Background
Jan. 21st, 2018 03:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
albionchangedEsme was born in the year 1564 on a small farm outside of England. When he was thirteen, he and his father heard about an expedition in need of cabin boys while in town and his father pushed for him to join the crew to experience more of the world, under Sir Francis Drake. In early June of 1979 and right around his 15th birthday, they were forced to land on an unfamiliar coast. The third night ashore, Esme was stolen away in the night by the Shepherd and taken to Arcadia.
The first stretch of Esme's durance was spent under the care of the Shepherd's guard, Dedrick or Guard Dog, another like him who had the role of preventing escapees from reaching the Hedge. Dedrick later escaped without him, after fleeing their tent the night they were going to have sex for the first time. This led to Esme's ongoing issues surrounding the notion of abandonment, and left him open to manipulation by the Shepherd.
Needing a replacement for the missing Guard Dog, the Shepherd further molded Esme physically into a shape more fitting the task of surveying his domain. Then he did so emotionally by playing off of Esme's feelings of loneliness and abandonment, until he had became a new guard of sorts...the Stool Pidgeon. Mostly perched atop the gate to freedom, his role was to watch and listen to the others and report to either the Shepherd or White Rabbit should he notice the others acting strangely or lingering where they shouldn't. This gradually began to isolate him more though and Esme filled the growing rift that resulted between himself and the other changelings with the company of Never Ever, a hobgoblin guard of the Shepherd by playing it music in exchange for its company.
During his time as Stool Pidgeon, he was eventually tasked to assist the White Rabbit with his rounds. He had his first encounter with Jackson, known as Twin Fang, who was tasked with creating art to the Shepherd's standards. Though the Rabbit was less than impressed with the art thusfar, Jackson asked Esme to hold a small, but heavy, ceramic statue of him on the gate for awhile, due to Esme's obvious expressed loneliness. Esme made sure to take care of the statue until Twin Fang approached him for it, the the other changeling was acting a bit shady. The White Rabbit found them then, demanding the gate key from Jackson...who had hidden it in the statue he'd given Esme. Just before being lead back to his area by the White Rabbit, Twin Fang told Esme that he would have taken him. But when he finally did escape, Twin Fang left him behind just like Dedrick had.
After failing to stop Twin Fang from escaping, Esme was the target of much derision from the other changelings, who thought he took pride in keeping them prisoner just like the White Rabbit. This put into perspective what he had been doing as the Stool Pidgeon and eventually the by guilt, loneliness, and the fear of being cast into the unknown pushed him to escape from his Keeper. He almost lost his way in the Hedge, but Never Ever had followed him out of Arcadia and located him easily. Never Ever introduced Esme to an ordinary-looking rat goblin called Rusty Teeth, who offered him guidance and companionship In exchange for protection. It was with Rusty's help that he finally escaped back to the mortal world.
Esme arrived in Lakeland, Florida, behind a 7-Eleven in the evening and in need of some more fitting clothes. After semi-successfully buying a hoodie from a man named Max, who worked there. Max had easily noticed that something was off, as Esme was dressed from his era and using money from his era, asking Esme questions about a masquerade. He even withheld the hoodie so that Esme wouldn't leave while he helped a young woman buying milk and a doctor there for coffee, so that they would leave...only they didn't because they were curious. Max then, to save face, charmed Esme with an invitation to his house after work, returning the hoodie and giving his address.
Following this, the woman witnessed a van attempting to abduct a young boy, later named Leopold, outside of the parking lot. Esme was able to assist her and the other man in saving Leopold and getting him into the 7-Eleven. The woman, Eliza, called her uncle on the police force to take a statement, and Leopold tried to do something to Esme to gain protection. Whatever it was didn't work, but Esme brushed it off as a special child looking for help and promised to protect him. After Leopold was taken home by his mother, Esme left with Max's address to meet up later. He was followed by Eliza and the doctor, Kahn Dou, who paid for a motel room for him since he had nowhere to go and it was late.
After finding out the year (2019) and receiving both some new clothes and a map from the very helpful man who was running the motel, Esme found his way to Max's house. After some clarification that he wasn't a vampire, they learned from the news that Leopold's parents had been murdered last night. Because there was no mention of Leopold, or a child at all, they went to investigate the house and met up with Eliza and Kahn Dou. They went to investigate the black van next, found in a nearby alley by Eliza, and Esme had his picture snapped by a man with a camera.
Following this, they held a meeting at Kahn Dou's apartment to decide how to proceed. Max and Elisa weren't in agreement at all, seemingly due to secrets they were keeping as well as differences in ideals. Max wanted to investigate the house, despite it being a crime scene. Eliza wanted to follow the law and let the police deal with it. Esme and Khan Dou sided with Max, Esme because he was worried the police wouldn't help Leopold in time.
They revisited the house that night without Eliza, where they found a hidden gun case, portfolio, and a hidden sleeping space with Leopold's journal and photo album. Max was caught on the way out by an officer and received a ticket, while Esme hovered nearby using Light Shy to stay unseen. They left the case with Eliza and then the boys worked on reviewing the portfolio and journal...Esme doing so secretly with Rusty's help. They learned that Leopold was a vampire, and that he was investigating something that was keeping the vampire population at a specific cap and causing the excess to just vanish. Eliza was able to have the case opened and a copy of the storage key that she had found inside made. split off for the night, with Max offering Esme use of his couch.
The next day while Max had work, Eliza met them to pick up Esme and take him to her house for the day. He was able to get to know Eliza a little better, and she tried to offer him help and safety, but he knew not to be too forthcoming about what he was and where he was from since it would put her in danger too. They met up with Khan Dou afterwards, and Esme agreed to get Max's permission for everyone to meet at his house to plan their next move. They decided that one thing would be to get the case from Eliza's house and return it to the crime scene, and another was to check out the storage.
Upon waking the next morning, Esme found himself with Max in a version of Max's house where things seemed...off. The kitchen door, which was how he and Max entered and left the house, led to a poorly lit and maintained corridor so they opted to climb out the kitchen window and head for Eliza's house. After climbing out first, Esme spotted a creepy girl staring at him from behind Max in the kitchen and they fled the yard. Eliza's house was empty, and nearly trapped them inside when they opened the unlocked front door. The man with the camera came running and, even though they tried to evade him, snapped their pictures...causing them to woke up.
They quickly met up with Eliza and Khan Dou, learning that the doctor had had a similar experience but Eliza hadn't. No one really knew what it meant though so they instead started there plans. Max angered Eliza by tricking her aunt into thinking that he was a police officer so that she would give him the case so that he could put it back, but it did work at least. They went back home, and Max invited Esme to share his bed.
The next morning, Max didn't wake up and Esme couldn't rouse him. He found out from Eliza's aunt that she was in a similar state when he called her phone for help, but Kahn Dou was fine and promised to come see what he could do for them. Meanwhile, a stranger came to the kitchen door to speak to Esme specifically, but he turned them away due to his fear and worry over Max. The stranger left him a card to reach out with later though.
Kahn Dou arrived with Eliza in tow, and Esme only just disarmed the trapped front door before they were shot dead. Max woke up on his own just before Khan Dou could pull him from the dream, but Esme immediately noticed the way Max was being distant...and the cold way Max was staring at him. It turned out that he had been possessed by the creepy girl from the dream world, who admitted she should have known this wouldn't work before making Max stab himself with a kitchen knife. Khan Dou was able to stabilize him, but he had to be rushed to the hospital for surgery. This left Esme with nowhere to go again, so he was taken in by Eliza's family.
Trying to find the real Max, Esme wound up back in the dream world that same night. He found himself in the hospital, where he encountered the cameraman again, this time in the room of the unconscious Max. He learned that the girl reacted every time that he appeared in the dream, just before the cameraman locked him out by force feeding him a hair and waking him up with the camera. He quickly alerted Eliza to what had happened this time, and she decided to try and force herself into the dream in hopes of learning more. She had no success though.
Rusty suggested that Esme and Never Ever lead Eliza and Khan Dou through the Hedge to find the Gate of Horn, so that they could find and enter Max's dream there. On the way, they met the White Rabbit who, of course, knew Esme and Never Ever. He mentioned needing to tell their Keeper of the escape, musing on if Esme had stolen Never Ever or if the opposite was true. Not wanting trouble at the moment though, he paid them a goblin fruit to allow him to pass by, and they quickly continued on.
Just beyond the Gate of Horn, they met Mark and Ben, two other changelings who were also investigating a missing friend. It was decided that they should travel together, though Mark was displeased by Esme's lack of secrecy to changeling matters and then the fact that no changelings had picked Esme up to teach him better. Their search led them to a point where the dreaming roads were being torn up and a True Fae called Melodymania was guarding Max's door. Eliza tried to barter with him for information, and Esme attempted to use Light Shy to sneak past him, but Esme was cause by giant cables from the sky and revealed. They were forced to escape, not prepared to confront any of this.
