cont. from FnF on Cascade Hall

Flora Deschamps (Madeleine Dautin)

November 08, 2016 8:38 PM

cont. from FnF by Flora Deschamps (Madeleine Dautin)

Lily’s willingness to join in on the game was exactly why Madeleine had decided that Lily was to be her best friend at Sonora. She knew that the other witch was already close friends with Jozua, but Madeleine was prepared to make accommodations in her life for him too. Besides, Lily had gone to the ball with Jozua without having known him beforehand so he was probably more important to the British witch than Bastien was to Madeleine and she made time for him every day. Besides, Jozua seemed like a rather interesting wizard to get to know and anyone who Lily liked Madeleine was also determined to like. Unless that person was Arianna Valenti. Nope, Madeleine was never going to like that girl and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it.

“Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Ms Osbourne,” Madeleine replied, using her Flora voice again stumbling over the word acquaintance. “We have to track our first lead. Our contact has asked us to meet him in the New Delhi Grove for a dinner and some chicken feed.” Switching back to her own voice momentarily so that she could explain to Lily what that meant, Madeleine said, “Chicken feed is American for spy information, and the New Delhi Grove is Cascade Hall.” And then, back in her Flora voice, “I don’t know what our contact looks like. In fact, I’ve never seen him before but according to my take (that’s another American word for information, she explained) you’ve worked with him on a previous mission, Code Name Fallen Sky.”

Flora looked at Avery pointedly, hoping she would understand that she was indeed talking about Jozua Sparks and the Midsummer Ball.

10 Flora Deschamps (Madeleine Dautin) cont. from FnF 340 Flora Deschamps (Madeleine Dautin) 1 5

Avery Osbourne (Lily Spencer)

November 09, 2016 4:36 AM

To our first encounter. by Avery Osbourne (Lily Spencer)

Madeleine was using loads of new vocabulary that Lily did not know, but she was able to keep up only because her friend stopped to explain it to her. “Brilliant,” she said, piecing together Flora’s case. The next bit was piecing together her own character as Flora continued. Avery Osbourne: detective extraordinaire, strong and brave just like a wizard. But, really, the Watson to Madeleine’s Holmes in this world. She didn’t mind that much; she’d always liked Watson’s character in the stories her siblings had read to her and she was used to playing the second string (or fourth, really) as the youngest in her family.

Lily didn’t really understand what Flora was talking about as they started walking to Cascade Hall for dinner. Who was it that they were supposed to meet? The only wizards she knew that Madeleine could possibly mean was either Jozua or Killian, but then both she and Madeleine had played make-believe with Killian last year. Did she mean Jozua? It wasn’t a secret that he was her best friend. But what mission could she be talking about? Lily hadn’t told a soul about their Secret Order of Knights and she hadn’t planned to without Jozua’s permission. But, as he was the only wizard Lily could think of, she decided to bring him into play as well.

“I certainly did,” said Avery as she pushed open the door to the dining hall. The aroma of different foods made her stomach grumble. She couldn’t wait to eat. “He’s a kind, handsome fellow. Helped me out of a few scrapes myself.” Avery looked around for him, hoping he would be there. “Ah, there he is! Shall we approach him?” asked Avery. She hoped Madeleine would pick it up from here as Lily did not know what they were aiming for, exactly. She and Joz usually pretended to battle magical creatures as knights without elaborate stories to aid them.

If Flora did decide to approach him, she hoped Jozua would be in the mood for some mysterious fun. Though they played together, Jozua always did seem more mature than she. “Go ahead and take the lead, then,” said she encouragingly.

40 Avery Osbourne (Lily Spencer) To our first encounter. 357 Avery Osbourne (Lily Spencer) 0 5

Flora Deschamps

November 13, 2016 1:02 PM

Assassins are always a good dinner topic. [tag: Jozua] by Flora Deschamps

Madeleine smiled as Lily picked up on her cues for Jozua being their contact and as each step brought them closer to Cascade Hall, she shed her French schoolwitch image and felt herself become, quite fully, Flora Deschamps, unzipping her school robes so that they flapped ominously behind her. And to do so around another person was completely relieving. She had been hiding for so long and quite often Madeleine felt like she was going to explode from not being able to play with anyone but, it seemed, she had at long last found her niche.

