It will rain again tomorrow (RP)

Benji waits a few minutes for the attention of the crowd to shift elsewhere and then quickly slides down from the roof and drops down to the street below. He lands lightly, gives himself a shake (splattering any nearby pedestrians with rainwater), and then sets off across the bridge. By the time he reaches the other side, Amira and her companions are, of course, nowhere to be seen.

Rather than give up, he trots up to the statue of Boadicea and Her Daughters across the road from Big Ben, offering them a very formal bow. "Good morning, ma’am! An honour, as always. I’m looking for three women wearing headdresses who passed by this way. Would you be so kind as to tell me which way they went?"

- Mark -

The effect is most concentrated by the river, but the water level is too high for you to find a place to work down there. The next best place to get away from the crowds is the lane, just off where it intersects Victoria Embankment (A3211), the magic of the lane keeps the pedestrians out better than the rain.

As your senses probe the magic in the area you get a clear sense of power, old power, this is an effect that has been here for a long time. You don't know of anyone who can lay down spells that last that long, even the best working you have encountered —or even heard of— needs to be refreshed from time to time. It is possible, you suspect, that this effect has been refreshed, but even that is so long ago that it barely matters to this equation.

Your phone rings just as you are trying to wrest answers from the enchantment, breaking your concentration. Any irritation that might make you not want to answer is sidelined by who it is calling (and possibly why the call came through if your phone was on silent).

"Mark? Where are you?" Shelyna (the head of your Order) demands, sounding harassed. "What are you doing poking around the demesne of a dragon? Do you have a death-wish?"

There was a set of dragon statues [street view] near the border of the effect. Mayhaps that was meant as a warning to those in the know? But you were never told about dragons in London. What have you stumbled into?

What do you do?

- Mark -

"Photograph? Why? Nevermind." Shelyna says. "Meet me at the Garden Room Grill. I will be there in ... 7 minutes."

You passed the restaurant during your exploration of the lane [map]. Apparently Shelyna knows pretty much exactly where you are, but, even more surprising, is how quickly she can be there. Was she in the area? The chances of that are low. Has she dropped everything to rush here? This might be even more serious than you thought a moment ago.

The Garden Room Grill is a small, old-style pub and grill with a modern pastiche. Unsurprisingly it is quiet and mostly empty, though there is a group of two hipsters working on their laptops at one of the downstairs tables. The only waiter is an average-looking young woman, wearing a peasant blouse and long skirt over bare feet. She watches you curiously as you enter.

"Welcome." She says, warmly, if rather formally. "Table for ... two?"

If you brought Jena with you you will need a table for three, but there are plenty of tables and she will let you sit anywhere.

You still have several minutes before Shelyna's arrival. Do you order anything? Do you order anything for her? Do you have questions for the server?

What do you do?

- Jacob -

Kendi notes down your particulars on a clipboard, you catch a glimpse of Lizbeth's name as a heading at the top, and a string of people who have tried to see her over the past 24 hours. The sergeant dutifully phones through your name to someone at the back, waits a long time for a reply and then turns to you impatiently. "The lady does not know you. I will have to ask you to leave before I have you arrested." She does not say for what, and it is probably an empty threat.

It takes some finagling but eventually you find that Benji's name, and a quick call to confirm, opens doors, literally. "Well, why didn't you say so." Kenedi exclaims exasperatedly as she buzzes you through to the back, calling for someone to take over the front desk for a while and joins you, showing you the way personally. "You aren't a literal 'guardian angel', are you? With Benji's type of friends you never can rule anything out." She says.

---

Lizabeth looks terrible. On top of the fact that she always dresses sloppily and is usually dirty and covered in mud (or dust when such stuff still used to exist), she looks like she has spend the day and night in a jail cell. She glances eagerly past you to see if Benji is with you, then eyes you nervously.

"Can we go?" She asks, seemingly more concerned with getting away from here than anything else. If you were a 'bad guy' it would have been very easy to get her to leave with you, she needs more protecting than you thought.

"I think it may be best if you leave through the back entrance." Kenedi whispers. "The street is empty, but I keep checking and something feels off, you know what I mean?"

Lizabeth wants to go home, but Benji indicated there were unknown people at her home.

What do you do?

- Benji -

Without moving, Boadicea turns her gaze upon you with a slight smile. Aloof as all the statues are, she has always been friendly to you, ever since she was erected, other people come and go, but you have been something consistent. Once again you get the slightly uncomfortable feeling that her daughters, especially the one on her right, really want to cover up their breasts, and are not happy with the throngs of passers-by ogling them. People say 'it was a different time' but you have had this impression since the beginning. Stoically, they have not complained, though, and nothing has been done.

