Who: Lucifer & Istredd When: Eifstide's period + November Where: Thorne What: The worst people to be dealing with children (Child's Play quest). | Istredd's No Good Very Bad Reckless Experiment Warnings: N/A first thread, angry/yelling/violent Lucifer second thread.
"No. No, no, no. I have been a well-behaved teacher's aide and helped out in your classes when you and Señor Bullshit have decided I need more going on in my life but--" Lucifer threw up his hands. "I do not. Deal. With children." He had done that once. Read stories to kids in the library as part of his community service for the Hayle Incident.
Of the two tasks he had done for that--gardening, reading--only one of those he continued to do ever since, to the point that they weaseled payment for such things from one of the Conclave requests.
It followed through in the intricate web of an alternate reality, cultivating the land in the Nether with pride, later doing an upheaval of his Horizon domain to echo it, and then beginning to form a grove in the place that should've eventually become Kell's. His followers, his blood. The man may've hated what happened in that reality but there should be something here. Something left as a physical mark, when no doubt the rest of them disappear and with that their memories of him.
"I need you to do this," Ingrid said, more frazzled than usual. "Please."
Lucifer dragged in a deep breath, hands drawn together, thumbs tight at the bridge of his nose.
"I'll owe you?"
"What could you possible owe me!" he shouted, but trudged off regardless.
He was, thankfully, not alone in pulling the short straw among the Summoned. The downside of being a Summoned teacher is that you entered the chaos pool twice over. Maybe triple, Lucifer wasn't exactly keeping count.
The teachers were pressed thin and the Summoned were needed to help and Istredd was far too kind to really say no because like Lucifer, they had appearances to maintain.
One of these days Lucifer is going to say screw it all to his hard work at the position he's gotten himself to and just wipe his hands clean of it.
(But then he wouldn't be allowed near the battlefield to amplify the influence of the heralds.)
Istredd's been getting licks of his frustration over the bond so it shouldn't be too much surprise when they meet halfway that Lucifer's first spoken words are: "I don't want to hear it."
Istredd does not like children much himself. He doesn't know how to talk with them. Teenagers are difficult enough for him to process and he's still not very good with them. He's tried his best when dealing with children in the past, but it's clear this is not a comfortable role for him. Teacher and trainer, yes, but babysitter, less so. Still, when asked, he is far easier to persuade than Lucifer. He doesn't argue at all, merely sighs and rubs his temple, nodding in acceptance. His effort is needed and whatever is happening to these children, it needs to be handled gently.
It does get in the way of his actual work though. Istredd hates that. He has lesson planning to do. So he's not in a terribly good mood either when he meets up with Lucifer, although amused at the idea someone managed to bully him into it at all. "Neither of us are good choices." He shrugs. Istredd is nice but he's awkward and his infinite patience does not make him automatically good at speaking with children.
"Listen, let's just approach it like this is a spell that needs to be broken. You like puzzles." Trust Istredd to take the logical approach since their annoyed feelings won't get them anywhere. They've agreed to do this. They might as well put in the effort now that they're here. He grimaces when the group of children they've been assigned comes to them but he masks it over with an attempt at a smile. Most of the children are acting normal as of right now, but they all seem to have acquired the same toys.
I hate those dolls. I don't understand why they don't simply remove them from the situation.
"Puzzles. Right. What if the children are what need to be broken?"
Said children are already starting to get hyperfixated on their dolls and do not pick up on Lucifer's suggestion.
One day Istredd will get a doll in the form of fungi.
Lucifer will think it equal parts awful and funny and charming.
But that is not this day.
Gentle is not how Lucifer intends to deal with children. Pick them up by the scruff of they're neck like their animals is the only way he's escorting them to and fro, though he only has two hands in this form, so not... very effective.
He's reminded of the prison of his form in the most useless ways sometimes.
Go ahead. Take a doll away. See what happens. Lucifer does not particularly want to deal with screaming/crying/what-have-you children, but in the name of logic and puzzles and Experimentation surely they should witness the results.
