Rosalind Walker (weirdseer) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-08-30 10:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, god of war: atreus, voltron: keith kogane, ₴ inactive: rosalind walker |
Keith and Atreus are closing the Sanctuary down for the night, Roz arrives with a warning.WARNINGS N/A
He liked his life now. Yeah, he might still have a problem with feeling useful, but this downtime, this new life he was pursuing just made him work harder to find purpose with his life. College was about to start and he had enrolled in some classes to see if it was a fit for him. Hopefully it would yield some kind of direction to take his life in. Maybe Shiro was right about going into social work.
The beautiful thing was that he didn't have to have it all figured out right at that moment. All he needed to worry about was figuring out how to sweet talk the ferrets back into their habitat for bedtime. It was another night helping out at the Sanctuary and most of the other volunteers had gotten their animals to bed and had taken off.
"Come on guys," Keith wheedled, as he looked pleadingly up at the tree they had taken refuge in. "If you guys have me here until midnight again because you want to be buttheads, I'm not bringing you treats the next time I see you." Clearly, this wasn't the first time they had messed with Keith. He was already getting ready to climb the tree again, when he heard laughter behind him.
“Your threats really need work,” Atreus was still chuckling through the words, but he still came up behind Keith to offer him a little container of cooked chicken, used for bribing a number of the animals. He knew it wouldn’t take him long to get the ferrets down, but that felt like cheating somehow. Also he was really no better when it came to the stubborn ones. But he could enjoy it when they were driving someone else a little crazy. “But seriously, you can head out if you need to? Everybody else is good to go so I can finish up here.” Save for the Kookaburra currently puffed up and angrily perched on Atreus’ shoulder, but Diva was a special circumstance.
"I feel like threatening to feed them to Kosmo is a bit much and withholding cuddles is just downright cruel," Keith explained with a small smile as he took the container from Atreus. He looked up at the ferrets that were now sitting on one of the branches, watching them. He frowned at them, feeling the mocking vibes coming off them. "Though I might just save the cuddles for Bessie now if they don't come down soon."
Opening the container, he shook it teasingly at the animals. "Maybe Bessie would like this yummy chicken instead…" He knew that they didn't understand him, not like they would Atreus, but he still gave it a shot in hopes that his tone conveyed his intentions. Peering over at Atreus, he added, "Unless you're kicking me out, I'd like to stick around. I like to see a job through."
Unmentioned was the fact that Shiro was an early to bed, early to ride kind of guy when he didn't have plans. Keith hated waking him up when he finally got his brain tired enough for bed, so sometimes he stayed up later until he was sure Shiro was in a deeper sleep and less likely to stir when he slipped into bed with him.
Atreus let Keith handle the ferrets, well convinced of his ability to do so, since they all occasionally had the struggle of stubborn animals. His father had it even worse. He just started picking up tools and supplies left out and started for the nearby aviary, careful to mind the grumpy bird burrowing a little deeper into his shoulder.
“You could’ve just threatened to sing to them, you know.” Though the urge to just suddenly burst into song was gone as far as a compulsion went, every animal (and some of the people) at the Sanctuary was used to Atreus singing at them, since he’d gotten into the musical theater hobby. Very few of them actually liked it. “But I can already confirm he would, he scarfed down his food, got in trouble for trying to steal Killjoy’s, and is pouting in the barn right now.”
If you listened close enough, Bessie’s annoyed fox screams drifted from the barn over to them. “Cuddles might be required.”
Luckily the singing compulsion from the last couple of days hadn’t hit Keith. Which he was grateful for, because he honestly never tried it and wasn’t looking to do so in front of strangers with the risk of it going viral like Tina’s flashmob had. “I think singing at them is a threat to all of humanity, not just the ferrets,” Keith laughed, as the ferrets edged their way down the tree, smelling the chicken he was holding out to them.
He crouched down low, making himself as non-threatening as possible, and waited. It wasn’t long before they finally made their way down to him and the food. They scarfed down the pieces they had available to them and didn’t even mind when Keith stood and started to walk to their enclosure. Within minutes, he had them cleaned up and ready for the night. “Night, buttheads,” he whispered quietly to them, giving them a few more scritches before locking them up.
Turning to where Atreus was finishing up, he said, “I’ll just check on Bessie and head out? Do you need anything else?” His stomach grumbled, reminding him he had skipped dinner. “Actually, I might head to that pizza truck that’s always open late. You want anything from there?”