Later, they found the storage place the key went to, as well as a phone to one of Leopold's contacts, named Damian. Immediately after this, they learned that Max had been arrested from the hospital while still recovering from surgery, and that he had confessed to the murder of Leopold's family for some reason. Max's parents, who has just gotten back into town, had paid his bail and taken him home after letting Khan Dou check him over again. Esme and Eliza went to learn more and meet Max's mothers, Minnie and Wanda.
Wanda asked Esme to help her with tea, before cornering him in the kitchen to find out what he was and his relationship to Max. She could see through his mask and was understandably suspicious, but she accepted his explanation for how he knew Max and that he wasn't at fault for what was going on right now. Max doubled down on his confession meanwhile, before telling them it was better to leave things alone and going to his room. Wanda and Minnie decided to meet the rest of them at Eliza's house that evening to talk.
The meeting actually began with the disconcerting news that the thing attempting to go to jail for murder was not Max, but an amalgam of paperclips, clipboards, and stethoscopes disguised to look like him. Rusty determined that the real Max was actually missing then, and had likely been replaced by a fetch. But the only lead they had was to try to find him in his dream, and they needed a key to do so.
Esme received Max's electric guitar to try and open his dream door beyond the Gate of Horn, and returned to the Gate with Eliza, Minnie, Wanda, Mark, Ben, Never Ever, and Leslie (his kitchen visitor). The dreaming roads were even more badly damaged now, and there were now strange zombie-like people patrolling and leaking the same strange pus that many of the other dream doors were. They were able to get into Max's dream using the guitar, and were also to stop Melodymania from influencing him into possibly accepting some kind of deal. They fended off an onslaught of zombies Melodymania purposely set on them and tried to escape, but weren't able to save him from the creepy girl because his dream self couldn't leave through the door. The creepy girl did capture Max and a woman he had befriended as well, telling Esme to come to her beneath the asylum.
The next day, Esme joined Mark and Leslie at the emergency Court that was called and was introduced to several other changelings, including Two-Tone Toby, the Matron, and the upcoming King of Winter, before reporting the goings on to the King of Autumn. He was then tasked with spreading the news to the other supernatural communities and arrange an alliance to deal with this threat...and possibly even the hunters in the city as well afterwards. The King also removed the hair that was barring Esme from the dream world and informed Esme of the news story that had popped up for Max being arrested again. Apparently the fetch had attack Eliza's aunt, Cathy, and held her hostage until Eliza managed to shoot him. Lastly, he learned more about the White Rabbit and the actual danger that he posed.
After being dropped off to check on Eliza and Cathy, Esme approached Kahn Dou since he could help with speaking to the mages. They easily gained that alliance in exchange for the mental hospital that was the target. There were concerns that the werewolves and vampires would be harder, so it was decided they should wait until the next day to start on the werewolves.
That night, he and Eliza also shared a different dream where they met a vampire who seemed to be in her own personal purgatory. She seemed to have familial ties to Max, as well as to an enemy of Eliza's that was clearly hated. But she most importantly gave them advice on dealing with the vampires.
In the morning, Esme went to tell Max's family about the secondary plan to maybe wipe out the hunters in town as well, understanding why it was wanted but not wanting them to die either. Eliza was with him and they also told Minnie, who was the only one home, about the vampire they dreamed of. Minnie replied with skepticism and the advice to not believe everything they heard before sending them off so she could work. On the way home, Esme was bumped into by an old woman, who spilled tainted coffee on him, but neither he nor Eliza thought anything of it and continued on to tell her aunt and uncle about the hunter extermination.
Over the next few days, Esme became progressively more sick, starting with what seemed to be an ordinary cold. The first day, he at least managed to set up a meeting with the Matron to report his progress, but the next day he was so sick that Never Ever sought out Toby for help. This resulted in Toby going with Eliza to report on his behalf, as well as Khan Dou having to check on him. Despite everyone's best efforts, including the mages having him hospitalized so that they could try a ritual to purge the sickness from his body, he came fairly close to dying in the hospital just a few days after first getting sick and just hours after said ritual seemed to work.
While he was semi-conscious in the hospital, and possibly close to death, the same vampire he and Eliza had met appeared to him. Wanting to help him somehow, she managed to coax him to drink some of her blood before he fell into a deep sleep for awhile. Sometime later, Cathy's boyfriend also turned up, touching him and showing him a vision that seemed to show the nurse who was looking after him actually poisoning him somehow. Despite not fully understanding, the vision caused Esme to panic when the nurse returned, attempting to throw himself from the bed. Fortunately, Eliza and Kahn Dou managed to find him a cure once he had fallen asleep again.
Esme and Eliza shared another dream, this time in a dark hallway with three doors. The first allowed them to observe someone that they identified as Damian as he made plans to head out to Lakeland soon with two other people. The second led them into the dream world, where they briefly reunited with Max and Leopold as they were being attacked by the pus-controlled sleepers. Leopold instructed Esme on where to find the werewolves and to have Damian help with the vampires. The third door took them to the cameraman in the hospital, where they convinced him to release their friends that Eliza had tried to call for help...but only because he apparently had another idea based on her words. By the time they woke up, Esme had recovered enough to go back home, where Alex and Cathy had even set him up a proper bedroom of his own while he was hospitalized.
Finally able to go to the park to seek out a contact to the werewolves the next day, they were able to meet with Ranger Sally. Sally easily agreed to reach out to the werewolf pack on their behalf and asked them to come back tomorrow. Unfortunately, Eliza and Cathy both received court summons to act as witnesses against Max for his crimes, so they had to try and talk to the ADA to get out of that first. While it apparently didn't go well, the ADA (Damien) later turned up to attempt to get more information out of them because of some oddities that he'd stumbled across regarding the case. No one was very forthcoming at first, and so he opted to tag along to the werewolf meeting...despite Esme's request that he wait until after.
The werewolves had apparently been waylaid by someone else when they arrived, and they ended up talking to a rather abrasive young woman named Cynthia instead. She promised the werewolves help though, which only left the vampires. She also left them with a rather traumatized Sally, who they advised to hold off talking to her pack until their promised meeting tomorrow. Then they went to report their progress to the King of Autumn again, at which point they also encountered Damian in the main area of the same bar. Unfortunately, they found that he wouldn't help them without his employers say so, and so he was simply there to set up a meeting that evening.
The meeting with Damian and his employers, a pair of vampires called Izzy and Edith, went well enough. They agreed both to cooperate and to go to the vampire Elysium together the following night, which was much needed support. The next morning, however, Eliza and Cathy still had to go to court. Damien arrived soon after the two had left, having spoken to Leon and needing to speak to Max's mothers. Esme took him there with Alex, and they learned that the family had moved to Lakeland under false names after nearly being killed by monsters. They then took the proof of that to court, where Damien disrupted the proceedings with the information, and then accidentally let the fake Max in on his plans.
In a bid to stop him from being able to tell the asylum staff about the planned assault, they had him detained at Khan Dou's hospital for evaluation of mental health issues and suicidal tendencies...and Esme secretly arranged for Rusty to go and make him seem to be insane.
After the courthouse came meeting the werewolves in person, which revealed some tension between the pack and former pack members of which the latter three were not werewolves at all. An agreement to be ready for action was still in place though and they really couldn't do much about pack politics. Esme and his friends extended friendship to the non-wolves, though he'd been initially confused as one was a changeling and the Autumn King hadn't asked her to speak to the wolves...but apparently the pack had been her well-kept secret.
A call from Cathy disrupted the meeting and they returned home to find a suit of armor in the living room. It spoke to them as an ally and left three cassettes for them to listen to before fading out of existence. The first let them hear the torture that had made the girl in the dream world the Central Dreamer in order to make whatever system the asylum was experimenting with work. The second revealed that the system was to be expanded to pull the whole city into the dream to stop interference and speed up their process, on the day before the actual assault was to take place. It further detailed the fact that if such an expansion attracted outside attention then the town was going to be purged to cover up the experiment. The third tape had to be listened to by each of them separately, with Esme's recording being from Leon and encouraging him to save Max because he was imperative, while Leopold would improve things as a sort of "if possible" outcome. The dire nature of the second tape made Esme reach out to Ben for a meeting with the King, where the first two tapes were shared and the war meeting was moved up to the following night.
The Elysium meeting allowed them to meet the vampire Prince of Lakeland, and Esme was able to gain them as allies as well...partly due to Damien immediately promising to help them take out another location later. Esme was then able to relay that everyone was on board for the assault. That just left getting ready for the meeting.
