting and tired of talking, but just in case, I think it might be a good idea for me to try to get a close look at her somewhere so I can try to see if what's on her mind is consistent with what one would expect for a grieving mother. Just to make sure her reaction is just a matter of her wanting to be left alone... nothing more worrisome." He looks at each of his newfound companions, then continues. "I don't think we should do that tonight, given the mood she seems to be in, and it's probably best if she not see you again, because the last thing we need is a grieving mother calling the police about the weird people that seem to be following her around. She hasn't seen me, though, so, I'll see if I can manage a chance to do that on my own sometime in the next few days, then get back to you if I find anything suspicious."

He flips quickly through the folder full of his notes and the articles about the missing kids as he continues to walk. "Do we have any idea if Mrs. Pendergast works outside the home, and if so, where? For that matter, do we know if there are any civilian organizations looking into these disappearances? A neighborhood watch group, or concerned citizens or something along those lines? If so, we might want to check that out, in case they've got any good information."

Derek glances at each of the others. "For that matter, I wonder if any others among us have looked into any of these cases. It's the kind of thing you'd think those of the Summer Court might find concerning." He asks Betony "Do you happen to know if any of them have looked into this, and if not do you" he turns and meets the glance of both companions, then continues, "or either of you have any good contacts among the Crimson? I don't, unfortunately."

"Most of the information I have gotten has been from news reports and amber alerts. I placed a request for information concerning the disappearances on the board but got no response from the courtly community. I assume that they either do not know or do not care.
"As for Mrs. Pendergast, the papers didn't go into the details of her life or the minutiae of local community efforts, if there are any. Feel free to try to speak with her if you want."
I don't wish to know her better though, Betony thought. Anyone who would rather let their sorrow overwhelm the need to fix the problem are letting love cloud judgement.
Despite the afternoon being mild, Betony Rue shivered a little. It always suprised her how well the Hag's lessons had taken.

"I'm not necessarily planning to speak with her, per se," Derek notes. "More a matter of using the Wyrd to observe what's on her mind, what form her desires are taking. Most people with a missing child, their primary desire would be to get their child back, or to know something, or for the whole thing to be over. If that's not what is on her mind, that might bear looking into."

He turns again to the others. "What about you? Do either of you have any particular in with the Summer Court, and if not, would you be interested in going together to approach them?" He turns back to Betony and shrugs. "You're most likely right, that they either don't know, don't care or have had other things to focus on, but I figure it doesn't hurt to ask around a little bit. If they do know anything, there's no reason for us to reinvent the wheel, and depending on what we find out, it might be useful if the matter is at least on their radar."

"I called down the summer court on a tunnel rat once. The Summer king doesn't like me any more for that." Al-Adin frowns.

Kevin Shrugged slightly as he followed along looking to the new comer he shook his hand when offered and then shook his head to the question about the summer court. "Sorry the extent of my interaction even with the spring court has been limited to the few functions you saw me at. Most of my time has been spent either trying to set up my new life or piece together what few shards of my memory I still have, and try to figure out more of who I was before i became who I am. So unfortunatly as a result I have not had the time to make many contacts."

Derek grins widely and chuckles at Al-Adin's reply and nods in response to Kevin's. "Believe me, Kevin, I can relate. I've been a lot more focused on my day job and the responsibilities that are part of that than I have been on court business. Most of my involvement with the freehold has consisted of teaching beginning combat skills to those in need of some." He glances to Al-Adin, then continues. "So far I don't think I've managed to antagonize any kings or anyone in the Summer Court, but otherwise it sounds like we're all in the same boat. I still plan to go talk to one of the Summers about this in the near future, but I sure wouldn't mind some backup when I do. They might take a group effort more seriously than one guy they've barely heard about coming around to ask them questions." He turns back to Betony. "Meanwhile, who are we going to see next?"

Mr. Noble seemed smart but his memory was a little lacking in the short term. "As I said before, we are going to Alicia Crandall's residence. It shouldn't be much further."

"All right," Derek replied, nodding. As he continues walking, he opens the manila folder he carries and flips through until he finds the news accounts of Alicia Crandall's disappearance, then reads over them quickly, reminding himself of the limited details given in the press.

Al-adin puts on some black gloves, and gets ready for fun second story work.

Derek looks to Betony. "Since you brought us all together, how'd you like to approach this?"

"Mr. Sydney will be handling the social interactions." she paused momentarily before addressing Kevin "Unless of course you would prefer Mr. Noble do it. You both seem inclined towards such things." Both Fairest, both Spring and both good looking in their own way. If they didn't look so different, one might think them twins.
"Al-Adin has kindly offered to enter the boy's room to look for clues, should we be denied entrance or not have enough time to conduct a sufficent search."

He shrugged to Bethany's words and looked to Derekpulling his hands out of his pockets he ran one slowly through his own dark hair thinking for a moment and giving one more non-commital shrug* "So do you want to try this one I struck out completely at the last house, it was almost bad enough to make me question my skills" with the last part he gave a bit of a laugh.

Derek rubs his chin and thinks for just a moment, then says to Kevin, "I don't have any reason to think my social skills are any better than yours, but I do have something else I might be able to bring to the table, so if it's all the same to you, why don't you take the lead? That way, while you're doing the talking I'll be free to look under the surface a bit in case she's not any more in the mood to talk than the first parent. If any particular question comes to mind while you talk to her, I can always chime in."

He then looks at Al-Adin. "I think trying to take a look in the missing child's room is also a good idea. Several of the children seem to have disappeared from their beds, so checking out the room and the window seems like a good idea." He thinks for a moment, then adds "I don't suppose you have any unusual skill at identifying entrances into the Hedge?"

"I can get into houses good. Hedge, not so much."

Kevin took a second to get an appropriately concerned and understanding look on his face running his fingers through his hair straightening his hair making sure it was in as good a state as it was going to get. He then simply walked up to the front door and rang the door bell expecting the others to do their parts at this point, and simply waited for someone to answer