convergence (Earinor & marquis)

"And was that ever meant as an insult? I'm simply saying you're sitting on heaps of dangerous stuff, because it's important to you, but you're waiting for a disaster to happen with that. Like birds do." Because they didn't know any better. Ros was never a fan of individuals housing anything, let alone magical artifacts with the prowess to change the world in its entirety - and just now, right here, his own dislike for these things was proven right for a reason. "But to create on that holds up for so long would be a different kind of prowess, no? A one-time use, an old spell, an ancient deal - anything to get the real deal.", he alledged instead. There was surely a way about this, but Nathan had to know better than him; this wasn't his usual métier, nor would it ever be. To be a jack of all trades, he had to know just enough to scratch the surface, but never anything beyond that, which was good. Grat, even. "Don't worry your head about the gist of that, it's ... not too easy to explain. Anyway. I suppose so, but there's also the option of, well. Something else. If we assume the artifact belonged to someone, or was originally from someplace that belonged to someone like me, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to simply become invisible to the naked eye as well, were it to be held in their hands. The thing is, your shop or this space isn't part of a territory, otherwise you'd have trouble seeing me when you stare at me like that." What an explanation, but Nate sure was looking at him an awful lot today. Whatever. "Hm. That doesn't make it one bit easier." And also harder to think about whodunnit, really. "Wait ... a human, well, a non-magical being wouldn't be an option, no?" Would that even be possible?

"Ugh." Of course not. This guy was the worst, and he was the one that was going to pay for that, which wasn't anything new. Acting first, safety later seemed to be Nathans entire motivation in life, and Roscoe was tired of it. Even now it became apparent that change was something he was either resistant too, or at the very least not a friend of - that couldn't be any less true for Ros himself, but he knew quite well that this was two different calibers of that. "The first leyline in recent time that ... collapsed like that was around two weeks ago, at least the first one we documented. Nobody reported it until a random human was standing in the middle of their production floor and screaming his head of. Finding a spell to make him forget anything he saw was quite a chore.", Ros divulged with a deep sigh and a heap of annoyance in that voice of his. Nothing was ever easy when one worked for the magistrate, but worse yet, there also wasn't a way to simply refuse an order - he was getting paid to listen, and listen well he did, much like something he'd never thought he'd do way back when he first met Nate. "That's another problem, then. The chances of someone knowing, given most of us either get ridiculously old or don't really die anyway is a bit too high for my liking. Do you remember where you got that thing in the first place?" Please tell me you do., Ros thought to himself, knowing that Nathan would maybe not even want to divulge that, to keep his integrity and scarcity of the artifact itself safe. If somebody just had these on wholesale, who was to say that nobody got enticed? "That I know, but there's more than one person in that profession of yours, so from one person knowing banishment magic to another, it might be an easier guess." What a dry and almost uneventful conversation of possibilities. Ros leaned against the wall he was feeling up, knowing what would await him if someone would let him fall through it - he didn't take Nate for that stupid. "Neither jealous nor overestimating myself, but alas, I am rusty. I was already kind of rusty when we got together." The last time he was in peak form he thought that eating humans while they were alive and screaming about it was a delight, which - by now - seemed like an awkward, inborn inversion of the truth. Yuck. "Maybe the magistrate has something in it's database, then? It can't be that this is the only case, ever, of something like this happening. And if the magistrate doesn't have it, I think I know who might.", Roscoe alledged, yet he was unwilling to divulge who it was, really - if they didn't have to go there, he'd welcome it. "So, where to first?"

"You're acting like I don't take extra care of all those things. You're acting like they were saver anywhere else but with me, because you never believed in my capabilities. I'm not a bird, I'm not carelessly piling shit up. Excuse me for not preparing for something I have never read or heard about before and you clearly haven't either." Nathan sounded less angry than he wanted to, if anything his voice was about to break and he could only hope he was able to mask that. This situation wasn't easy for him and it wasn't easy to talk to Ros again either. He acted like Nathan carelessly misplaced something. He took all the precautions there were, even the magistrates bank wasn't saver, he'd know, he helped setting it up. "I guess that's true...", Nathan sighed exhausted from this conversation. "Then again, even if there was a leyline or some kind of similar thing created to get in and out it would have left magic traces. You also need to know exactly where to put one, not even I know exactly where this place is in the was plane I chose. It's not a matter of relatives, I know where it is relative to my door, but I don't have the plane mapped out." Nathan sighed. Well then, it wasn't an Ijiraq either, but they weren't the only ones with weird powers. Nathans point still stood though. Even Ros presence was noticeable. Being called out however Nathan averted his gaze and crossed his arm. "A human doesn't emit magical energy, but for a human to find and open this place? That seems pretty impossible. They can't wield magic, even if shown how to theoretically. There is also no trinkets that can just remove a lock such as mine. That would defeat the point."

Of course Ros judged him even more. It wasn't surprising. "I can't think of anything interesting happening in the past couple of weeks either... in my shop I mean or upstairs." This was leading nowhere, Nathan doubted they'd find any clues here. "I found it in an old tomb nobody had touched in hundreds of years and I was very careful about potential traps.", he told Ros. He went alone too. "You can't defeat half an army on your own. Do you not think he employs beasts of your caliber, and multiple?" And Ros called him reckless. Ready to leave this place seemingly they still had to decide where to search next. Nathan was good with books, if he got access to the database, maybe he found something, but it would probably take a while. Asking someone seemed like the easier option. "I kind of want to try talking to my... business partner. I don't think they had anything to do with it, but they might know more in... their space let's say. I can go there alone however, maybe it's better anyway, they don't really like people like you. Officials that is. You could ask your friend for information or try and get the books of the guy I mentioned. You must have heard of him? Calls himself Abaddon - not related - owns some clubs around the city,... If it was sold it might have gone through him, if that was even the intention. I know it's hard to get human technology work here sometimes, but do you have a phone, so I can call you?"