Esme made sure to let all of his contacts know the time, including Max's parents. It was decided that Esme was to work with the Matron and King as sort of a trump card because the CD wanted him in particular for some reason, but the man with the camera didn't want her to have him. As planning was wrapping up, the meeting was disrupted by a piercing noise and Esme immediately blacked out. He woke up in a ransacked version of the bar alongside Kahn Dou. Realizing what must have happened, he found them makeshift weapons and they looked for a way out, finding their way into an underground garage where they found Max and a group of other dreamers who weren't yet infected.
Stressing that Esme couldn't be there because the CD would find him, Max shifted the plans he had been making to include helping Esme escape. Kahn Dou could get himself out with magic if he found a weak point after, so he wasn't as much of a concern. On their way, Esme was told that the CD wanted him despite other changelings having entered the dream because he was apparently hollow enough for her to crawl inside. He and Khan Dou being there at the moment was apparently just a side effect of the systems expansion being tested. Max's plan was to use music to take control of the infected sleepers as a distraction, hopefully attracting both the CD and cameraman, Mr. Stone, to the stage. Esme then just had to get to Mr. Stone and be woken up. The plan worked perfectly and Esme soon found himself awake in the vacated bar with Khan Duo.
Everyone else was gone, and the mortals had been put to sleep in the test, so they headed for the mental hospital where the assault was to begin soon. They were able to tell everyone what they had learned and take their places, but things quickly became chaotic as the defenses of the building built up and they began to suffer losses. The King of Autumn was nearly assassinated, but Esme managed to help take out the attacker before being permitted to head for the gate established by the infiltration team. He and Never Ever reached the portal as lightning began striking indiscriminately around the building, passing through to find Toby already in the lab and hearing the cameraman scream in rage somewhere nearby.
By the time reached the heart of the machine, he really didn't have time to take in much. Khan Dou was covered in blood and Leopold was advancing on him quickly. It wasn't hard to put the pieces together and he intercepted Leopold and shoved his arm into the vampire's mouth to feed him. Khan Dou magically helped feed Leopold to bring him back to his senses, just as Max popped out of a nearby pod and moved quickly to execute the CD as she lay dying in her own pod. Afterwards, the room began to collapse, forcing them to quickly help any of the awakened sleepers as they could say to the portal. Many were awake and unresponsive though, so they couldn't be helped.
Back outside, they found the battle over and their friends were all accounted for. Mark and Ben were okay and had found their friend, and Max's parents seemed unharmed when found. Strangely, Izzy and Damian seemed to recognize Max and asked to speak with him the next night after they had seen to Leopold, but for now things were looking up. Eliza encouraged Esme to go home with Max so they could catch up, so he did, asking her to let him know how Alex and Cathy were doing.
The next day, it quickly became apparent that something was very wrong. Wanda and Minnie, or Toni and Michelle, were too friendly, proper, and polite. The news only had good stories, with no mention of the murder case from just days ago. And the politeness was everywhere they went, everyone concerned with following the rules. Esme thought to text Mark about how his friend was doing and the respond was more like something Ben would reply, and no one except him, Never Ever, Max, Eliza, Khan Dou, and Damien even seemed to remember the previous night. And worse, Rusty was behaving like a normal tame rat.
Deciding to go check out the mental hospital before meeting Khan Dou, Esme, Max, Eliza, and Damien left the city limits to find the building being destroyed by lightning. The lightning turned on them quickly, dealing damage and causing them to free, but Esme noticed that as soon as they passed the Welcome to Lakeland sign the pain went away and there was an uncannily happy sense to the very air. Rusty also came back to himself, but asked to be released into the Hedge because he didn't want to devolve again. And they noticed that the main lake was drained of water, revealing a deep crater where a duplicate of the city could faintly be seen.
Taking these discoveries to Khan Dou, they decided on several things to look into. Khan Dou checked everyone and found traces of the sleepers' infection on himself and Esme, much more in Max, and none in Eliza and Damien...he also found that his magic could spread it, but thankfully hadn't to the latter two. Eliza and Damien were to go see how things were the next town over while everyone else waited, but Esme realized they could investigate the lake. Using Never Ever to fly into the crater, Esme tried to see what was down there, but a sniper in the darkness shot Never Ever and forced them to hurriedly retreat. Khan Dou was able to help patch the hobgoblin up, and they went back to the apartment.
Eliza and Damian hadn't gotten any further, blockades already up at every road out of Lakeland including the one to the mental hospital. Apparently they had been called in by the New York Damian and were used to dealing with situations like whatever was going on. And since they were supposed to meet the vampires for dinner at Max's there was little else to do. The issue of Rusty came up though, since if he was infected he could spread it, leading Max to lock himself in the bathroom to speak to someone before coming out with the rat in hand.
At dinner, they learned that Max was the son of the vampire that had turned Izzy, and that Damian wanted to take him back to New York for protection. Esme also let it slip that he had seen her in the hospital and what she had done. There was also a moment were they became aware that having vampire guests complicated a rule on hospitality for Toni and Michelle, nearly resulting in both shedding their own blood to make sure the vampires could enjoy dinner. Before dinner wrapped up properly though, the Prince of Lakeland arrived to take Esme away for breaking the Masquerade, as several people had seen him flying over the lake on a motorcycle...which was Never Ever in disguise.
Damien, being a lawyer, was able to persuade her to take Esme to the King of Autumn instead of under the city, arguing that because Esme wasn't a vampire then it wasn't her place to decide. The King of Autumn wasn't really interested in upholding the Masquerade and, after hearing Esme's side of the story, decided it was an accident that was fixed so the problem was already solved...and that he needed Esme for Halloween anyway. The group stayed at the bar to help with setup, Esme both receiving a changeling updated rulebook complete with loopholes...and a reminder of how wrong things were when he saw Leslie pulled into a storeroom for sex by Ben and Mark, when Mark and Leslie seemed to absolutely hate each other. He was also made aware that the Halloween festivities the next night would involve tracking down and capturing a Huntsman.
As the night wound down, the question of getting everyone home came up since they had all ridden with the Prince. At that time, a changeling named Jackson offered them a ride home on his boat. They accepted, finding that it was a truck that had essentially had a pirate ship built on and around it, complete with cannons that Esme discouraged Max from firing. Upon arrival, Jackson expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming hunt and, noting Esme's fear at the idea, pledged on the spot to protect him during the hunt lest his own Huntsman find him and calming Esme somewhat. Once he left, everyone split up for the night, with Esme staying at Max's again so that Never Ever could rest.
Sometime in the pre-dawn hours, Esme was woken by Max and his mothers all up and leaving the house, amid a bunch of other people. He quickly turned into a mouse and hitched a ride on Michelle, who didn't notice, travelling with them to a subway station. There they were quickly cut off by Eliza, who tried to stop the family but had trouble corralling all three by herself. Esme tried to snap Max out of it by biting his finger, but it didn't work and the wound bled white pus. Eventually Khan Dou and Damien arrived as well and the entire group decided to just follow to see what happened.
Under the city, they witnessed a surviving but somewhat different Mr. Stone, picking among the assembled people for a large entity made of pus and the CD to "harvest" into itself. Max and his mothers weren't chosen, nor were Alex or Cathy, but the CD called Max her herald. Mr. Stone had some words with Damien before leaving, and the people were dismissed to return to their beds. They went home as well, agreeing to meet up early.
Esme woke to find Max up early and planning to go to work, in the same pleasant rule-following mindset as everyone else. He promised to meet up for lunch, before packing Esme a lunch and leaving. Dealing with Max would have to wait though as they wanted to find out about the Mayor who was in charge of the rules...and whose initials were CD. Despite the fear, that knowledge gave him, Esme kept his mouth shut and went with the others to the town hall. There, Eliza had an unnoticed incident in which she struck a bargain with an angel before the even entered the building. Meeting the mayor was very easy and, though she was not as creepy and angry, it was indeed the CD...who stared at Esme, almost unbroken, through all of the questions the others asked her. She did comment on how it was nice he had friends because lacking support could leave a person feeling hollow...only fed his fear in the moment. But with all of their questions answered, the group left and headed back to Khan Dou's apartment.
With the Max problem as the biggest issue now, and using Esme's edited rulebook, they realized they might be able to help Max if they could get him to break a rule that wasn't superseded by a newer one...but they were having no luck due partly to Damien's presence, as he was so high in authority that listening to him automatically superseded all of the rules because not questioning authority was the most recent rule. The pressure of trying to make Max break a rule caused a ton or stress, especially to Max who finally just shut down. The group split off to figure out what to do, leaving Esme alone in the apartment with him until Jackson appeared again.