Atreus could’ve told Keith he didn’t actually need to check on Bessie, who was going to end up sprawled across Atreus on his bed since he’d started giving into the foxes sleeping in his room lately, but he knew Keith enjoyed it, and the plan made him smile. If there was anything Atreus really missed lately it was having something to cuddle up to in bed, since he’d been spoiled by that for a few months now.
The foxes weren’t great at cuddling, given their tendency to whine, cry and gnaw on him when he was sleeping, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, and Lore spent most nights out patrolling.
“Nah, you go get some food, I’m going to get some sleep.” He’d heard Keith’s stomach grumble, but Atreus’ head tilted as he heard something else too. It was late enough that there weren’t usually visitors at the Sanctuary unless it was an emergency, and Atreus’ shoulders tensed as he felt the wards at the front gate breeched. They were warded to only stop those with ill intentions, but Atreus felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up regardless. “Someone’s here.”
Whiny fox and hungry stomach forgotten, Keith turned in the direction where the noise came from when he saw Atreus tense. The man didn’t spook easily, so he pulled out Krolia’s blade and called it to full form, while touching Atreus’ arm lightly. “Hey, get behind me?” The words were spoken softly, but seriously, all merriment from earlier gone. He shifted around Atreus, holding the blade in a loose position in front of him. Keith wasn’t quite in attack mode, but could get there in a second if he needed to.
Over the past several hours, Roz had gone back and forth on the best solution to the problem that had walked right into her earlier that day. The only thing she knew for sure was that Vorerra was planning on stealing a Phoenix, that Phoenix was at the Sanctuary, and that it wasn't going to be tonight. The sky wasn’t right. The night she had seen had been dark, and overcast. Tonight was clear, easier to see. It was a good night for a party. Which was exactly where Roz had just come from. The part in the quarry was really only getting started, but she had finally decided on what she should do next.
Just tell the Sanctuary. They had a god there, after all.
Roz had quietly snuck away from the party, teleporting herself to the Sanctuary, Phoebe in her wake. She wasn’t even sure if she would be able to find someone, but as luck would have it, Phoebe seemed to hear voices and took off in their direction as soon as they arrived. Roz was forced to jog after her to keep up.
The lynx soon stopped as quickly as she had started, and when Keith and Atreus came into view, she could see why. Both of them looked ready to take on an intruder (yeah, okay, fair enough. It was kind of late for a visit). Keith even had a weapon out. Roz raised both of her hands in front of her, palms up, as she came to a stop beside her familiar who had taken her own defensive posture.
“Sorry, it’s just me. It’s late, I know. But this couldn’t really wait.”
There was no explaining how heartwarmed Atreus was when Keith touched his arm and attempted to get him to move backwards. His eyes practically lit up, and a slow grin formed on his face, just utterly charmed by Keith.
Roz thankfully made her appearance so no actual bloodshed had to happen (yet), and Atreus gave Keith’s arm a squeeze in return before moving ahead of him and towards her. He was worried now since she’d said it couldn’t wait, and somehow more of a worry than just a random intruder, as anxiety settled into his stomach. “Is it an emergency? Are you okay? Is it an animal? I can go get my kit.”
When they saw it was only Roz and there seemed to be no danger following her, Keith let out a relieved sigh and recalled his mother’s blade back into dagger form. Sheathing it, he let the tension drain out of his shoulders and gave Roz a little wave. “Sorry,” he offered both Atreus and Roz, running a hand through his hair. “Habit.” A habit that kept him alive so far, but one that didn’t seem to be needed that night.
He crouched down to Phoebe’s level, offering her his palm in apology for riling her up so much. “What’s going on?” He added in addition to Atreus’ questions because it didn’t seem like Roz or Phoebe were hurt, but clearly something was happening.
“Sort of.” she said in response to Atreus’ question, “One of your animals. The Phoenix, specifically.” She had never read a post or comment about him having a Phoenix here. Roz wasn’t sure if it was a secret or not. “You do have one here, right?” She was pretty sure he did, but didn’t hurt to confirm.
“Someone is going to try and steal it.” she shifted her gaze to Keith, answering his question. “Someone from Vorerra. I saw it. Earlier today. It’s not tonight, it’s too bright out tonight, it doesn’t match what I saw. But soon.” She knew Atreus’ and his dad were perfectly capable, but if half the rumors were true about the Vorerra coven, they were powerful, wealthy, and influential. She had no idea how their abilities may impact them. For all Roz knew, she could force them both to sleep, or trap them in their minds, and that would be the end of it.