"Maybe because it's safer just about anywhere but a sole persons hands. That thing would be better off destroyed, if I'm honest - and that isn't anything against your profession. An artifact like that, in the wrong hands no less, only causes harm to everyone around it. We both know that to be true.", he reprimanded Nathan once more, and even if the good old mage would probably be against admitting to that, he knew it was the right choice regardless. "No need to get so heated either.", Ros retaliated. What was Nate's issue now? Nothing that they did ever really worked for him and just like that, they fought more than they ought to - it was weird to watch, and even harder to stomach sometimes, but what was he supposed to do? Get upset about the fact he couldn't have what he wanted the most at one point in life? What a stupid thought that was, so unlike any of his own. "Which poses another problem. Somehow, some way, someone tampered with something, but one doesn't single out the other. This is needlessly complicated." As was their world anyway. The human plane was not someplace that he could see himself living in, yet this one was a nightmare to his palate in many ways. Should he move there? He could probably try, but that meant to adjust to a different kind of lifestyle that he wasn't sure he could entirely agree with - and besides, humans were ever more enticing in the worst kinds of situations, when his stomach wasn't full. Speaking of which ... "Isn't there the off-chance that a human got roped into this? I know it sounds bewildering, but you know, they aren't all as innocent as we sometimes want to believe. Or as naive. It's out there, for sure, though. But if someone gave them the knowledge and then the means?"

There was only so much they could make out about that, still. Perhaps the perpetrator wasn't human, either - maybe a bastard child of two people was enough, who knew where those people hid, anyway. What was it to them, to live a life so unfulfilled that even the sparks of magic that their mere fingertips could produce were like a ticking bomb? "That's not great." That meant no discernable abnormality in activity, nothing that could actually be pointed into a certain direction and even less that could make sense in the long run. If only Nate didn't keep what felt like fifty-thousand trinkets, maybe that which they were mulling over would be easier. "Who's tomb?" Would a ghost haunt someone? Well, that did depend on who that specific ghost was, and what bound them to this realm in the first place. "Him employing my kind, specifically, is unlikely and also, like I said, I'm rusty, so no, I can't defeat half an army of my own. Arguing about if I could, or should, were I in peak shape and condition doesn't get us anywhere." What a close-minded man that Yearwood guy was. Right, he'd like him way back when for what, exactly? He didn't remember, so it probably didn't matter anyway - and it didn't have to, regardless of anything that he came up with. "I'm not ... you do know I'm able to shapeshift without eating someone first, we have been over this. You can take me places, even if I need to change the way I look for that. Besides, I'd rather not talk to this so-called friend of mine if I don't have to, but if you'd rather split up, I don't see why not. Just don't expect me to come pick you up. Anyway, I can look into the cities archives, and if not, then I'll go talk to that guy ... as for phones. Kind of. Begrudgingly. Need it for work. I hate this piece of shit.", Roscoe admitted and procured something from his pants' pockets, most likely a phone, that he held in Nathan direction. The first look one would give it made it seem like a little black brick, but before Nathan could ask, Ros unfolded it - it wasn't old at all, sure, it was a flip phone but one for those maniacs that, this side of the century, still clung to the antiquiated aesthetics, or simply didn't care for all that modern crap, as Roscoe would call it. There was a little charm dangling from the side of it, something that seemed utterly childish, but he liked it - and unfortunately for him, if Nathan put his money where his heart was, he'd recognize the charm, too.

"Destroying such an artifact? Aside from the unvaluable knowledge it holds, do you understand how much energy that would set free? Do you understand that such a force, if not discarded of correctly, could destroy more than just a few leylines?" Clearly Ros didn't understand any of this, he didn't know what Nathan dealt with here and that was why he was always so condescending. "Nothing heated about this...", Nathan mumbled, tired if anything. "If it was easy I hadn't come to you for help.", he mumbled. This was not easy to solve and Nathan somehow hoped Ros would solve this situation in an instant. He was overestimating his abilities and his knowledge, but he was not dumb, not at all. They were both not dumb in their own fields, but Ros didn't see that in Nathan. "There is a chance a human got roped into this, but they couldn't conjure this door and they also can't just walk through my seals."

"A nameless tomb. I don't know, it was old and forgotten, there wasn't any names to be found left.", he explained, increasingly tired of this situation, mostly because he was just not willing to argue anymore. It wasn't like he needed consolidation or support on an emotional level, but he didn't need to be put down either. "I also know that you sometimes have no patience and come out when I don't want you to and you always complain it's uncomfortable in my pocket." In that case he probably didn't need to conceal his aura with his own, who he wanted to visit would probably not feel Ros' presence, but the point stood. In the end Ros could go wherever he wanted. "I don't mind where you go." Nathan plucked the phone out of Ros' hands and quickly saved his number. "Come on.", he told Ros while he was doing it, in this space he couldn't call anyone, so he had to wait to call his own phone once they were both out of there. He also quickly closed and locked the door, then made it vanish. He saw and recognized the charm, but he didn't comment on it and just gave the phone back. "So? What will it be?"

"And where did I say that- okay, you know what, I don't want to argue about this anymore. We'll figure out what to do with this thing when and if we get it back, and we both know the sooner, the better. Then we don't have to be on each others case anymore either." Which also meant he could go back to his Nathan-less routine, which would suit him quite well. He'd spent the last few years without this man, why would he want him back at his beck and call now? He'd rather eat silver bullet, casing and all. With an eyebrow raised, he turned on his heel to leave, not commenting on what was said. "I know that much - you've always been a loner, which isn't always great either, but it happens." To the best of us, and to the rest of us as well - Ros sometimes hoped Nathan would open up more, speak of whatever plagued him or prefer to spend time with him when he actually was busy, just to get out of those loner habits of his, but more often than not, that had also failed. But Ros was partially at fault for that as well; he could nag up a storm any day. "Which means it's not unlikely, yet, and the possibility that it was something without magic is also not ... out of this world, then." Which only broadened their potential register of subjects.