Once again seeming to pinpoint that something was bothering Esme, Jackson was able to easily pry the situation out of him because of the stress. He then proceeded to soothe Esme, with Esme questioning neither how Jackson found him in Khan Dou's apartment nor the fact that he was called Stool Pidgeon. Jackson then made a very reasonable-sounding suggestion: if Max kills his fetch and reclaims the piece of his soul it has, maybe it would help him get better. And to help Max, Esme was completely willing to try. He helped Max get in the boat, let Eliza know they were going to the hospital when she texted him, and got all the way into the fetch's hospital room before Eliza turned up. She might have talked him out of the plan with her reasoning that this could seriously hurt Max, but she had no other ideas so Jaxkson was able to lead him back to Max when she was distracted by Damien and Khan Dou. And when the debate entered the room, Jackson did something that made it so in that moment Esme just wanted to be held and didn't do anything. He watched Eliza start punching Jackson, saw Max try and stab his fetch to death with a scalpel, Eliza trying to stop Max, felt Damien using some of his demon abilities when her temper turned on him, and he just held onto Damien. Once the effect was over and Jackson had slipped out, he checked on Max to see that it had thankfully worked. Eliza left upset, Damien had to deal with his assistant having seen part of his demon, and Khan Dou had gone to save the fetch.
Following this, the group minus Eliza went to get some weapons for the upcoming hunt, finishing right before Esme received the summons to go. At the party, they met up with Eliza only to find a strange little dog in her company. Esme also found that the King of Winter was unaffected by the CD, and was willing to trying to work toward a solution if it meant helping his friends. Eliza also tried to slip away during the party, taking Khan Dou because of group concern. She later gave him a letter for Jackson, but only told him that she had met the White Rabbit and refused to help him shortly before the hunt began.
At midnight, the hunt began, and Jackson hooked up with the group as they entered the Hedge. Pretty soon though, it became clear they were being hunted because Eliza warning Jackson about the White Rabbit was the trigger allowing him to proceed. Jackson suggested turning the hunt on the White Rabbit instead, but it proved difficult. Eliza managed to shoot the White Rabbit on two occasions, but he was never close enough for anyone else to hit him while he lured them into dangerous and mentally taxing traps. Esme ran into one such trap to help Eliza, the resulting illusion of isolation rendering him quiet and useless as he let Edith carry him piggyback throgh nearly the rest of the hunt. Jackson was badly wounded by the White Rabbit, forcing them to abandon the hunt to find the nearest Hedge Gate. The White Rabbit trapped that too though, and Esme and Edith had to help those affected escape the effects. Jackson managed to make it through the Gate, where he was immediately healed in Lakeland, but the White Rabbit simply shot him over there and left him critically injured. He had to be left with Damien while everyone else found another Gate, as the gunshot had attracted too much attention. Once they did, they broke off for the evening and Esme texted Mark about the interference.
The next day found both Esme and Khan Dou feeling the rule-binding effects of the infection. But it wasn't that hard to catch once they were in the same room together and being equally polite, and getting Khan Dou to swear helped Esme break the rules by not immediately telling Damien about it. They then went to check on Jackson and found him bedridden and in a similar predicament. Eliza tried to goad him into calling her a bitch for getting him into this mess, but Esme succeeded by pushing him to voice his feelings on his current situation, which lead to him swearing in anger. With him back to normal but still injured, they left Jackson to go talk to the King of Winter at the library and decided that they also needed a way to locate and protect the unaffected before they could be removed to the undercity for rule-breaking.
The final plan for the day was to check out the local Daeva Corporation office in town, as it was a company funding the mental hospital, the current place of employment for the man who kidnapped Leopold and arrested Max, and the location the vampires wanted to reclaim. But they found another team of Contagion experts had set up shop there, lead by a changeling named Lucy. After a scary moment that had them backed into a room at gunpoint, both groups were able to swap information since they had the same goal. This group, called Zero Hour, was gathering as much information as possible and allowed Damien to talk the detained Daeva Corp agent to try and get him to cooperate. They also learned that Jackson's presence could be bad news, as he was the advance of a group called the Brigade that appeared in places where the Contagion were and devastating things resulted. This led to Khan Dou taking two agents to the hospital to detain him. They were able to help Rusty return to himself as well, by letting Eliza's new dog spook him over a No Pets threshold. Lucy also gave them an avenue towards finding a solution though by allowing Esme to contact the Representative of the Curator to ask for his insight or assistance. She also expressed an interest in the King of Winter's plan, and checking in with the local monarch of her Court.
Khan Dou and Damien joined Esme for the summoning, only for the three of them to find out that the Representative was Esme's fetch...someone who should have been long dead by this point. At first, the Representative assumed that Esme had intended to kill him and try to reclaim his life, but
was not hostile in that or after realizing that wasn't the case. With permission from the Curator, he granted them a guitar pick that the Siren, meaning Max, could use in a song that could either free the city from the Contagion or spread it further. He then asked to speak to Esme alone, at which point they talked about the fetch's experience after Esme had been taken and the fact that even now he was preserving the family farm and helping it succeed...and even telling Esme that he was free to go there as a distant relative whenever he liked. By the time they parted, Esme was very conflicted, with the only certainty being that there was nothing to regain by trying to kill his fetch.
With the new information from the Representative, they began to plan how to proceed. Back at Khan Dou's apartment, Max confessed that he had made a deal with Melodymania to gain powers that might help him escape the CD before he was saved, at the cost of his freedom in ten years if Melodymania could make it back to Arcadia by then...nice years now due to needing the True Fae to get Rusty from the Hedge. These powers were what he could use with the pick to save the city. The main plan was to take over the TV broadcast station and have Max perform live TV. They would bring in as many allies as possible to help hold the station should the CD interfere, including some infected allies who could be helpful once they were freed. It was decided that they should talk to the lightning angel at the mental hospital, Jackson to talk to the Brigade, a mage named Doris, Michelle and Toni, and Mark and Ben...with the last four being initially invited to have fun and be support so they weren't suspicious of anything and wouldn't interfere.
Damien went to speak to the angel, with Eliza tagging along with him to be a go-between rather than striking a truce with Jackson. Max went to to speak with Doris by himself, and Esme went with Khan Dou to see Lucy about Jackson. Lucy agreed to their plan, provided Jackson agreed to make sure the Brigade was taking orders from Zero Hour. Jackson agreed in exchange for a no-strings exit out of town. Esme was also able to ask Jackson why he called him Stool Pidgeon, with Jackson telling him about his role and how being abandoned by the Guard Dog had messed him up so much that he really wasn't to blame for becoming the Stool Pidgeon. Intentionally or not, Jackson also confirmed his worst fear: that he'll always be abandoned. As usual though, Esme kept that part to himself when he told his friends what happened, only telling them that Jackson had agreed before leaving for a shower.
Despite Khan Dou being needed at the hospital, things were going well and they just needed to involve their New York friends and the nice mage from the motel...since the latter had watched over Esme in the hospital and helped in the assault. Coincidentally, when Damian gave them a meeting place, it was at the same motel. Unfortunately, when they got there Leopold had been locked in the bathroom due to leaking pus from his ears and was being far more meek and polite than usual. Damien was tasked with filling in Damian and the vampires on the day's events in the next room, while Esme, Max and Eliza worked on helping Leopold. Max succeeded using his new powers to encourage Leopold to literally break out through the bathroom door, allowing them to fill him in and for him to step up as a tactician for the group. It was also decided that Max should stay at the motel, and that Esme was never to leave his side since they were often together anyways. It was also decided that Max's fetch should be approached to play decoy in an attempt to distract the CD should she make a move, and that Eliza was the best to talk to him since she tried the hardest to protect him. While she did that, Max and Esme would go to the bar to invite Ben and Mark. Max's mothers would be invited tomorrow in hopes the concern and short notice would bring them running.
Talking to Ben and Mark went surprisingly smoothly, as the pair had no plans for the following evening. Esme also had the idea to invite Two-Tone Toby, as he had been really helpful before, but hadn't been seen since. Ben told them that they could likely find him downtown, so he and Max went there to see if they could find him without going too near town hall. They had no luck in their search, unfortunately, but what they did get was pulled over by Eliza's uncle, Alex.
Alex stopped them, stating concern that they were going ten miles under the speed limit and asking if anything was wrong before basically trying to guilt Esme into telling him if anything was wrong. All they told him was they were looking for a friend they hadn't seen in a little while, and that they were holding a concert at the emergency broadcast tower with the ADA's permission. Once he left them alone, they noted that he was being a bit weird and decided to call Toby for a meetup at the bar, where he agreed to be at the concert but was also showing severe symptoms of the contagion.
Once Damian caught back up with them to tell them that Max's fetch was on board, they told him about Alex and returned to the motel for the night. Esme had Rusty Teeth ask Never Ever to watch for anything strange like police around, but unfortunately Never Ever saw Alex as perfectly safe and so didn't alert them. This led to Damian speaking to Alex in the hall while Esme listened through the door. It came out that Alex had been acting outside of his authority and while off-work which, combined with the fact that he and Damian were dancing around giving each other direct answers, made Esme suspect that he wasn't infected. Finally Damian had him step out to test Alex, as he couldn't, and after some thought the test was set in having Alex say the most negative thing he could about Max...since he really disliked him. Alex passed, so Esme brought him into the room where they filled him in on the situation and current plans, in hopes that he could also help in the morning.