Atreus himself was prone to visions, and he immediately nodded at what Roz said she saw - there was no disbelief or hesitation, only concern. His gaze flicked back to the secure aviary towards the house, it was shrouded, a shimmering magic encapsulating the outside so no prying eyes could see in, but the birds inside could see out, as if nothing was amiss.
“Two of them.” He confirmed, trusting Roz with that information. It hadn’t been too much of a secret, one of them - his rehabilitated one - had been in Tina’s calendar, after having been found injured in the forest and brought to him for care. The other…
Atreus rubbed his hand over his face and blew out a breath. “One of them came from Margo, it was delivered the same night she got pulled back home. I think she said it was owned by an illegal private zoo, but I didn’t get much more info than that. Vorerra?”
Roz nodded once, reaching down to pet Phoebe’s head, who had taken a seat at her side. “I was at one of their hotels this weekend. Sabrina had a free stay on them for helping them against that magic stealing woman. I ran into a member of the coven there. He must have been high ranking.” Or at least high enough to be involved in the planning. It was likely at the front of his mind, so it was probably happening soon.
“Literally ran into him, I mean. It’s what set the vision off.” She’d leave out the part where she tried to see if she could See anything else too. “I don’t know if he knows what I saw. If he does, that might be enough to disrupt the plans. But I can’t be sure.” She had no idea if Vorerra knew there was more than one Phoenix, maybe both of them were potentially in danger. “Maybe Vorerra is involved in the private zoo?” It seemed like a thing they would have their hands in. Roz had no idea what the value of a Phoenix was, but she would guess that it was pretty high. Maybe high enough that trying to steal it was worth it.
Keith stayed quiet and crouched on the ground, letting Phoebe come over and petting her instead. He kept an ear on the conversation, concern growing. “That’s that one coven that’s doing all that charity work all of a sudden, right?” Keith interjected, looking away from the lynx to look at Roz now. “I don’t really get involved in the magic stuff, so I might be talking out of my ass, but I thought they were supposed to be good guys?”
The only time Keith ever got involved with magic was when something was going on that affected the whole community. But if these Vorerra people were going to come after Atreus and the Sanctuary, he sure as hell was going to get involved now. Standing up, he offered, “I’m here to help though because there’s no way anyone’s coming to get any of the animals here.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re the ones behind the private zoo entirely,” Atreus muttered. He hadn’t gotten along with Vorerra, of all the covens they had both tried to win him over and been annoyed at him multiple times in his year and a half in Vallo. He had never liked two-faced pretentious types, and they fit the bill every time he was at a Coven gathering.
“They like to pretend like they’re the good guys,” Atreus clarified to Keith. “They might do some good things here or there, but--” he didn’t like talking shit to people, and Atreus just dropped away with a shrug. “We don’t get along great. Probably even less now, if the Phoenix came from them.”
He wasn’t about to issue an apology though, given the care the Phoenix had been getting had clearly been less than stellar. He turned to look back at everything he’d built here, sure if he put his father on it, things would just get worse. “Shit. I could set a trap?”
Roz wouldn't be surprised if that was true. Rather than just being involved, they could easily be behind it. "Maybe." She agreed with a nod. "I didn't pick up anything like that, but I wasn't able to get any more visions after bumping in the guy."
She nodded along with Atreus' explanation of Vorerra. They could be doing some good, but that didn't change who they were. Or allegedly were. "They're a very wealthy coven. Publicly, they have their hands in just about any lucrative business venture you can think of. The three families that run the coven are rumored to have pretty intense mind powers. Seers psychics, mind control, who knows what else. They have a charity event coming up, but I figure it's to keep up appearances. I go to school with some of their younger members. They're not all bad people, but overall? Not so great."
A trap could work. They couldn't go after Vorerra for it. There was zero proof they were planning anything, or that there was any involvement in a zoo. "Best case scenario, maybe they know that you know. But there's no guarantee they don't try it anyway if that Phoenix is valuable enough."
Keith listened to their explanation on how the Vorerra worked, understanding that not everything was so black and white. But without a doubt, it seemed like they were powerful enough to be a problem, if they had Roz concerned enough to come here to warn them. “Round the clock guard until we’re sure they’re not going to pull something dumb maybe?” Then a thought occurred to him. “Kosmo could stick around here for awhile, once I explained the situation to him. He’d definitely be able to alert someone if something is going down.”
And as if he heard his name ringing through the Quintessence, the space wolf appeared next to them, with a puff of smoke that always followed his arrivals. He gave them all a curious look, before trotting off to greet Phoebe.