"That doesn't make it easier." Which also forced him to shelve the thought - Nathan would probably not be able to recall where it was, or, if he could still tell him after so long, they'd be standing in a graveyard with many a weather-worn, unmarked grave, worse for wear after such a long time and would spend days going through each and every single tomb, only to be haunted by all of the inhabitants of that which had become accursed soil. "Who said I was going to go into your pocket? Don't you trust me to be my own person?" How stupid ... why turn into a mouse, or a literal bug, maybe even a fly, to squeeze some information out of someone? What a stupid idea - besides, Nathans pockets were uncomfortable and full of an amalgamation of junk often enough. At Nathan's behest, Roscoe left and walked down the set of stairs already when he was given his phone back; he called Nathan back, so he'd have his number too, but hung up before he could even consider picking up. It was easier that way. "I'm going to the magistrate and you go have fun with your Abbadon guy. I'd rather not suffocate in your pocket this early in the morning." Besides, he was getting hungry and leaving his appetite to fester was never a great idea - it would only lead to more problems than it could solve. "You'll call or text me, or whatever when you're done? No more unlawful entry into my apartment or I'll put a beartrap in your landing spot.", he promised, crimson eyes glinting with annoyance - one of his hands was already on the door handle anyway.

"You literally said it would be better off destroyed just a minute ago...", Nathan mumbled. It was impossible to have any discussion with this man. He just made up whatever was convenient for him. "What do you mean 'It happens'...? I... whatever..." Was he supposed to apologize that he wasn't like Ros? That he didn't want a lot of people around him? Ros wasn't even better, how many real friends did he even have? Not acquaintances or colleagues, friends. Did he even realize that he phrased everything he said negatively? Nathan was pretty much done talking and he followed Ros downstairs. "I never said that..." What, reversing tactics now? Nathan was over this, not angry, just beat. "Not Abbadon that's... never mind..." Was this guy even aware what happend around him? Surely he had to have heard of him, he owned a lot of estate and he surely had to be a pain in the ass for someone like Ros who valued rules and order so much. He probably paid the right people, maybe they kept this from someone upstanding like Ros.

"How would you know where I land? It's easier if I teleport. Get my statue out the trash at least? I'll call before I do... Also maybe just make your home teleportation save, whoever set up your security was a dumb idiot... Should I teleport you back?" It was faster that way, but the answer was no. Ros hated teleporting, he always looked like someone punched him in the gut. Either way, Nathan now had time to go about his own business and talk to a certain thief. He tried a few times to get into Nathans vault, until the mage suggested to work together. Not all artifacts he had were bought legally or not and they weren't found either. Ros didn't need to know that, Nathan would never hear the end of it. More reason why he didn't really suspect Abbadon. If he truly made it inside - or made someone go inside for him - surely he would have done more than steal one artifact. He hated Nathan, but he could never prove he stole anything from him and he also didn't sell that man what he sometimes so desperately wanted. Now though not for Abbadon, it was time to talk to someone who was even more elusive than Ros.

Shiva had many hideouts, not all of them known to Nathan and she never brought anyone home with her - for good reason. Calling her did do nothing, it went straight to voicemail. Maybe she was on a job or just didn't want to be found. Nathan tried a few hideouts, most of them in the shadiest parts of town. The first three were empty, he asked a bunch of people too. Nathan fit right in here with his style of clothing and demeaner, no one took him for a mage that had a quite lucrative shop. Eventually he was lucky at the fifth hideout. Once he entered he already had a bad feeling. It was a dark abandoned looking building, but not totally broken down. It was dark outside by now too. There was a glimmer of light, nothing more and the door was not closed properly. Nathan slipped in, closing the door behind him, trying to stay silent with a weird feeling in his stomach. It grew only stronger when he spotted blood on the floor, which he carefully followed. There was heaving as well and once he entered the next room, he saw Shiva on the floor, holding her stomach. "What happened?", he asked rushing over to take a look. "You're badly wounded." "Heist... went wrong...", she answered through grit teeth. "I should bring you to a hospital." "No! No... someone's... after me..." Nathan was confused, but it didn't matter much now. He couldn't cast any strong healing spell that would fix this instantly either. "Do you have anything here to fix this up?", he asked, but only got a shake of her head. "Then I should take you to my place. it'll only take a second." "No... no no, as I said... people searching for me... they'll... follow your trace..." "Come on, you know me better than this, I can throw them off." "It's too... risky..." "Can you make the walk there?" "No..." "And you won't let me call a cab either. If I just teleport home and back here to get some things the result will be the same, so..." "Fine!" Nathan didn't need to hear more than that and a moment later they were, once more, back at his place. As knightly as he maybe wanted to be, there was no way he could carry her anyway, so he could only offer his arm to get Shiva to the bathroom. "Who have you gotten yourself involved with...?", he asked, not expecting an answer.