The first stretch of Esme's durance was spent under the care of the Shepherd's guard, Dedrick or Guard Dog, another like him who had the role of preventing escapees from reaching the Hedge. Dedrick later escaped without him, after fleeing their tent the night they were going to have sex for the first time. This led to Esme's ongoing issues surrounding the notion of abandonment, and left him open to manipulation by the Shepherd.
Needing a replacement for the missing Guard Dog, the Shepherd further molded Esme physically into a shape more fitting the task of surveying his domain. Then he did so emotionally by playing off of Esme's feelings of loneliness and abandonment, until he had became a new guard of sorts...the Stool Pidgeon. Mostly perched atop the gate to freedom, his role was to watch and listen to the others and report to either the Shepherd or White Rabbit should he notice the others acting strangely or lingering where they shouldn't. This gradually began to isolate him more though and Esme filled the growing rift that resulted between himself and the other changelings with the company of Never Ever, a hobgoblin guard of the Shepherd by playing it music in exchange for its company.
During his time as Stool Pidgeon, he was eventually tasked to assist the White Rabbit with his rounds. He had his first encounter with Jackson, known as Twin Fang, who was tasked with creating art to the Shepherd's standards. Though the Rabbit was less than impressed with the art thusfar, Jackson asked Esme to hold a small, but heavy, ceramic statue of him on the gate for awhile, due to Esme's obvious expressed loneliness. Esme made sure to take care of the statue until Twin Fang approached him for it, the the other changeling was acting a bit shady. The White Rabbit found them then, demanding the gate key from Jackson...who had hidden it in the statue he'd given Esme. Just before being lead back to his area by the White Rabbit, Twin Fang told Esme that he would have taken him. But when he finally did escape, Twin Fang left him behind just like Dedrick had.
After failing to stop Twin Fang from escaping, Esme was the target of much derision from the other changelings, who thought he took pride in keeping them prisoner just like the White Rabbit. This put into perspective what he had been doing as the Stool Pidgeon and eventually the by guilt, loneliness, and the fear of being cast into the unknown pushed him to escape from his Keeper. He almost lost his way in the Hedge, but Never Ever had followed him out of Arcadia and located him easily. Never Ever introduced Esme to an ordinary-looking rat goblin called Rusty Teeth, who offered him guidance and companionship In exchange for protection. It was with Rusty's help that he finally escaped back to the mortal world.
Esme arrived in Lakeland, Florida, behind a 7-Eleven in the evening and in need of some more fitting clothes. After semi-successfully buying a hoodie from a man named Max, who worked there. Max had easily noticed that something was off, as Esme was dressed from his era and using money from his era, asking Esme questions about a masquerade. He even withheld the hoodie so that Esme wouldn't leave while he helped a young woman buying milk and a doctor there for coffee, so that they would leave...only they didn't because they were curious. Max then, to save face, charmed Esme with an invitation to his house after work, returning the hoodie and giving his address.
Following this, the woman witnessed a van attempting to abduct a young boy, later named Leopold, outside of the parking lot. Esme was able to assist her and the other man in saving Leopold and getting him into the 7-Eleven. The woman, Eliza, called her uncle on the police force to take a statement, and Leopold tried to do something to Esme to gain protection. Whatever it was didn't work, but Esme brushed it off as a special child looking for help and promised to protect him. After Leopold was taken home by his mother, Esme left with Max's address to meet up later. He was followed by Eliza and the doctor, Kahn Dou, who paid for a motel room for him since he had nowhere to go and it was late.
After finding out the year (2019) and receiving both some new clothes and a map from the very helpful man who was running the motel, Esme found his way to Max's house. After some clarification that he wasn't a vampire, they learned from the news that Leopold's parents had been murdered last night. Because there was no mention of Leopold, or a child at all, they went to investigate the house and met up with Eliza and Kahn Dou. They went to investigate the black van next, found in a nearby alley by Eliza, and Esme had his picture snapped by a man with a camera.
Following this, they held a meeting at Kahn Dou's apartment to decide how to proceed. Max and Elisa weren't in agreement at all, seemingly due to secrets they were keeping as well as differences in ideals. Max wanted to investigate the house, despite it being a crime scene. Eliza wanted to follow the law and let the police deal with it. Esme and Khan Dou sided with Max, Esme because he was worried the police wouldn't help Leopold in time.
They revisited the house that night without Eliza, where they found a hidden gun case, portfolio, and a hidden sleeping space with Leopold's journal and photo album. Max was caught on the way out by an officer and received a ticket, while Esme hovered nearby using Light Shy to stay unseen. They left the case with Eliza and then the boys worked on reviewing the portfolio and journal...Esme doing so secretly with Rusty's help. They learned that Leopold was a vampire, and that he was investigating something that was keeping the vampire population at a specific cap and causing the excess to just vanish. Eliza was able to have the case opened and a copy of the storage key that she had found inside made. split off for the night, with Max offering Esme use of his couch.
The next day while Max had work, Eliza met them to pick up Esme and take him to her house for the day. He was able to get to know Eliza a little better, and she tried to offer him help and safety, but he knew not to be too forthcoming about what he was and where he was from since it would put her in danger too. They met up with Khan Dou afterwards, and Esme agreed to get Max's permission for everyone to meet at his house to plan their next move. They decided that one thing would be to get the case from Eliza's house and return it to the crime scene, and another was to check out the storage.
Upon waking the next morning, Esme found himself with Max in a version of Max's house where things seemed...off. The kitchen door, which was how he and Max entered and left the house, led to a poorly lit and maintained corridor so they opted to climb out the kitchen window and head for Eliza's house. After climbing out first, Esme spotted a creepy girl staring at him from behind Max in the kitchen and they fled the yard. Eliza's house was empty, and nearly trapped them inside when they opened the unlocked front door. The man with the camera came running and, even though they tried to evade him, snapped their pictures...causing them to woke up.
They quickly met up with Eliza and Khan Dou, learning that the doctor had had a similar experience but Eliza hadn't. No one really knew what it meant though so they instead started there plans. Max angered Eliza by tricking her aunt into thinking that he was a police officer so that she would give him the case so that he could put it back, but it did work at least. They went back home, and Max invited Esme to share his bed.
The next morning, Max didn't wake up and Esme couldn't rouse him. He found out from Eliza's aunt that she was in a similar state when he called her phone for help, but Kahn Dou was fine and promised to come see what he could do for them. Meanwhile, a stranger came to the kitchen door to speak to Esme specifically, but he turned them away due to his fear and worry over Max. The stranger left him a card to reach out with later though.
Kahn Dou arrived with Eliza in tow, and Esme only just disarmed the trapped front door before they were shot dead. Max woke up on his own just before Khan Dou could pull him from the dream, but Esme immediately noticed the way Max was being distant...and the cold way Max was staring at him. It turned out that he had been possessed by the creepy girl from the dream world, who admitted she should have known this wouldn't work before making Max stab himself with a kitchen knife. Khan Dou was able to stabilize him, but he had to be rushed to the hospital for surgery. This left Esme with nowhere to go again, so he was taken in by Eliza's family.
Trying to find the real Max, Esme wound up back in the dream world that same night. He found himself in the hospital, where he encountered the cameraman again, this time in the room of the unconscious Max. He learned that the girl reacted every time that he appeared in the dream, just before the cameraman locked him out by force feeding him a hair and waking him up with the camera. He quickly alerted Eliza to what had happened this time, and she decided to try and force herself into the dream in hopes of learning more. She had no success though.
Rusty suggested that Esme and Never Ever lead Eliza and Khan Dou through the Hedge to find the Gate of Horn, so that they could find and enter Max's dream there. On the way, they met the White Rabbit who, of course, knew Esme and Never Ever. He mentioned needing to tell their Keeper of the escape, musing on if Esme had stolen Never Ever or if the opposite was true. Not wanting trouble at the moment though, he paid them a goblin fruit to allow him to pass by, and they quickly continued on.
Just beyond the Gate of Horn, they met Mark and Ben, two other changelings who were also investigating a missing friend. It was decided that they should travel together, though Mark was displeased by Esme's lack of secrecy to changeling matters and then the fact that no changelings had picked Esme up to teach him better. Their search led them to a point where the dreaming roads were being torn up and a True Fae called Melodymania was guarding Max's door. Eliza tried to barter with him for information, and Esme attempted to use Light Shy to sneak past him, but Esme was cause by giant cables from the sky and revealed. They were forced to escape, not prepared to confront any of this.