Boadicea and her daughters are know to watch the byways. They are usually a good source of information about people's movements. But there is a slight hesitation before Boadicea replies, as though she was considering her answer carefully.

"They passed. Heading that way." Somehow the statue indicates direction without moving, but then somehow they are able to talk to you without motion either. If you did not see their unmoving mouths, you wold swear they were talking normally and you were hearing with your ears, but, even though outside noise can make them hard to hear, no one but their intended conversee ever hears their words, even if they stand between.

You already know they passed in that direction, and Boadicea knows you know, but she does not seem to want to tell you more. This is strange, usually these three women are happy to share —never demanding any payment that you know of— but, in this special case, they are mum.

What do you do?

- Jacob -

Lizabeth collects and signs for her things, barely looking at the contents of the plastic bag and just shoving it into a large, inner pocket. "I need to charge my phone." She complains, holding up the dark screen.

"Why can't I go home?" She asks once you are in the car. The street out back was empty, but you see what Kenedi means: the looming facades definitely give the impression of being watched.

What do you do?

- Mark -

"So dragons are real? You never said." Jena seems excited by the events.

"How do you... Oh," She says, taking a while to catch on to why you care. She looks down at her shapeless jersey and mud and grass splattered, soaking wet tennis shoes, and tries to pat her sweaty, gym-lank hair but settles for pulling her beany tighter on her head.

"You look fine." She says, though you suspect she is leaving out a 'by comparison'.

• What are you wearing? You were coming out to do work, and to check the school, you were not preparing for a date.

What do you do?

- Jacob -

"Why isn't it safe‽" Lizabeth wails, sounding very distraught and confused. "I don't know why I was arrested. I don't know how these things work. They said I was a thief, and then they were saying I was a spy... but they dropped that for some reason. They they were saying all sorts of things that did not make sense, but I zoned out and let the lawyer handle it. Then they let me go. And now you are saying Benji says it is not safe! What is going on‽"

She looks very young and very vulnerable, tears streaming down her dirty face.

What do you do?

- Mark -

"Yeah! But dragons! Wow!" Jena says. She looks equally uncomfortable with the idea of meeting a dragon and meeting Shelyna. She tries to laugh at your joke about kissing, but there is an edge to it, and she watches you, worried.

The clock ticks, it has been exactly seven minutes, now seven thirty, now seven forty-five. Shelyna sounded so definite and precise, but it is nearly eight minutes before she walks in, a flurry of rain accompanies her entry and she is looking over her shoulder at something behind her, she looks impatient and irritated, but she is alone.

Shelyna will apologise for being 52 seconds late.
• Aside from that, how does she greet you before getting down to business?
• Is this her customary way or does she seem stressed?
• Describe her style and demeanor.

"Well… yes. That much was clear to me too," Benji says, puzzled by Boadicea’s reluctance to help. He hesitates. The longer he stays and talks, the further away Amira and her companions get but, at this point, he doesn’t have much hope of finding them again without the statue’s help anyway. "Did you see where they went specifically? Or do you know who they are, perhaps? They broke into my friend’s home and I’m trying to figure out if I can trust them or if they mean my friend harm."

- Mark -

Shelyna is not carrying an umbrella, but there are only a few drops of rain on her coat and hair as she approaches the table. "Good morning. I'm sorry I'm late." She greets the two of you. "This weather... well, we will get to that.

"A glass of white wine, please." She says to the waiter. "What are you having?" She asks yourself and Jena. Jena will follow your lead, but the food smells great and everything on the menu looks appealing.

"I was going contact you today, anyway." Shelyna continues once the wait staff are gone. "To talk about the weather." You suspect there might be a joke in there, but, with Shelyna, you can never be sure. "I am wondering what you have heard? But first, what's this business of you taking photos?"

What do you do?

- Benji -

Boadicea pointedly ignores your two questions, which suggest both are a 'yes' and she does not plan to reveal this information. When you talk about the break-in she looks uncomfortable, though.

"I am sure they mean no harm." She replies, not sounding all that sure. "Unless your friend is up to no good."

This may be a chink you can seize to persuade them to reveal more, if you say the right thing, but every moment you spend talking to the statue puts the sisters that much further away, the rain is already dispersing their scent past the point where even your vampire senses are struggling to detect them.

What do you do?