Ros didn't like to wax about things he didn't care about - he knew who Nathan meant, but acting like he didn't was probably the smarter of the two choices he could make, hell, messing it up was probably the better idea, even. Sometimes, he liked to level on an even field, to let the other know he wasn't just a bureaucratic nimwit that only cared about where and when he'd ascend the stairs to the next level of his career. There were many things he couldn't care less about in life, and making someone believe that he was smarter than them was never really important; Nathan knew that, when it came down to it, Ros wasn't an idiot, or as airheaded and conceited as he sometimes acted. He just liked it that way, and playing make-believe was bad for him in his own way. "Ugh, fine. I'll get your stupid trinket out of the trash and put it somewhere safe, so you don't actually hurt yourself ... and I'll do that then." Easier said than done - Roscoe was a magical being, sure, and he understood much of what magic was about in theory, but the problem that followed thereafter was the fact that he, as stupid as it sounded, often couldn't exact the spells themselves. Right, he wasn't a mage in the traditional sense, but a beast, with the power of a single element - those were different things. "Teleport me back and you're teleporting yourself into a furnace when you try to find me next time.", he forewarned Nate. No. In fact, he liked walking, he liked acting like he was a millenia old and hadn't had this kind of fancy hijinks in his youth, even when he grew up with it - he was unconventional, and that was, what he liked, too.

With that out of the way, he looked for the best way back to the magistrate, phone shoved in his pocked and coat pulled around him like he'd actually start to freeze to death sometime soon. It took a while, but he arrived there eventually, much to the chagrin of many a coworker he hounded for better reports and protocols during working hours. They weren't save from him even now, and maybe they thought he'd haunt them in death, too. Surely, he had better things to do. "What are you doing here?", Lilya asked, almost staunchly opposed to see the much taller, suddenly smiling man stand inbetween the big, glass doors of the magistrates entryway. "I forgot something. I will only need a second.", Ros chuckled and brushed past the woman, who followed him like a headless chicken would, haphazardly and suddenly, unsure what to do with him, or his continued presence in halls he shouldn't be in. "It's your day off, Mr. Dayton is going to-" "Rip off my head? I know as much. I need to get something. That's all. I'm not working, I'm simply ... using my authority as an official to look for something.", he informed Lilya in a sing-song voice, even as he stepped past one door and then the next, before he arrived at a vault that wanted something to identify him with - an easy task, that would prove ever so slightly difficult without any ID from his workplace. "Lilya, can you do me-" "A favor? Fine." She still was the only person he could tolerate, in the worst ways possible, simply because she put up with him - she shoved him into the archive and followed suit thereafter, before he already hastily walked over to the book of records, laid out in the middle of the room, and started looking for something, anything that could help them, really. "I still think you should have stayed home.", Lilya told him, nosy as ever as she loomed over his shoulder, onto his hands and the pages that he was flipping through. "I won't be long. Can you just act like you haven't seen me, make sure nobody else says anything?" "And why would I do that?" There was a pause, a long one. "This is important. I think it might cut back on our paperwork. Yours, especially." A groan. "Fineee, don't tell me then. I'll just leave you be." She sauntered off, finally, which meant Ros could get to work - and that, he did. By the time he had found anything that even served as a speck, a glimmer of hope, he'd already pocketed several tomes and books that he thought could help - borrowed them out of the system, officially, for personal reasons - and was walking back home, when he had the grand idea to start texting Nathan. >Done yet?< Nothing. Did he even have cell service? >Did you find anything?< Still nothing. >Are you okay?< By the time he got home, he had sent a fourth one. >Hello?< Not a single reply - he'd even fished the figurine out of the trash, then picked up the phone and started calling Nathan. What was this guy waiting so long for? It was dark and pretty cold outside already.

In the bathroom Nathan helped Shiva out of her clothes to take a proper look at the gash on her stomach. "Wait here.", he told her unnecessarily, rushing out to raid his cabinets and drawers. He finally came back with two sets of things, some magical powders and salves and some simple gauze. "There is nothing much I can do...", he mumbled. How often did he catapult himself in situations in which he wished that he didn't study all forms of magic, but concentrated on only one or two. If he'd be better at healing magic, this wouldn't be much of a problem probably, but alas, he could do little else than a simple human would. For his magic to do anything for her, he'd have to sit here for days. While he was at least trying to close the wound up, Shiva started shivering and her eyes darted around the room. She wasn't usually scared of anything, but now she seemed to be, while she also looked around as if something else was in here. "What's wrong? A poisoned blade?", Nathan asked, ripping Shiva out of her episode. She shook her head, but Nathan wasn't so sure.

With the wound taken care of as best as he could, Nathan brought her over to his bedroom, so she could lie down. Until now he hadn't asked any pressing questions, he knew it was not his business and she wouldn't tell, yet he had other things to ask her. No, now was not a good time. Shiva was the one starting off the conversation. "What... what did you want of me anyway?", she asked and Nathan pondered over the question for a moment. "It can wait. You should rest." "I... I don't think I can... there is... something in my head...?" "What do you mean?", Nathan asked. She sounded scared, genuinely so, he never saw her like that before. "A spell?" Nathan came closer, putting his head on her forehead, trying to find something, but she swatted his hand away. "No...", she mumbled with quaking voice. "Are you sure? A curse maybe? Who have you stolen from?" "That's not... ngh..." "What have you stolen then? Was it protected?" "No..." Nathan didn't seem to get anywhere. She was oddly eluding, but she always was. "Rest. We'll talk when you did. I can put a sleeping spell on you if you think it would help." She nodded. It wasn't very strong, but it would help calm her and she seemed tired enough. Once her breathing got deeper Nathan sighed and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Four missed messages and a missed call from Ros? Maybe he found something? Nathan got up from the bed, not leaving the room, but putting some distance between him and Shiva. Deafening this conversation wasn't hard either, he too had his secrets. He called Ros back and as soon as he picked up started talking: "Did you find anything?"