(Lucifer's expression reveals that he does not at all think it's a good idea to take the dolls away.)
"They can hear you." Istredd reminds him, since they are in fact babysitting at the moment, although then he glances at the kids and it turns out they are not, in fact, listening. So Lucifer's veiled (and untrue) threat doesn't concern any of them.
If he gets a fungi doll he's going to throw it at Lucifer's head.
Istredd is gentler with them, unsurprisingly, even holding hands or delicately placing a hand on their backs to guide them. He may only appear to be better at this than his partner, he also is not great at it. This is why he's glad 'their kids' are teenagers already. Not that it doesn't have its own downsides, but a sassy teen is not the same as a possessed child.
Istredd pauses at the suggestion and sighs. He can't argue with the idea of testing out what happens. This is experimentation after all, and he needs to know how they react before figuring out what kind of curse this is.
"You need to pay attention, let me hold onto your doll for now, okay?" Istredd cringes because he can guess at what's coming next, but this is logical, it must happen. He picks the doll out of their hands and true to form, the child freaks out.
At first, she just panics and starts grabbing at it back from Istredd's hands, no sanity in her gaze. "It's mine!" She screeches and practically tries to crawl up Istredd's body to get to it. He holds it over her head, mildly panicked himself.
"Lucifer, help." Yes he needs help from the child, especially if they're going to study the doll, which they need to do!
He does not care that they could theoretically hear him. Maybe that would get them to behave.
There is a different drawback to children versus sassy teens. The children are (usually) less likely to be as rebellious, easier to manipulate. Then again, Lucifer once thought teenagers could be wielded into something useful, and look what that got him.
Trapped in the concept of faith, directed at him, with those kids knowing the evil that rolls beneath Lucifer's layers. Problems.
He raises a brow at Istredd's suffering but only for a moment before he's bodily hauling the screaming miscreant off of Istredd with both hands, her clawing little fingers desperate to get a last hold to the mage. The screeching, unfortunately, does not stop, and only the non-tranced kids of their group look uncomfortably their way. The others remain unbothered, transfixed to their dolls.
Kid's going to grow up to be a bruiser. He's holding her at arm's length, away from Istredd, like she may even bite one of them. Feral little beasts. Now's your chance for examination, Istredd, otherwise please give her the doll back.
Istredd takes the doll and does a quick spell on it to see if he can identify anything on it. Nothing obvious comes up right away and he cycles as quickly as he can between a few options. I was leaning toward a curse but .... There is nothing that stands out to him as one. Curses are powerful and other mages should have been able to pick up on one if that was the case.
He hands the doll back to her and she immediately goes back into the trance in Lucifer's grip. It's disturbing. "There is absolutely something wrong." They both know that but there is no more obvious evidence than that. Istredd is used to having answers so this is a little irritating. He doesn't want to have to babysit the kids forever while they turn into little dolls themselves.
Any enchantments you can see that I can't? His magic doesn't cover everything, and he's found that Lucifer's skills have surpassed his in many ways, due to practice and patience.
I don't know Abraxan curses. Someone might? He doesn't drop the child but it's a near thing. He lets her go slack in his grip, now almost sedate with her attention returned to her doll. What's she seeing that we can't? It isn't like they've been drawn to the dolls, though age may have something to do with that.
He doesn't pluck the doll out of the girl's grasp, but she's easier to keep held aloft with one hand now that she's been reduced to this. It allows him to only faintly touch the object so precious to her, a fingertip traced over the edges like he's looking for any woven-in magics, a sigil, even an arcana. He's seen enough, over time. She tenses at his touch of the object, but doesn't react further when he does nothing more.
Nothing I can trace.. Annoyingly. He skims his gaze over the other children and while some eyes jump away, there are others that are curious.
Istredd glances to the boy and narrows his eyes. "Pause." Just like that, the boy does. He rarely uses his psychic abilities in this way against anyone, but this one doesn't appear to be infected with whatever she is. He needs minds to compare against, and he's not going to also be grabbing children when one of them is. The boy doesn't feel or think anything about it, he's completely normal. In just a handful of blinks he's back to himself and looks confused but ignores them.