Later, they found the storage place the key went to, as well as a phone to one of Leopold's contacts, named Damian. Immediately after this, they learned that Max had been arrested from the hospital while still recovering from surgery, and that he had confessed to the murder of Leopold's family for some reason. Max's parents, who has just gotten back into town, had paid his bail and taken him home after letting Khan Dou check him over again. Esme and Eliza went to learn more and meet Max's mothers, Minnie and Wanda.
Wanda asked Esme to help her with tea, before cornering him in the kitchen to find out what he was and his relationship to Max. She could see through his mask and was understandably suspicious, but she accepted his explanation for how he knew Max and that he wasn't at fault for what was going on right now. Max doubled down on his confession meanwhile, before telling them it was better to leave things alone and going to his room. Wanda and Minnie decided to meet the rest of them at Eliza's house that evening to talk.
The meeting actually began with the disconcerting news that the thing attempting to go to jail for murder was not Max, but an amalgam of paperclips, clipboards, and stethoscopes disguised to look like him. Rusty determined that the real Max was actually missing then, and had likely been replaced by a fetch. But the only lead they had was to try to find him in his dream, and they needed a key to do so.
Esme received Max's electric guitar to try and open his dream door beyond the Gate of Horn, and returned to the Gate with Eliza, Minnie, Wanda, Mark, Ben, Never Ever, and Leslie (his kitchen visitor). The dreaming roads were even more badly damaged now, and there were now strange zombie-like people patrolling and leaking the same strange pus that many of the other dream doors were. They were able to get into Max's dream using the guitar, and were also to stop Melodymania from influencing him into possibly accepting some kind of deal. They fended off an onslaught of zombies Melodymania purposely set on them and tried to escape, but weren't able to save him from the creepy girl because his dream self couldn't leave through the door. The creepy girl did capture Max and a woman he had befriended as well, telling Esme to come to her beneath the asylum.
The next day, Esme joined Mark and Leslie at the emergency Court that was called and was introduced to several other changelings, including Two-Tone Toby, the Matron, and the upcoming King of Winter, before reporting the goings on to the King of Autumn. He was then tasked with spreading the news to the other supernatural communities and arrange an alliance to deal with this threat...and possibly even the hunters in the city as well afterwards. The King also removed the hair that was barring Esme from the dream world and informed Esme of the news story that had popped up for Max being arrested again. Apparently the fetch had attack Eliza's aunt, Cathy, and held her hostage until Eliza managed to shoot him. Lastly, he learned more about the White Rabbit and the actual danger that he posed.
After being dropped off to check on Eliza and Cathy, Esme approached Kahn Dou since he could help with speaking to the mages. They easily gained that alliance in exchange for the mental hospital that was the target. There were concerns that the werewolves and vampires would be harder, so it was decided they should wait until the next day to start on the werewolves.
That night, he and Eliza also shared a different dream where they met a vampire who seemed to be in her own personal purgatory. She seemed to have familial ties to Max, as well as to an enemy of Eliza's that was clearly hated. But she most importantly gave them advice on dealing with the vampires.
In the morning, Esme went to tell Max's family about the secondary plan to maybe wipe out the hunters in town as well, understanding why it was wanted but not wanting them to die either. Eliza was with him and they also told Minnie, who was the only one home, about the vampire they dreamed of. Minnie replied with skepticism and the advice to not believe everything they heard before sending them off so she could work. On the way home, Esme was bumped into by an old woman, who spilled tainted coffee on him, but neither he nor Eliza thought anything of it and continued on to tell her aunt and uncle about the hunter extermination.
Over the next few days, Esme became progressively more sick, starting with what seemed to be an ordinary cold. The first day, he at least managed to set up a meeting with the Matron to report his progress, but the next day he was so sick that Never Ever sought out Toby for help. This resulted in Toby going with Eliza to report on his behalf, as well as Khan Dou having to check on him. Despite everyone's best efforts, including the mages having him hospitalized so that they could try a ritual to purge the sickness from his body, he came fairly close to dying in the hospital just a few days after first getting sick and just hours after said ritual seemed to work.
While he was semi-conscious in the hospital, and possibly close to death, the same vampire he and Eliza had met appeared to him. Wanting to help him somehow, she managed to coax him to drink some of her blood before he fell into a deep sleep for awhile. Sometime later, Cathy's boyfriend also turned up, touching him and showing him a vision that seemed to show the nurse who was looking after him actually poisoning him somehow. Despite not fully understanding, the vision caused Esme to panic when the nurse returned, attempting to throw himself from the bed. Fortunately, Eliza and Kahn Dou managed to find him a cure once he had fallen asleep again.
Esme and Eliza shared another dream, this time in a dark hallway with three doors. The first allowed them to observe someone that they identified as Damian as he made plans to head out to Lakeland soon with two other people. The second led them into the dream world, where they briefly reunited with Max and Leopold as they were being attacked by the pus-controlled sleepers. Leopold instructed Esme on where to find the werewolves and to have Damian help with the vampires. The third door took them to the cameraman in the hospital, where they convinced him to release their friends that Eliza had tried to call for help...but only because he apparently had another idea based on her words. By the time they woke up, Esme had recovered enough to go back home, where Alex and Cathy had even set him up a proper bedroom of his own while he was hospitalized.
Finally able to go to the park to seek out a contact to the werewolves the next day, they were able to meet with Ranger Sally. Sally easily agreed to reach out to the werewolf pack on their behalf and asked them to come back tomorrow. Unfortunately, Eliza and Cathy both received court summons to act as witnesses against Max for his crimes, so they had to try and talk to the ADA to get out of that first. While it apparently didn't go well, the ADA (Damien) later turned up to attempt to get more information out of them because of some oddities that he'd stumbled across regarding the case. No one was very forthcoming at first, and so he opted to tag along to the werewolf meeting...despite Esme's request that he wait until after.
The werewolves had apparently been waylaid by someone else when they arrived, and they ended up talking to a rather abrasive young woman named Cynthia instead. She promised the werewolves help though, which only left the vampires. She also left them with a rather traumatized Sally, who they advised to hold off talking to her pack until their promised meeting tomorrow. Then they went to report their progress to the King of Autumn again, at which point they also encountered Damian in the main area of the same bar. Unfortunately, they found that he wouldn't help them without his employers say so, and so he was simply there to set up a meeting that evening.
The meeting with Damian and his employers, a pair of vampires called Izzy and Edith, went well enough. They agreed both to cooperate and to go to the vampire Elysium together the following night, which was much needed support. The next morning, however, Eliza and Cathy still had to go to court. Damien arrived soon after the two had left, having spoken to Leon and needing to speak to Max's mothers. Esme took him there with Alex, and they learned that the family had moved to Lakeland under false names after nearly being killed by monsters. They then took the proof of that to court, where Damien disrupted the proceedings with the information, and then accidentally let the fake Max in on his plans.
In a bid to stop him from being able to tell the asylum staff about the planned assault, they had him detained at Khan Dou's hospital for evaluation of mental health issues and suicidal tendencies...and Esme secretly arranged for Rusty to go and make him seem to be insane.
After the courthouse came meeting the werewolves in person, which revealed some tension between the pack and former pack members of which the latter three were not werewolves at all. An agreement to be ready for action was still in place though and they really couldn't do much about pack politics. Esme and his friends extended friendship to the non-wolves, though he'd been initially confused as one was a changeling and the Autumn King hadn't asked her to speak to the wolves...but apparently the pack had been her well-kept secret.
A call from Cathy disrupted the meeting and they returned home to find a suit of armor in the living room. It spoke to them as an ally and left three cassettes for them to listen to before fading out of existence. The first let them hear the torture that had made the girl in the dream world the Central Dreamer in order to make whatever system the asylum was experimenting with work. The second revealed that the system was to be expanded to pull the whole city into the dream to stop interference and speed up their process, on the day before the actual assault was to take place. It further detailed the fact that if such an expansion attracted outside attention then the town was going to be purged to cover up the experiment. The third tape had to be listened to by each of them separately, with Esme's recording being from Leon and encouraging him to save Max because he was imperative, while Leopold would improve things as a sort of "if possible" outcome. The dire nature of the second tape made Esme reach out to Ben for a meeting with the King, where the first two tapes were shared and the war meeting was moved up to the following night.
The Elysium meeting allowed them to meet the vampire Prince of Lakeland, and Esme was able to gain them as allies as well...partly due to Damien immediately promising to help them take out another location later. Esme was then able to relay that everyone was on board for the assault. That just left getting ready for the meeting.
Esme made sure to let all of his contacts know the time, including Max's parents. It was decided that Esme was to work with the Matron and King as sort of a trump card because the CD wanted him in particular for some reason, but the man with the camera didn't want her to have him. As planning was wrapping up, the meeting was disrupted by a piercing noise and Esme immediately blacked out. He woke up in a ransacked version of the bar alongside Kahn Dou. Realizing what must have happened, he found them makeshift weapons and they looked for a way out, finding their way into an underground garage where they found Max and a group of other dreamers who weren't yet infected.