Nathan hadn’t picked up immediately, either. Ros was starting to believe that this guy was either doing this on purpose, to try and get him off his back after all, or something had happened. Sadly, unlike the likes of Nate, he couldn’t just teleport places and he was thankful for that - he’d hurl if he had to do it a second time today. For now, he tossed his coat and shoes off, then put the books, tomes and scripts on the coffee table in front of his sofa and plundered his own fridge for a quick snack. Wasn’t he hungry earlier? He definitely should have grabbed something when the first bout of hunger had hit him - now, there was nothing that he wouldn’t have to actually turn into a meal in his fridge, aside from some assorted baked goods he should definitely eat soon. Fine. Stir-fry it was - he was quick to change his clothes into something less uppity, grab an apron and one of the books from earlier, so he could read while he worked; he could have also eaten an entire piece of meat from his fridge, raw as was, yet, it was probably preferable to finally get used to all those colorful, bark-tasting vegetables. No amount of seasoning fixed that, ever.

Worried about the semantics of it for now, he barely concentrated on reading, and then, with the pan on the stove already, his phone rang. How did he pick up that call again? Ah, like this. He figured it out just in time, eyes now glued onto two tasks at once and phone wedged between ear and shoulder, he mouthed a “Hello?” into the receiver. “Some general stuff. I brought the documents to my apartment.”, Roscoe informed Nathan, straight up, no bullshit. Why criticize him now? “I’m reading through it right now to figure out a concrete lead, but so far I only have general approximations, some hints at who a possible suspect could be and the loosest of stuff on you-know-who.” It was better than nothing, maybe those paper reports would actually have their time to shine now. As Nate was probably busy on the other end of the line, he wondered what took him so long. “What about you? Got anything yet? When are you coming back? Do I have to have you picked up?”, Ros offered, something that sounded sensible for once in his life, but instead was probably a thread to send someone that would throw both Nathan - and Shiva - into cells, safety at the cost of freedom. “There’s also something else I want to show you in person. Can’t talk about it.” Not that it was terribly important - but phone calls weren’t safe either, even if they weren’t exactly hooked up to one of their magical networks. “Figurine’s out of the trash if you were waiting for that.”

Ros took a while to pick up, but he eventually did with his antiquated phone yelling Hello into the phone like an old man. He informed him of not really have found anything, but what was he even on about afterwards? "Coming back? Since when did your apartment become the base of operations?", Nathan asked. Sure, Ros didn't want to teleport and he graciously let Nathan teleport into his, but still, he wasn't aware they had to meet up every other hour to talk about their findings. Nathan was back in that sense, back home and he didn't plan on leaving anymore. "I... that will have to wait... a situation arose here, so I can't leave right now.", he voiced over the phone. As intrigued as he was, he felt uncomfortable leaving Shiva alone for multiple reasons. One, she was hurt, confused and seemingly scared and two, he didn't want anyone alone in his home, much less if that someone was a renowned thief, hurt or not. He doubted she'd wake up anytime soon, but he was better off staying with her. He hadn't asked her about the artifact yet either.

"We can talk tomorrow, maybe, I'm not sure. Sorry, I know this is important, but we won't do anything over night anyway I suppose." Ros could read some more, maybe actually find some leads and Nathan could fulfill Ros' prediction of being useless and do nothing but care for a hurt woman that might not even have any information for them. Right, he could at least see if he could figure out if she had been poisoned or cursed and a way to help her. "I'm hanging up.", he informed Nathan assuming there was nothing else to discuss. For a moment he wondered if Shiva was safer with him, but he doubted it. It was a wonder he helped Nathan, there was no way he'd help a woman he didn't know and he would force her to a hospital for sure, or into a cell if he found out who she was.

This was getting more bizarre than anticipated and Ros didn’t know how he felt about it - sure, there was always the odd factor that Nathan changed his mind, or got busy, or involved with some shady stuff judging his line of work. Whatever, then. Not his business and he couldn’t care less about making it his, either. “I’m not walking the distance to your shop everyday and I’m also not in the mood to be teleported there, or I will throw up on your floor.”, he informed Nate; it wasn’t that he minded the walk, it was more about the principle in itself, wasn’t it? There was nothing to fear when it came down to it, but standing in the kitchen, manhandling a pan full of stir-fry and asking Nathan when he’d come home was oddly reminiscent of when they were still together, with the small difference that they bridged that communication with a magic trick or two instead of a phone, something that Nathan had tried to get him to use and Ros had felt too antiquated for. “Not right now? When can you, then?” Roscoe’s brows furrowed and his entire brain searched for a sensible answer of ‘when’ when was and what could have happened. “Are you okay?” Something he didn’t get an answer for either, it seemed.

“Tomorrow, maybe? Fine.”, Ros grunted, and was already informed Nate was hanging up. Before he could protest, the connection had been severed and the phone was unceremoniously dumped on the counter next to him. For now he finished up in the kitchen, then ate and then went back to actually looking for better clues, getting out some paper and something to write with so he could put these things back to where they had been borrowed from. Having these out and about wasn’t great, but he didn’t feel like spending the entire night in the magistrate’s archive to copy some information on paper - his investigation didn’t lead him too far, but as expected he’d not only found bits and bops of research on how human interacted with magical properties, among of which sealing magic was, and of his own kind, as if the book knew more than he himself would. As he poured over them, the clock ticked on an on, and by the time he got to the reports about Abbadon, or the ones that were still intact, rather, and he could get a copy of, he was snoring off on his sofa, only startled by quite literally hearing his alarm the next morning. Fuck. He had work today. Right. Ros’ back and neck especially hurt, much like he’d gotten ten centuries olders overnight - he prepared for the day as swiftly as he could, then headed out, everything in hand and promptly shoved back into the vault, aside from the files about their new little friend. The moment he sat down in his office, Lilya gave him a glance. “Good morning, Ros!”, she almost shouted. “Too early.” “What are you looking at anyway? Oh, that guy!”, Lilya snickered, already peering over his shoulder. As always, Roscoe put his hands in front of it. “Don’t you have something better to do?” “Don’t you want to know more about Abbadon, then?” “… Fine. Your price?” This wasn’t going to end well.