Istredd then looks at the girl and does the same. He doesn't need to touch people to get into their minds, that's usually just what he does for a stronger connection. Her mind is a different story altogether and it shows on his face as he steps closer, eyes narrowing slightly. He can hear something. A song. A lullaby?
"Something ...." He does reach out to touch the doll, and she tightens her fingers around it, but he doesn't take it this time. He listens. "Return?" He hears something, but it's unclear, until he says that and the kids playing with their dolls all at once say it out loud. Return.
"Well that's the beginning of a horror movie in making," he says, looking at the kids and their eerie, echoed, parroted response. To them, he asks, "Return to what?" but doesn't get a response.
He finally drops the girl...
... gently ...
... enough.
She catches herself and her knees don't buckle.
He pulls out his flute, a gift from Aster in the Nether, but sometimes he misses the ornate carved instrument from the other reality. Then again, he had better skill in that reality. Still, he's gotten better from his irritating (if not generally purposeful) tunes. He plays a few long notes, attempting to break focus of whatever lullaby Istredd heard from the girl's mind.
The idea of a Pied Piper--off the German folk legend Hamelin, in which the Pied Piper plays music to lure rats and children out of town--to get the kids to go where they need them to. Except he doesn't have any musical magic, so the only children that follow after him are the non-tranced ones, asking a plethora of interested questions: "Where did you learn to play?" "Can you teach me?" "Who made your flute?" "What song is that?"
Istredd lets Lucifer distract the other kids, it's for the best because they can only get in the way at this point. They're there to protect all of them, but most are doing fine, there's only the doll ones to worry about. Keep going. The ones with the dolls are focused on them and Istredd lets his mind back away from the music and everything else. He clears it and opens the door and touches on all the minds around him.
The ones who are listening to Lucifer he can lock away. The others all have that lullaby although it starts to fade away, some of Lucifer's music coming in. He hears the return but he is more focused on the dolls, until he sees figures in their mind. Standing over the dolls. It's all on the outskirts of their mind so easy to miss if people didn't delve in deeper the way he has. He reaches out mentally, digging into their minds.
Possession, maybe, I think I have an idea. I'm going to need you to sound bad. Screech, make something that would startle them.
If he focuses on his own unwritten song, just a slew of notes, in order to push out the sheer annoyance from the presence of the children, he can see further on the edge of their linked minds. Using Istredd's own awareness, the thrum between them, the song, the children. On the edge, just a flicker. The shadowy figures towering above the dolls, not the children. There and gone, sunk under the dam of minds and the filtering-in of lullaby and would-be horror movie openings.
Lucifer doesn't so much ignore it as he does simply just listen to Istredd, changing his pitch in rapid motion first. Sharp, shrill, Lucifer's own change of tone given to song. He picked up the flute as a gag, an annoyance; began as annoyance and that's what he easily churns up.
He hopes other teachers can hear the irritant.
Shrill falls into classic haunting themes. Jarred, out of place, pulling away just shy of what should logically be the next notes in a run and drastically, rudely, going in the opposite direction.
To think that after a year of flute-dabbling he's gotten good enough that he can skillfully conjure bad and wrong.
Istredd gathers his strength for when Lucifer is ready to do his part. They are still an exceptional team when they put their mind to things, always in step. He has Lucifer's own mental strength along with his, they can accomplish much this way. His touch on all the infected children's mind is gentle until it's not. When they react to the sharp change from Lucifer, flinching and getting pulled away from their dolls even briefly, he makes the move.
Dispel. It is a dozen sharp cuts on strings that cannot be seen, only sensed. Puppet strings hanging over the children and in one slash he clips them, using his psionic power to do so. He was trained on how to manipulate minds and break them, but he's far more comfortable freeing them from the very things he could place down. This is in Stregobor's wheelhouse of creating what these children suffer from. He can backtrack it.