Stressing that Esme couldn't be there because the CD would find him, Max shifted the plans he had been making to include helping Esme escape. Kahn Dou could get himself out with magic if he found a weak point after, so he wasn't as much of a concern. On their way, Esme was told that the CD wanted him despite other changelings having entered the dream because he was apparently hollow enough for her to crawl inside. He and Khan Dou being there at the moment was apparently just a side effect of the systems expansion being tested. Max's plan was to use music to take control of the infected sleepers as a distraction, hopefully attracting both the CD and cameraman, Mr. Stone, to the stage. Esme then just had to get to Mr. Stone and be woken up. The plan worked perfectly and Esme soon found himself awake in the vacated bar with Khan Duo.
Everyone else was gone, and the mortals had been put to sleep in the test, so they headed for the mental hospital where the assault was to begin soon. They were able to tell everyone what they had learned and take their places, but things quickly became chaotic as the defenses of the building built up and they began to suffer losses. The King of Autumn was nearly assassinated, but Esme managed to help take out the attacker before being permitted to head for the gate established by the infiltration team. He and Never Ever reached the portal as lightning began striking indiscriminately around the building, passing through to find Toby already in the lab and hearing the cameraman scream in rage somewhere nearby.
By the time reached the heart of the machine, he really didn't have time to take in much. Khan Dou was covered in blood and Leopold was advancing on him quickly. It wasn't hard to put the pieces together and he intercepted Leopold and shoved his arm into the vampire's mouth to feed him. Khan Dou magically helped feed Leopold to bring him back to his senses, just as Max popped out of a nearby pod and moved quickly to execute the CD as she lay dying in her own pod. Afterwards, the room began to collapse, forcing them to quickly help any of the awakened sleepers as they could say to the portal. Many were awake and unresponsive though, so they couldn't be helped.
Back outside, they found the battle over and their friends were all accounted for. Mark and Ben were okay and had found their friend, and Max's parents seemed unharmed when found. Strangely, Izzy and Damian seemed to recognize Max and asked to speak with him the next night after they had seen to Leopold, but for now things were looking up. Eliza encouraged Esme to go home with Max so they could catch up, so he did, asking her to let him know how Alex and Cathy were doing.
The next day, it quickly became apparent that something was very wrong. Wanda and Minnie, or Toni and Michelle, were too friendly, proper, and polite. The news only had good stories, with no mention of the murder case from just days ago. And the politeness was everywhere they went, everyone concerned with following the rules. Esme thought to text Mark about how his friend was doing and the respond was more like something Ben would reply, and no one except him, Never Ever, Max, Eliza, Khan Dou, and Damien even seemed to remember the previous night. And worse, Rusty was behaving like a normal tame rat.
Deciding to go check out the mental hospital before meeting Khan Dou, Esme, Max, Eliza, and Damien left the city limits to find the building being destroyed by lightning. The lightning turned on them quickly, dealing damage and causing them to free, but Esme noticed that as soon as they passed the Welcome to Lakeland sign the pain went away and there was an uncannily happy sense to the very air. Rusty also came back to himself, but asked to be released into the Hedge because he didn't want to devolve again. And they noticed that the main lake was drained of water, revealing a deep crater where a duplicate of the city could faintly be seen.
Taking these discoveries to Khan Dou, they decided on several things to look into. Khan Dou checked everyone and found traces of the sleepers' infection on himself and Esme, much more in Max, and none in Eliza and Damien...he also found that his magic could spread it, but thankfully hadn't to the latter two. Eliza and Damien were to go see how things were the next town over while everyone else waited, but Esme realized they could investigate the lake. Using Never Ever to fly into the crater, Esme tried to see what was down there, but a sniper in the darkness shot Never Ever and forced them to hurriedly retreat. Khan Dou was able to help patch the hobgoblin up, and they went back to the apartment.
Eliza and Damian hadn't gotten any further, blockades already up at every road out of Lakeland including the one to the mental hospital. Apparently they had been called in by the New York Damian and were used to dealing with situations like whatever was going on. And since they were supposed to meet the vampires for dinner at Max's there was little else to do. The issue of Rusty came up though, since if he was infected he could spread it, leading Max to lock himself in the bathroom to speak to someone before coming out with the rat in hand.
At dinner, they learned that Max was the son of the vampire that had turned Izzy, and that Damian wanted to take him back to New York for protection. Esme also let it slip that he had seen her in the hospital and what she had done. There was also a moment were they became aware that having vampire guests complicated a rule on hospitality for Toni and Michelle, nearly resulting in both shedding their own blood to make sure the vampires could enjoy dinner. Before dinner wrapped up properly though, the Prince of Lakeland arrived to take Esme away for breaking the Masquerade, as several people had seen him flying over the lake on a motorcycle...which was Never Ever in disguise.
Damien, being a lawyer, was able to persuade her to take Esme to the King of Autumn instead of under the city, arguing that because Esme wasn't a vampire then it wasn't her place to decide. The King of Autumn wasn't really interested in upholding the Masquerade and, after hearing Esme's side of the story, decided it was an accident that was fixed so the problem was already solved...and that he needed Esme for Halloween anyway. The group stayed at the bar to help with setup, Esme both receiving a changeling updated rulebook complete with loopholes...and a reminder of how wrong things were when he saw Leslie pulled into a storeroom for sex by Ben and Mark, when Mark and Leslie seemed to absolutely hate each other. He was also made aware that the Halloween festivities the next night would involve tracking down and capturing a Huntsman.
As the night wound down, the question of getting everyone home came up since they had all ridden with the Prince. At that time, a changeling named Jackson offered them a ride home on his boat. They accepted, finding that it was a truck that had essentially had a pirate ship built on and around it, complete with cannons that Esme discouraged Max from firing. Upon arrival, Jackson expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming hunt and, noting Esme's fear at the idea, pledged on the spot to protect him during the hunt lest his own Huntsman find him and calming Esme somewhat. Once he left, everyone split up for the night, with Esme staying at Max's again so that Never Ever could rest.
Sometime in the pre-dawn hours, Esme was woken by Max and his mothers all up and leaving the house, amid a bunch of other people. He quickly turned into a mouse and hitched a ride on Michelle, who didn't notice, travelling with them to a subway station. There they were quickly cut off by Eliza, who tried to stop the family but had trouble corralling all three by herself. Esme tried to snap Max out of it by biting his finger, but it didn't work and the wound bled white pus. Eventually Khan Dou and Damien arrived as well and the entire group decided to just follow to see what happened.
Under the city, they witnessed a surviving but somewhat different Mr. Stone, picking among the assembled people for a large entity made of pus and the CD to "harvest" into itself. Max and his mothers weren't chosen, nor were Alex or Cathy, but the CD called Max her herald. Mr. Stone had some words with Damien before leaving, and the people were dismissed to return to their beds. They went home as well, agreeing to meet up early.
Esme woke to find Max up early and planning to go to work, in the same pleasant rule-following mindset as everyone else. He promised to meet up for lunch, before packing Esme a lunch and leaving. Dealing with Max would have to wait though as they wanted to find out about the Mayor who was in charge of the rules...and whose initials were CD. Despite the fear, that knowledge gave him, Esme kept his mouth shut and went with the others to the town hall. There, Eliza had an unnoticed incident in which she struck a bargain with an angel before the even entered the building. Meeting the mayor was very easy and, though she was not as creepy and angry, it was indeed the CD...who stared at Esme, almost unbroken, through all of the questions the others asked her. She did comment on how it was nice he had friends because lacking support could leave a person feeling hollow...only fed his fear in the moment. But with all of their questions answered, the group left and headed back to Khan Dou's apartment.
With the Max problem as the biggest issue now, and using Esme's edited rulebook, they realized they might be able to help Max if they could get him to break a rule that wasn't superseded by a newer one...but they were having no luck due partly to Damien's presence, as he was so high in authority that listening to him automatically superseded all of the rules because not questioning authority was the most recent rule. The pressure of trying to make Max break a rule caused a ton or stress, especially to Max who finally just shut down. The group split off to figure out what to do, leaving Esme alone in the apartment with him until Jackson appeared again.