Ros seemed weirdly attached all of a sudden again and weirdly... diplomatic? There weren't too many questions and he seemed to bite his tongue somehow. Nathan was glad about it and once he hung up he sighed. Now about the curse or whatever. Nathan spent his night examining Shiva a bit while she slept and reading a lot in his own books. He couldn't detect any poison or curse, she seemed fine from a magical standpoint. It would be easier if she told him what happened if she wanted him to help her. Then again, she seemed reluctant to take his help at all. Nathan eventually fell asleep on his desk, head on his books. He hadn't eaten dinner either, he wasn't hungry and when he woke up in the morning he was still not hungry. Besides, he was woken up by Shiva waking up and she didn't seem to have a good time either. Once she woke up she was confused and didn't remember where she was. Nathan explained it to her, but she didn't calm down, telling him over and over that it wasn't save here.

"You're acting like there is someone after me too.", he mumbled, only to get a weird look even he recognized as such. "Wait, is there? Why?", he asked only for her to shake her head. "Why can't you tell me? No... You don't want to tell me.", he pointed out. She didn't respond. "Look, I don't care what it is, I won't just give you up to whoever it is. You're not cursed and you're not poisoned... you need to tell me what happened if you want me to help you." "I never asked for your help...", she mumbled still not privy to that idea. Nathan was a bit at a loss, he was never sure how to get information out of people and maybe Ros was better equipped. The mage couldn't really spare time on someone wanting to find and... do whatever with him too. He felt relatively save here though, there were some trap seals everywhere in the shop and his apartment. Should he tell Ros about this? He'd probably go full guard dog mode, which wasn't pleasant for anyone. He wondered if this had anything to do with the artifact. He decided to get up for now and offer Shiva some breakfast and while he prepared some texted Ros. >Kinda learned something?< >My contact claims someone is after her... and me, but I can't get much else out of her...< >I'm not good at this, any advice?<

Lilya made her own set of demands quite clear immediately, and Ros could only agree to them - thankfully, they were childish at best and damning at worst, which only went to show that she had no idea how this type of stuff was supposed to work. Good for him, bad for her, yet a deal was a deal and a meal that cut into Roscoe’s paycheck was fine anyway - she’d have a fancy dinner with his card and he’d have her off his back, besides, she’d also divulge some information to him, which sounded like a siren song. One he fell for, for once. “So?” “Dinner first.”, Lilya demanded, yet Ros shook his head immediately. “It’s the middle of the day. And who says you aren’t lying?” “I’d never l-“ “So your application wasn’t full of lies?” She shut up immediately and Ros smiled at her; sure, they worked here equally as long, yet someone as pragmatic as him had an easier time rising through those ranks than a conniving, lying and thieving snake like Lilya, who landed the job by chance. “Fine.”, she huffed. Thankfully for Ros, she was insisting on giving him written evidence, which meant she wouldn’t chew his ear off - and they could at least pretend to work. He was even as courteous as to take the phone on his desk - something nobody even used - off the hook.

His nose buried deep in yesterdays research, he could only find out so much about Abbadon and his seedy business practices; he’d been reported numerous times, from the smallest of infringements to the worst of heists. The moment Nathan had mentioned him yesterday, the more he knew he’d probably find a lot of him - and yet, not all of it was just reports of his wrongdoings. Between pages upon pages of misdeeds, the occasional glimmer of hope, of proper behavior shone through, only to hit a new low soon thereafter. This man was a lunatic and if Lilya knew him, as she alleged, it didn’t seem at all foreign to assume that she might have either worked for him or was maybe even still doing so, yet, didn’t have any desire to leave her new, cushy life. As Ros was about to get up to get himself some coffee, his phone buzzed - did his boss find that he was unable to call him? Maybe. He should check, and check he did, after he made his way to the coffeemaker. That wasn’t the old man - it was Nate, sounding as cryptic as ever. >?< If he found out about something, he could just type it. >I’m at work.< He let the other man know. >She’s being elusive?< So his contact was a woman - great, seemed like they had more in common then. >To get her to talk?< Roscoe didn’t beed to think for long. >Wrap her around your finger with promises of something she’d like, or offer her an exchange for the information she’s withholding.< >If she still won’t budge, you can always threaten her.< >And if she won’t tell you anything after that, you’ll just need to beat it out of them.< What noble ambition that was. >I will assume she won’t respond to torture, like any secretive folk does.< >Best guess is to manipulate her into slipping up. Need me to do it?< Nate had never been good at that sort of thing and Ros, well, if he had to break someones bones, that wouldn’t be the first time.

Ros' tips were probably good, but Nathan didn't know how to do all that and he didn't want to hurt Shiva either. He tried to put something together in his head while he finished preparing the breakfast, but when he got back Shiva was on the way out. It took Nathan quite some time to stop her and talk her out of leaving. Once she finally agreed to take better care of herself and heal before she left. She obviously didn't like Nathans questions and he had the feeling he needed to be very careful of what he said. It somehow worked out to be humble, because Shiva seemed to have a conscious after all. Her back and forth eventually lead to her telling Nathan it wasn't save here at all and they should both leave and run. It probably took Nathan too long to put one and one together, or rather to admit it to himself and ask the right questions he wanted to ask from the start. One by one he got puzzle pieces he could actually put together.

He needed to call Ros, this was bad. Even though he thought Ros would talk him into a lot of things he wasn't willing to do, he needed to tell him what he learned. >When are you home? <, he texted. He wasn't even sure if Ros looked at his phone during work. >I'll have to do something, but then we should talk. Can I come over? < Nathan wanted to help Shiva and if she didn't feel save here, he wouldn't force her to stay. Nathan agreed to bring her somewhere else, he couldn't crare for her or heal her even though he felt lile abandoning her, but he had some places he could teleport to far away and from there bring her a bit further. She said it was better he didn't know where she went and he agreed. Once he was done, he teleported to Ros' place, even though he didn't have the okay yet, but he'd be fine with it right? He could wait there until he was home.