The kids don't outwardly react in an obvious way, they don't cry out or panic, but they seem to get dizzy and confused. A few drop their dolls entirely, disoriented. The others keep it with them but it's not clutched as tightly, it's not tied to them the same way. This was only a selection of children so it's not as if he had to clear a room of adults. They all pay attention to Lucifer's playing now, no longer possessed.
They're going to want to check in on the people who made these. I have a suspicion it was no simple dollmaker.
If they can find anyone. Similarly to there being no mark of an enchantment, I didn't particularly notice a maker's mark. Whether or not anyone--kids, parents, teachers--remembered who gave them the dolls. Wasn't there reports of dolls vanishing from shops?
Lucifer hears a lot of rumor on any given day. Most of it gets filtered out and ignored. But some of it shakes between the cracked flows of his mind to be shaken out later. He cared less about the dolls, obviously, but disappearing stuck. Disappeared, not stolen.
Better yet... He's still playing, if only because it keeps him from having to answer a renewed barrage of inane questions from the children, walking backwards in the direction that they're supposed to be escorting the flock. Without the possession, surely they can make this batch of misfits someone else's problem. He'd just ditch them here but the last thing they need is finding out the possession retook them.
Weren't the Summoned helping to create dolls last year? Again: did not care about the dolls; did care about tinkering with the enchantments. He does not remember if those dolls and these dolls have any likeness in the slightest. (They don't). But in the way of magic they don't really have to, do they? The Summoned touching anything has a chance to eventually come back and screw with the rest of them.
Edited (scrolled down SLIGHTLY MORE and saw what I've been looking for) 2024-10-30 21:58 (UTC)
You can probably end the quest on yours to turn in :D
So someone could be taking the dolls and putting something on them. Strange thing to do. Specifically to children too. Very predatory. It could be that adult minds are stronger, and they are only testing out these dolls on smaller minds.
Now that they are with themselves though he follows with Lucifer, shooing the kids along so they can escort them back to where they're being picked up. They do barrage Lucifer with questions and Istredd is pleasantly left alone, the benefit of being the boring book guy as opposed to the musician. He keeps up the rear guard and picks up one of the dolls that was dropped. Nothing on it now, a simple inanimate object.
Possibly. Although I'd think someone would have mentioned it already if they had. Istredd doesn't remember it himself but he also is not the type to make something like that. He's not a creative. I'll check in with the mages and let them know to look out for these. Who knows what they could end up making children do in a trance. Walk off into the night, steal things. Be bothers in general.
Look, is he going to fault someone for targeting the weak minds of children?
Of course not. A+. Good plan. Seems to be working fine for whatever seed of darkness may take root and grow.
Except it's messing with his daily life so Get Out.
Enjoy your freedom from the children Istredd because Lucifer could easily redirect the questions with a few easily placed words, but he doesn't.
Kids can get into smaller spaces. But if they really want to know they'll keep a possessed kiddo under surveillance and see if they try to return anywhere. Or something return to them.
There's nearly a spike of interest but it's still too boring for Lucifer to consider. He wouldn't put it past Thorne if things start escalating beyond this though.
Lucifer ignores "do you know..." some song he's never heard of. "Can you play..." another song he's never heard of. "What's your favorite..."
Just kidding he's done. He stops playing and gestures at Istredd with the instrument. "You know he looks nerdy but this man can single-handedly swipe out a pack of Torcainse from Nocwich with his magic and not break a sweat." Lucifer can too (though not with magic), of course, and even if Istredd tries to bring it up, they've already turned their focus locked to him. "Bet you haven't seen your teachers in action like that."
And that's how they spend the rest of the walk, Lucifer primly amused by the newly distracted children and their diverted questions.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thedevilwhorose) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
abraxaslogs2024-10-02 03:49 pm
no subject
"No. No, no, no. I have been a well-behaved teacher's aide and helped out in your classes when you and Señor Bullshit have decided I need more going on in my life but--" Lucifer threw up his hands. "I do not. Deal. With children." He had done that once. Read stories to kids in the library as part of his community service for the Hayle Incident.