Hesitantly, he asked, “Is this something either of you think we should get the DOA involved in? Or even the Outlander Coven? I know there’s been a lot of talk about building ties with the native communities lately and the Ankou Coven’s even gotten people on the network to help with that. And they seem nice, but how contained should this be?”
“Phoenixes are one of the most valuable animals in Vallo,” Atreus sighed and rubbed his face again. “It could also just be personal, I don’t know why someone would risk my father if it wasn’t. “Gods, if he has to get involved, it’s going to get messy.” A mess that Atreus didn’t want, and he especially didn’t want Roz or anyone else getting caught up in it either.
He gave into Keith’s suggestion with a nod. “Kosmo can stay here if he wants, at least for a few days. I’m not going to keep all this from Shiro, so we can ask him what he thinks? Sara, too. Maybe M-” He cut off before suggesting Max with a wince. He wasn’t sure where he stood there. “Bonnie. I don’t want to say things publicly, it could make a bigger mess?”
Kosmo arrived with just one mention of his name, bringing a smile to Roz's face. She adored that space wolf, especially since he and Phoebe got along so well. Phoebe was on her feet to greet him, seemingly losing interest in the conversation.
"To help guard the Phoenix? I'm not sure they can do much outside of that. A vision isn't exactly evidence." But it couldn’t hurt to at least have them aware, just in case.
"Does Kosmo have any resistance against mind attacks that you know of? Mind control, illusions?" Roz had no idea if Keith would even be able to know that. "Maybe Phoebe can stay with him. I think as a familiar she has some resistance. "
“Just to have them be aware of the situation,” Keith explained, as he watched wolf and lynx go off into their own little world. It was nice to see Kosmo making friends, it was why Keith didn’t worry if he disappeared for hours out of the day anymore. “In case things escalate. I can pick up more shifts around here too? But like Atreus, I do want to get Shiro involved too. I don’t keep anything from him and he might be able to give some insights on how to keep diplomatic so we don’t unintentionally start shit?”
He ruefully smiled over at Roz. “So much for party night, huh?” He had been thinking about going over to the party, he had helped set up for it before coming to the Sanctuary, but now this was going to be on his mind for at least the rest of this night, if not longer. Looking over at Atreus, he asked, “Want me to call Shiro over?”
It warmed his heart to have them offer up their familiars, and Atreus leaned against his hand, working through this issue half in his head. “Lore can patrol or hang with them if they’re interested, he does.” He just couldn’t promise Lore wouldn’t make just as much of a diplomatic situation as Kratos, but Atreus didn’t have many other options at his feet.
“Thanks, guys.” To Roz, a little more focused, “Seriously, thanks.” Having people on his end of things wasn’t strange anymore, but he’d always be thankful. Atreus didn’t wear a watch, so he couldn’t check for sure, so he just took a shot in the dark and shook his head at Keith. “It’s late right? You guys should go to your party. We can always regroup in the morning.”
The party had already started, and as important as this was, Roz couldn’t just no go back. She had helped organize it. If she up and vanished for a long period of time, it could potentially make someone notice. “I definitely have to go back to it.” she said to Keith with a shrug. “Otherwise someone might ask where I am.” Plus she did want one last summer party before classes started. “And, you know, one last party before senior year. It’s not going to happen tonight, I’m positive about that. You have time to plan.” At least a day, which was better than nothing at all.
“Phoebe says she’s happy to stay. She likes hanging with Kosmo anyway.” If something went wrong, the lynx could always come find Roz in a second. As if agreeing, Phoebe wound her way between Roz’s legs, headbutting them with a purr, before trotting off back to Kosmo. “Tell whoever you need to tell to help keep the Phoenix’s safe. The last thing I want is to see them in the hands of the rich for their own private display. They’re better off here.”
It was late, and Roz had been gone long enough. “You’re welcome. If I See anything else, I’ll let you know. I should get going though.”
Keith had been planning to go to the party earlier, but with the newly formed bond with Shiro and Black and being tired from the day of training plus work with the Sanctuary, he had decided to skip it in the end. And with the news of the Vorerra planning this mess with the phoenix they had just acquired, he wasn't really in the party mood either. But he smiled at Roz and said, "Let me walk you there? I'll come say hi and then head home."
Turning to look at Atreus, he added, "I'll let Shiro know what's going on if he isn't already asleep and tell him to message you in the morning?"
Atreus nodded his agreement to Keith and gave them a little wave. “Have fun, guys. And thanks again.” Atreus felt Lore behind him, the wolf having picked up on the mood change, and also probably having sensed his familiar friends. “If you need anything, just send me a text, okay?”
It wasn’t like he was going to be getting much sleep tonight anyway.