With no immediate response, he went back to work - actual work this time - and let Lilya write her little confession back in her cubicle. What did he care if it was done now or in three hours? As long as she delivered, he would give her enough coin to feed herself for a week, if that’s what she was out for, and yet, knowing that glutton, she was going to waste it all in one night - distasteful, but no wonder when she was constantly overexerting her powers. The reports were all the same; someone had caused a ruckus there, some kids had stolen from a shop, a leyline collapsed over there, a human had walked into a bar and fainted after seeing a centaur. Predictable and boring, much like the routine he loved so much - it didn’t bring a smile to his face, it never would, but it was at least reassuring that this boring old job would still be here for him, even in half a century, as long as he hadn’t grown bored of it and realized that he’d never been made for this. Wasn’t it silly? Sooner or later, they’d told him, he’d crave that which he had forsaken, and yet, Ros called them liars, thought of them as scum - he much preferred to not be confronted with eventualities.

Another sound from his phone didn’t make him look up, but there was another, which probably meant Nathan needed something again; he’d rather not look, even as curiosity wrapped him around its finger. >I can leave early if it’s really urgent.< Did he want to? Maybe. Who knew if he’d actually do it, though. >Like what? But fine, just don’t make yourself too at home.< Coming over meant - most likely - coming there before Roscoe even had the chance to head out of work, and he was certainly not gonna rush now. His paperwork wouldn’t file itself, but he had a grand idea soon enough. Without thinking too much on it, he quickly sifted through half of it, divided it down the middle and put his card atop the pile of papers, before he delivered it to Lilyas desk himself. “I need to leave earlier.” “And you’re dumping your work on me?” Ros chuckled as her gaze grew darker, more agitated than it had to be - a scowl didn’t suit a young lady like her. “My card is on that pile. Get that report for me done by tomorrow, yes? And if you spend more than what we agreed on, I’ll make your life a living hell. Got it?” “I-“ “Thanks. I’ll see you.” Ros grabbed his coat when he headed out, stopped at a supermarket on the way home to actually have stuff to make dinner with and then headed up the stairs to his apartment. “Good evening.”, he murmured when he entered, took his shoes off and looked over at Nathan. “Did you eat yet?”, was his unprompted first question.

While Nathan waited for Ros to come home, he figured he could look over the papers and books Ros' had spread on his table. He did say he found something and Nathan was interested. He lost track of time while he looked through everything and only was brought back into reality when he heard the door. He looked up, got up even and greeted Ros with his presence. "No, but I found out a few things. My contact was the one stealing the artifact. Not for herself, it was a job that went trough Abadon. I guess she didn't take anything else out of courtesy. They gave her some kind of artifact that disables megic according to her. She only had to conjure the door, then walked right through the seals. Apparently all seals, she got almost killed by one of the eldritch beasts... " Ros didn't care about this specific fact and Nathan wasn't sure if there was anything anyone could do for Shiva. All the while he talked, he also ran after Ros who headed for the kitchen and started to put groceries away.

"Once she gave the artifact to Abadon, she thought all was good, but she saod6she noticed someone following her. They tried to kill her, maybe because of what she knew avout the artifact or this anti magic thing. She said they might be after me for the same reason and... Well if that's true I suppose if they have more of these anti magic things, they could just walk right in with nothing stopping them. Abadon has to have some knowledge about the buyer, we should try to find out. My contact never met them and the one they sent after her she didn't know either. " Nathan now stood in the kitchen, having dodged Ros while he started cooking, buzzling around him like a bird."So? You haven't said anything. And you said you found something too?"

"Of course it was.", he replied with a sigh. Too many pieces fell into place too easily, but who was he to say that all of this wouldn't pull its own weight? The sooner they were done, the better it was - actually, even better if they were done right about now, or in a hot minute, and they could wrap this up so he would be left to his own devices again. However, that would still warrant a report and it meant they had to seize the artifact - Ros was in favor of fixing the damage it had wrought, yes, and then dispatching of it like one would of trash; in a magical incinerator that would rid itself of the powers that thing possessed and would forever keep it out of harms way. This was the right way to deal with something like this, no doubt about it - Roscoe didn't want to argue, he knew Nathan would, but it was in his nature, much like it was in the nature of a beast to kill. Appeased with some of the explanations he got, he had walked himself over to the kitchen, put some things away and then put on an apron, knowing he'd get his clothes dirty like this even still, but he knew that Nate wouldn't leave his side now, he was practically brimming with energy and the need and want to do something about it all, right now.

While Nathan wrapped his story up, Ros chopped some vegetables - tomatoes, paprika and onion - and put a frying pan on the stove. Was Nate always like this? He sounded almost intoxicated, or maybe intoxicating, with the way he was ranting on and on about his fights. Of course he had to be - why else would Ros have ever paid interest in him otherwise? "Where is she?", he calmly asked, knowing the answer at the back of his throat, like bile rising from beneath: Not in custody, on the run, probably as good as dead anyway. Nothing fazed him anymore, not after that many years. "Which means we need to talk to Abaddon, get information out of him and maybe also seize his means - and with that I mean the artifacts that let him do all of that in the first place.", Ros recounted, his eyes looking at the red mush that the tomatoes turned into under all that heat; he'd set up a pot for noodles, too, and was waiting for the salted water to cook, actually, as he sauted the paprika and the onion, turning it all into a mess, red mush with glassy white pieces sticking out between. "I'm just thinking about how we'd even get close to Abaddon. Also, you're close. Too close.", Ros made clear and gently shoved Nathan a slight ways away from him; he didn't indulge in stuff like this at all, not when he was hungry. "Anyway. I was sifting through Abaddons standard cases with the city, some mixed stuff of fines and fees, reports of good and bad deets, the whole works. My coworker alledged she knew more, but she couldn't talk about it, so she'll tell me by tomorrow - it's safe to assume she was either working with or for him, or is, still. Though, I doubt she's loyal to him, at all. Either way, if she can fess up enough of what we need, it might be grounds to touch bases with him and blackmail him into fessing up.", Ros explained to Nathan, salting and spicing up the pasta sauce he was seemingly making. "I also found out that he has a knack for ... finding artifacts that mysteriously went missing from private collections and official vaults. Not all of them, but some of them. Probably part of a bigger scheme to get ahold of more power - but if that one isn't for him, I wonder who'd want it."