Of the two tasks he had done for that--gardening, reading--only one of those he continued to do ever since, to the point that they weaseled payment for such things from one of the Conclave requests.
It followed through in the intricate web of an alternate reality, cultivating the land in the Nether with pride, later doing an upheaval of his Horizon domain to echo it, and then beginning to form a grove in the place that should've eventually become Kell's. His followers, his blood. The man may've hated what happened in that reality but there should be something here. Something left as a physical mark, when no doubt the rest of them disappear and with that their memories of him.
"I need you to do this," Ingrid said, more frazzled than usual. "Please."
Lucifer dragged in a deep breath, hands drawn together, thumbs tight at the bridge of his nose.
"I'll owe you?"
"What could you possible owe me!" he shouted, but trudged off regardless.
He was, thankfully, not alone in pulling the short straw among the Summoned. The downside of being a Summoned teacher is that you entered the chaos pool twice over. Maybe triple, Lucifer wasn't exactly keeping count.
The teachers were pressed thin and the Summoned were needed to help and Istredd was far too kind to really say no because like Lucifer, they had appearances to maintain.
One of these days Lucifer is going to say screw it all to his hard work at the position he's gotten himself to and just wipe his hands clean of it.
(But then he wouldn't be allowed near the battlefield to amplify the influence of the heralds.)
Istredd's been getting licks of his frustration over the bond so it shouldn't be too much surprise when they meet halfway that Lucifer's first spoken words are: "I don't want to hear it."
At least Istredd isn't alone in the task, right?
no subject
It does get in the way of his actual work though. Istredd hates that. He has lesson planning to do. So he's not in a terribly good mood either when he meets up with Lucifer, although amused at the idea someone managed to bully him into it at all. "Neither of us are good choices." He shrugs. Istredd is nice but he's awkward and his infinite patience does not make him automatically good at speaking with children.
"Listen, let's just approach it like this is a spell that needs to be broken. You like puzzles." Trust Istredd to take the logical approach since their annoyed feelings won't get them anywhere. They've agreed to do this. They might as well put in the effort now that they're here. He grimaces when the group of children they've been assigned comes to them but he masks it over with an attempt at a smile. Most of the children are acting normal as of right now, but they all seem to have acquired the same toys.
I hate those dolls. I don't understand why they don't simply remove them from the situation.
no subject
Said children are already starting to get hyperfixated on their dolls and do not pick up on Lucifer's suggestion.
One day Istredd will get a doll in the form of fungi.
Lucifer will think it equal parts awful and funny and charming.
But that is not this day.
Gentle is not how Lucifer intends to deal with children. Pick them up by the scruff of they're neck like their animals is the only way he's escorting them to and fro, though he only has two hands in this form, so not... very effective.
He's reminded of the prison of his form in the most useless ways sometimes.
Go ahead. Take a doll away. See what happens. Lucifer does not particularly want to deal with screaming/crying/what-have-you children, but in the name of logic and puzzles and Experimentation surely they should witness the results.
(Lucifer's expression reveals that he does not at all think it's a good idea to take the dolls away.)
no subject
If he gets a fungi doll he's going to throw it at Lucifer's head.
Istredd is gentler with them, unsurprisingly, even holding hands or delicately placing a hand on their backs to guide them. He may only appear to be better at this than his partner, he also is not great at it. This is why he's glad 'their kids' are teenagers already. Not that it doesn't have its own downsides, but a sassy teen is not the same as a possessed child.
Istredd pauses at the suggestion and sighs. He can't argue with the idea of testing out what happens. This is experimentation after all, and he needs to know how they react before figuring out what kind of curse this is.
"You need to pay attention, let me hold onto your doll for now, okay?" Istredd cringes because he can guess at what's coming next, but this is logical, it must happen. He picks the doll out of their hands and true to form, the child freaks out.
At first, she just panics and starts grabbing at it back from Istredd's hands, no sanity in her gaze. "It's mine!" She screeches and practically tries to crawl up Istredd's body to get to it. He holds it over her head, mildly panicked himself.