Once again seeming to pinpoint that something was bothering Esme, Jackson was able to easily pry the situation out of him because of the stress. He then proceeded to soothe Esme, with Esme questioning neither how Jackson found him in Khan Dou's apartment nor the fact that he was called Stool Pidgeon. Jackson then made a very reasonable-sounding suggestion: if Max kills his fetch and reclaims the piece of his soul it has, maybe it would help him get better. And to help Max, Esme was completely willing to try. He helped Max get in the boat, let Eliza know they were going to the hospital when she texted him, and got all the way into the fetch's hospital room before Eliza turned up. She might have talked him out of the plan with her reasoning that this could seriously hurt Max, but she had no other ideas so Jaxkson was able to lead him back to Max when she was distracted by Damien and Khan Dou. And when the debate entered the room, Jackson did something that made it so in that moment Esme just wanted to be held and didn't do anything. He watched Eliza start punching Jackson, saw Max try and stab his fetch to death with a scalpel, Eliza trying to stop Max, felt Damien using some of his demon abilities when her temper turned on him, and he just held onto Damien. Once the effect was over and Jackson had slipped out, he checked on Max to see that it had thankfully worked. Eliza left upset, Damien had to deal with his assistant having seen part of his demon, and Khan Dou had gone to save the fetch.
Following this, the group minus Eliza went to get some weapons for the upcoming hunt, finishing right before Esme received the summons to go. At the party, they met up with Eliza only to find a strange little dog in her company. Esme also found that the King of Winter was unaffected by the CD, and was willing to trying to work toward a solution if it meant helping his friends. Eliza also tried to slip away during the party, taking Khan Dou because of group concern. She later gave him a letter for Jackson, but only told him that she had met the White Rabbit and refused to help him shortly before the hunt began.
At midnight, the hunt began, and Jackson hooked up with the group as they entered the Hedge. Pretty soon though, it became clear they were being hunted because Eliza warning Jackson about the White Rabbit was the trigger allowing him to proceed. Jackson suggested turning the hunt on the White Rabbit instead, but it proved difficult. Eliza managed to shoot the White Rabbit on two occasions, but he was never close enough for anyone else to hit him while he lured them into dangerous and mentally taxing traps. Esme ran into one such trap to help Eliza, the resulting illusion of isolation rendering him quiet and useless as he let Edith carry him piggyback throgh nearly the rest of the hunt. Jackson was badly wounded by the White Rabbit, forcing them to abandon the hunt to find the nearest Hedge Gate. The White Rabbit trapped that too though, and Esme and Edith had to help those affected escape the effects. Jackson managed to make it through the Gate, where he was immediately healed in Lakeland, but the White Rabbit simply shot him over there and left him critically injured. He had to be left with Damien while everyone else found another Gate, as the gunshot had attracted too much attention. Once they did, they broke off for the evening and Esme texted Mark about the interference.
The next day found both Esme and Khan Dou feeling the rule-binding effects of the infection. But it wasn't that hard to catch once they were in the same room together and being equally polite, and getting Khan Dou to swear helped Esme break the rules by not immediately telling Damien about it. They then went to check on Jackson and found him bedridden and in a similar predicament. Eliza tried to goad him into calling her a bitch for getting him into this mess, but Esme succeeded by pushing him to voice his feelings on his current situation, which lead to him swearing in anger. With him back to normal but still injured, they left Jackson to go talk to the King of Winter at the library and decided that they also needed a way to locate and protect the unaffected before they could be removed to the undercity for rule-breaking.
The final plan for the day was to check out the local Daeva Corporation office in town, as it was a company funding the mental hospital, the current place of employment for the man who kidnapped Leopold and arrested Max, and the location the vampires wanted to reclaim. But they found another team of Contagion experts had set up shop there, lead by a changeling named Lucy. After a scary moment that had them backed into a room at gunpoint, both groups were able to swap information since they had the same goal. This group, called Zero Hour, was gathering as much information as possible and allowed Damien to talk the detained Daeva Corp agent to try and get him to cooperate. They also learned that Jackson's presence could be bad news, as he was the advance of a group called the Brigade that appeared in places where the Contagion were and devastating things resulted. This led to Khan Dou taking two agents to the hospital to detain him. They were able to help Rusty return to himself as well, by letting Eliza's new dog spook him over a No Pets threshold. Lucy also gave them an avenue towards finding a solution though by allowing Esme to contact the Representative of the Curator to ask for his insight or assistance. She also expressed an interest in the King of Winter's plan, and checking in with the local monarch of her Court.
Khan Dou and Damien joined Esme for the summoning, only for the three of them to find out that the Representative was Esme's fetch...someone who should have been long dead by this point. At first, the Representative assumed that Esme had intended to kill him and try to reclaim his life, but
was not hostile in that or after realizing that wasn't the case. With permission from the Curator, he granted them a guitar pick that the Siren, meaning Max, could use in a song that could either free the city from the Contagion or spread it further. He then asked to speak to Esme alone, at which point they talked about the fetch's experience after Esme had been taken and the fact that even now he was preserving the family farm and helping it succeed...and even telling Esme that he was free to go there as a distant relative whenever he liked. By the time they parted, Esme was very conflicted, with the only certainty being that there was nothing to regain by trying to kill his fetch.
With the new information from the Representative, they began to plan how to proceed. Back at Khan Dou's apartment, Max confessed that he had made a deal with Melodymania to gain powers that might help him escape the CD before he was saved, at the cost of his freedom in ten years if Melodymania could make it back to Arcadia by then...nice years now due to needing the True Fae to get Rusty from the Hedge. These powers were what he could use with the pick to save the city. The main plan was to take over the TV broadcast station and have Max perform live TV. They would bring in as many allies as possible to help hold the station should the CD interfere, including some infected allies who could be helpful once they were freed. It was decided that they should talk to the lightning angel at the mental hospital, Jackson to talk to the Brigade, a mage named Doris, Michelle and Toni, and Mark and Ben...with the last four being initially invited to have fun and be support so they weren't suspicious of anything and wouldn't interfere.
Damien went to speak to the angel, with Eliza tagging along with him to be a go-between rather than striking a truce with Jackson. Max went to to speak with Doris by himself, and Esme went with Khan Dou to see Lucy about Jackson. Lucy agreed to their plan, provided Jackson agreed to make sure the Brigade was taking orders from Zero Hour. Jackson agreed in exchange for a no-strings exit out of town. Esme was also able to ask Jackson why he called him Stool Pidgeon, with Jackson telling him about his role and how being abandoned by the Guard Dog had messed him up so much that he really wasn't to blame for becoming the Stool Pidgeon. Intentionally or not, Jackson also confirmed his worst fear: that he'll always be abandoned. As usual though, Esme kept that part to himself when he told his friends what happened, only telling them that Jackson had agreed before leaving for a shower.
Despite Khan Dou being needed at the hospital, things were going well and they just needed to involve their New York friends and the nice mage from the motel...since the latter had watched over Esme in the hospital and helped in the assault. Coincidentally, when Damian gave them a meeting place, it was at the same motel. Unfortunately, when they got there Leopold had been locked in the bathroom due to leaking pus from his ears and was being far more meek and polite than usual. Damien was tasked with filling in Damian and the vampires on the day's events in the next room, while Esme, Max and Eliza worked on helping Leopold. Max succeeded using his new powers to encourage Leopold to literally break out through the bathroom door, allowing them to fill him in and for him to step up as a tactician for the group. It was also decided that Max should stay at the motel, and that Esme was never to leave his side since they were often together anyways. It was also decided that Max's fetch should be approached to play decoy in an attempt to distract the CD should she make a move, and that Eliza was the best to talk to him since she tried the hardest to protect him. While she did that, Max and Esme would go to the bar to invite Ben and Mark. Max's mothers would be invited tomorrow in hopes the concern and short notice would bring them running.
Talking to Ben and Mark went surprisingly smoothly, as the pair had no plans for the following evening. Esme also had the idea to invite Two-Tone Toby, as he had been really helpful before, but hadn't been seen since. Ben told them that they could likely find him downtown, so he and Max went there to see if they could find him without going too near town hall. They had no luck in their search, unfortunately, but what they did get was pulled over by Eliza's uncle, Alex.
Alex stopped them, stating concern that they were going ten miles under the speed limit and asking if anything was wrong before basically trying to guilt Esme into telling him if anything was wrong. All they told him was they were looking for a friend they hadn't seen in a little while, and that they were holding a concert at the emergency broadcast tower with the ADA's permission. Once he left them alone, they noted that he was being a bit weird and decided to call Toby for a meetup at the bar, where he agreed to be at the concert but was also showing severe symptoms of the contagion.
Once Damian caught back up with them to tell them that Max's fetch was on board, they told him about Alex and returned to the motel for the night. Esme had Rusty Teeth ask Never Ever to watch for anything strange like police around, but unfortunately Never Ever saw Alex as perfectly safe and so didn't alert them. This led to Damian speaking to Alex in the hall while Esme listened through the door. It came out that Alex had been acting outside of his authority and while off-work which, combined with the fact that he and Damian were dancing around giving each other direct answers, made Esme suspect that he wasn't infected. Finally Damian had him step out to test Alex, as he couldn't, and after some thought the test was set in having Alex say the most negative thing he could about Max...since he really disliked him. Alex passed, so Esme brought him into the room where they filled him in on the situation and current plans, in hopes that he could also help in the morning.