"Where is she?", Nathan reiterated the question, then shook his head. "I don't know, I dropped her off and let her go.", Nathan answered a bit irritated that that was the first question he got. "Yes, he has to know who he sold this thing too. At least my contact said it wasn't for him.", he nodded eagerly, being shoved out of the way, but he didn't mind. "This other artifact... I've never read anything about it, Abaddon must know more about it too. He can't be having that for long I think." Again he stood in Ros' way while he cooked and eventually was told off. "Sorry." Was he even listening properly? Nathan walked over to the doorway that led to the kitchen and remained there for now to not be in the way of Ros' cooking that seemed so very important to him right now. What was he even making there? It didn't matter much, Nathan never complained he just ate around the things he didn't like.

"Well maybe he would let me in, if just to never let me go again. I can mask your energy and could just take you with me and then when he boast about himself, let you out of my bag so to say and you do your thing?", he suggested. He wasn't sure if an official could just do that without getting into trouble, but then again if Abaddon would call the police or someone official he'd have a load of other problems on his hands." If she works for him, could she figure out what he knows?", Nathan wondered. Maybe they didn't have to go on a dangerous mission lile that in the first place? "Well it has to be someone who paid Abaddon enough or gave him something that was of equal worth. I doubt Abaddon would have much use of the artifact, but he probably knows it's worth. I wonder if he got to keep that thing my contact used to break in."

"You could have just told me, I could've made sure she'd get put into custody and well, kept around, if that's really what you wanted anyway. Like this, it might be safe to assume that's the last time you'll ever see her, dead or alive.", Ros explained the reality away, but Nathan knew as much for sure. They lived in an unforgiving world, one that was like a beast of its own and swallowed those it deemed unfit to live within it whole. That was, at least, until someone brought in some fresh meat, new blood - anything to keep things in order. "Whatever that could be. If it's that dangerous and well, useful for things like that, we might as well get rid of that entirely. But I don't want to argue about that. Just ... let me get rid of things for once, will you?" Often, it appeared as if these things were more than trinkets and weird, crooked keepsakes. There was something so strange about Nathan and his fellow mages; they'd never allow themselves to be called thieves, or magpies, or in kahoots with some sort of devil of greed that made them flare up at the slightest mention of power, of novelty, of something nobody else could have. So they'd covet it, as the thieving pack of them had always done. "Thanks." The sorry was unexpected, but they had gone over this, lots of times.

"Arrest him? Like that? I mean, I assume I could, or I could simply mimic my coworker to get in, if she is in kahoots with him. A bit of shapeshifting never hurt anybody, though, I guess it's not entirely fool-proof." Lilya wasn't like him, and someone with burning red eyes like his was going to stand out like a sore thumb, especially next to all of the other people this guy seemed to employ - if they were like Ros, they'd know his disguise was just that, but who was to say that an ijiraq even had an actual, real form? Shapeshifters never were that well-versed in philosophical stuff like that. "If. I don't think she does, still, and I also have a feeling that if she were to hand back to where his base of operations is, I'm not going to see her ever again and I'd rather not risk something like that. Even if she's annoying." There was something about the pasta sauce that he'd grown to loathe by now, maybe he'd need to put in some meat? No, Ros wasn't feeling like eating any tonight, but he knew he'd only grow restless over time. "We can find that out, and if he still has it, I'm taking that - not you. Anyway, do you want beef in your pasta sauce or not?", he asked flat-out, as if they were back to being a poorly domesticated couple, just like old times. Good, bad old times.

"You mean you would have made sure you lock her up. Unlike you I can listen to someone's wishes and besides, I wouldn't want her locked up either.", Nathan was quick to retaliate. Ros would one day lock up Nathan too, as he somehow tried before, but next time he probably wouldn't just try to use reason. All in the name of keeping others save. "You... You don't understand. We don't know if it's the only one of it's kind, we'd be much better off understanding it instead of getting rid of it..." Ros was always the same, he hadn't changed either. He'd throw everything magical away if he could, not thinking about its value or danger if just disposed. He disregarded things he knew nothing about. Nathan didn't want it for himself, he didn't want to use it, he wanted to learn about it, to study it. Maybe the knowledge he could gain would prove useful, maybe it could be used to make vaults more save too, but they'd never know if Ros just threw it away.

"Wouldn't that get her in trouble? At least if you don't blow your cover?", Nathan wondered, but as much as Ros cared for him once, it seemed he cared for nobody else anyway, which some would fault his nature for. Nathan had seen him at his worst and he didn't judge him for it, but for such a high and mighty attitude, he forgot who he was. He always denied who he was and Nathan couldn't deal with that. "What is your plan then?", Nathan asked, being the only one who made real suggestions so far. Ros was apparently too busy cooking, as if that was important right now. "You... Ugh..." It was impossible to talk to this man. "I don't care about some meat right now. We have more important things to think about."