"Lucifer, help." Yes he needs help from the child, especially if they're going to study the doll, which they need to do!
no subject
There is a different drawback to children versus sassy teens. The children are (usually) less likely to be as rebellious, easier to manipulate. Then again, Lucifer once thought teenagers could be wielded into something useful, and look what that got him.
Trapped in the concept of faith, directed at him, with those kids knowing the evil that rolls beneath Lucifer's layers.Problems.He raises a brow at Istredd's suffering but only for a moment before he's bodily hauling the screaming miscreant off of Istredd with both hands, her clawing little fingers desperate to get a last hold to the mage. The screeching, unfortunately, does not stop, and only the non-tranced kids of their group look uncomfortably their way. The others remain unbothered, transfixed to their dolls.
Kid's going to grow up to be a bruiser. He's holding her at arm's length, away from Istredd, like she may even bite one of them. Feral little beasts. Now's your chance for examination, Istredd, otherwise please give her the doll back.
no subject
He hands the doll back to her and she immediately goes back into the trance in Lucifer's grip. It's disturbing. "There is absolutely something wrong." They both know that but there is no more obvious evidence than that. Istredd is used to having answers so this is a little irritating. He doesn't want to have to babysit the kids forever while they turn into little dolls themselves.
Any enchantments you can see that I can't? His magic doesn't cover everything, and he's found that Lucifer's skills have surpassed his in many ways, due to practice and patience.
no subject
He doesn't pluck the doll out of the girl's grasp, but she's easier to keep held aloft with one hand now that she's been reduced to this. It allows him to only faintly touch the object so precious to her, a fingertip traced over the edges like he's looking for any woven-in magics, a sigil, even an arcana. He's seen enough, over time. She tenses at his touch of the object, but doesn't react further when he does nothing more.
Nothing I can trace.. Annoyingly. He skims his gaze over the other children and while some eyes jump away, there are others that are curious.
Hell. Just what they need.
"What are you doing?" a boy asks them both.
"Nothing," Lucifer answers.
"It doesn't look like nothing!"
"It looks like nothing of your business."
The boy's cheeks puff out, annoyed.
no subject
Istredd then looks at the girl and does the same. He doesn't need to touch people to get into their minds, that's usually just what he does for a stronger connection. Her mind is a different story altogether and it shows on his face as he steps closer, eyes narrowing slightly. He can hear something. A song. A lullaby?
"Something ...." He does reach out to touch the doll, and she tightens her fingers around it, but he doesn't take it this time. He listens. "Return?" He hears something, but it's unclear, until he says that and the kids playing with their dolls all at once say it out loud. Return.
no subject
He finally drops the girl...
... gently ...
... enough.
She catches herself and her knees don't buckle.
He pulls out his flute, a gift from Aster in the Nether, but sometimes he misses the ornate carved instrument from the other reality. Then again, he had better skill in that reality. Still, he's gotten better from his irritating (if not generally purposeful) tunes. He plays a few long notes, attempting to break focus of whatever lullaby Istredd heard from the girl's mind.
The idea of a Pied Piper--off the German folk legend Hamelin, in which the Pied Piper plays music to lure rats and children out of town--to get the kids to go where they need them to. Except he doesn't have any musical magic, so the only children that follow after him are the non-tranced ones, asking a plethora of interested questions: "Where did you learn to play?" "Can you teach me?" "Who made your flute?" "What song is that?"
Well, look. He's got some of the kids' attention.
no subject
The ones who are listening to Lucifer he can lock away. The others all have that lullaby although it starts to fade away, some of Lucifer's music coming in. He hears the return but he is more focused on the dolls, until he sees figures in their mind. Standing over the dolls. It's all on the outskirts of their mind so easy to miss if people didn't delve in deeper the way he has. He reaches out mentally, digging into their minds.
Possession, maybe, I think I have an idea. I'm going to need you to sound bad. Screech, make something that would startle them.
no subject
Lucifer doesn't so much ignore it as he does simply just listen to Istredd, changing his pitch in rapid motion first. Sharp, shrill, Lucifer's own change of tone given to song. He picked up the flute as a gag, an annoyance; began as annoyance and that's what he easily churns up.
He hopes other teachers can hear the irritant.
Shrill falls into classic haunting themes. Jarred, out of place, pulling away just shy of what should logically be the next notes in a run and drastically, rudely, going in the opposite direction.
To think that after a year of flute-dabbling he's gotten good enough that he can skillfully conjure bad and wrong.
no subject
Dispel. It is a dozen sharp cuts on strings that cannot be seen, only sensed. Puppet strings hanging over the children and in one slash he clips them, using his psionic power to do so. He was trained on how to manipulate minds and break them, but he's far more comfortable freeing them from the very things he could place down. This is in Stregobor's wheelhouse of creating what these children suffer from. He can backtrack it.
The kids don't outwardly react in an obvious way, they don't cry out or panic, but they seem to get dizzy and confused. A few drop their dolls entirely, disoriented. The others keep it with them but it's not clutched as tightly, it's not tied to them the same way. This was only a selection of children so it's not as if he had to clear a room of adults. They all pay attention to Lucifer's playing now, no longer possessed.
They're going to want to check in on the people who made these. I have a suspicion it was no simple dollmaker.
no subject
Lucifer hears a lot of rumor on any given day. Most of it gets filtered out and ignored. But some of it shakes between the cracked flows of his mind to be shaken out later. He cared less about the dolls, obviously, but disappearing stuck. Disappeared, not stolen.
Better yet... He's still playing, if only because it keeps him from having to answer a renewed barrage of inane questions from the children, walking backwards in the direction that they're supposed to be escorting the flock. Without the possession, surely they can make this batch of misfits someone else's problem. He'd just ditch them here but the last thing they need is finding out the possession retook them.
Weren't the Summoned helping to create dolls last year? Again: did not care about the dolls; did care about tinkering with the enchantments. He does not remember if those dolls and these dolls have any likeness in the slightest. (They don't). But in the way of magic they don't really have to, do they? The Summoned touching anything has a chance to eventually come back and screw with the rest of them.
You can probably end the quest on yours to turn in :D
Now that they are with themselves though he follows with Lucifer, shooing the kids along so they can escort them back to where they're being picked up. They do barrage Lucifer with questions and Istredd is pleasantly left alone, the benefit of being the boring book guy as opposed to the musician. He keeps up the rear guard and picks up one of the dolls that was dropped. Nothing on it now, a simple inanimate object.
Possibly. Although I'd think someone would have mentioned it already if they had. Istredd doesn't remember it himself but he also is not the type to make something like that. He's not a creative. I'll check in with the mages and let them know to look out for these. Who knows what they could end up making children do in a trance. Walk off into the night, steal things. Be bothers in general.
finger guns (sorry Istredd)
Of course not. A+. Good plan. Seems to be working fine for whatever seed of darkness may take root and grow.
Except it's messing with his daily life so Get Out.
Enjoy your freedom from the children Istredd because Lucifer could easily redirect the questions with a few easily placed words, but he doesn't.
Kids can get into smaller spaces. But if they really want to know they'll keep a possessed kiddo under surveillance and see if they try to return anywhere. Or something return to them.
There's nearly a spike of interest but it's still too boring for Lucifer to consider. He wouldn't put it past Thorne if things start escalating beyond this though.
Lucifer ignores "do you know..." some song he's never heard of. "Can you play..." another song he's never heard of. "What's your favorite..."
Just kidding he's done. He stops playing and gestures at Istredd with the instrument. "You know he looks nerdy but this man can single-handedly swipe out a pack of Torcainse from Nocwich with his magic and not break a sweat." Lucifer can too (though not with magic), of course, and even if Istredd tries to bring it up, they've already turned their focus locked to him. "Bet you haven't seen your teachers in action like that."
And that's how they spend the rest of the walk, Lucifer primly amused by the newly distracted children and their diverted questions.