"Handsome, is he?" Flora's eyes twinkled at her partner's words. Even though she herself wasn't interested in any sort of romantic dalliance, a bit of romance always went a long way in a thrilling plot to save the world and she was more than happy to have her partner be the one mixed up in that. No, flirting and boys were not for Flora Deschamps (nor Madeleine Dautin, for that matter) unless she was pressing them to discover who in the world had assassinated the foreign dignity of the day. "Then he'll definitely be a help when we've got to question the ladies!"

She nodded as Avery pointed her towards the mysterious man eating alone in the darkened corner of the New Delhi Grove. Avery was right. He was striking in a calming sort of way if that was what one was into. She flounced herself down in front of him, putting her knees on the bench, the wood pressing into her bare skin in a pleasant manner whih she knew would leave imprints, her elbows on the table in front of her and her head propped up on her hands as she leaned forward. "Have you got it?" she whispered hoarsely. "Have you got the chatter?"

While she had slowly helped Lily to understand her spy jargon, unzipping her school robes to reveal the pretty black dress she wore beneath it had put Madeleine into full Flora mode and as such, all notions of reality had completely melted from her thoughts. She was 100% Flora Deschamps, running around the middle of Asia with her partner, Avery Osbourne and the only thought on her mind was hunting down assassins.

10 Flora Deschamps Assassins are always a good dinner topic. [tag: Jozua] 340 Flora Deschamps 0 5

Jozua "Fallen Sky" Sparks

November 16, 2016 11:47 AM

This is the strangest conversation I've ever had. by Jozua "Fallen Sky" Sparks

Jozua was minding his own business eating his meal, as was his norm. He hadn't seen Lily when he came in, so he'd found a spot near the wall, a seat that was out of the way and unlikely to be bothered with unless someone was specifically looking for him. He had one chapter left in his book and he hoped to finish it before heading back to Teppenpaw tonight. He liked reading in the Cascade Hall because all the waterfalls drowned out the conversations of everyone else and he could focus on the story without feeling like a hermit or something.

He was therefore startled when Madeleine and Lily joined him. Not so badly as he had been when Emmy Lou interrupted him in the library, so at least he didn't draw a wand on them this time, but he initially blamed his inability to separate himself from a fictional world of knights for why Madeleine wasn't making any sense when she spoke but then he realized she wasn't making any sense because she wasn't making any sense.

He looked at her in confusion, then at Lily, hoping for some clue as to what Madeleine was on about. The chatter? What? He'd specifically selected a seat next to the waterfalls so he couldn't hear any chatter. Why on Earth would Madeleine think he was the one to go to for gossip?

"Uh," he said, "The Science Club is experimenting with chemicals this week?" he guessed, figuring somebody in Aladren might be talking about that.

1 Jozua "Fallen Sky" Sparks This is the strangest conversation I've ever had. 348 Jozua "Fallen Sky" Sparks 0 5

Avery Osbourne

November 20, 2016 9:03 AM

It's about to get stranger. by Avery Osbourne

Avery wasn't used to Flora's aggressive American demeanour, but she went along with it. She was a detective of few words, in any case. She soaked in all of the American terms she needed to remember now and followed Flora into Cascade Hall where she spotted her colleague: Fallen Sky. It was a strange code name - was 'Fallen Sky' supposed to be a euphemism for something? - but then again codenames weren't meant to be taken literally.

Lily felt sorry for disturbing Jozua especially because she knew how much he enjoyed his reading time. He looked surprised at the onslaught - though he was most likely used to it by now from her - and when he looked at her she raised her brows in a familiar play along expression. Whilst it wasn't often, there were times when she just threw a game at him and made up the rules along the way.

"Right-o!" she exclaimed at Jozua's admission. "That's the perfect place to brew some poison accidentally-on-purpose. Wouldn't you agree, Flora?" Avery turned to her new acquaintance, eager for this bit of information to be accepted. She looked back at Jozua and grinned. "It's nice to see you again, 'Fallen Sky'." Avery held out her hand to shake his.

0 Avery Osbourne It's about to get stranger. 0 Avery Osbourne 0 5

Flora Deschamps

November 24, 2016 4:40 PM

Something stranger this way comes! by Flora Deschamps

Flora was confused for a moment. Fallen Sky was the name of an operation, not the contact, but it was possible that someone had kidnapped her and rewired her memory so as to make mistakes. Perhaps she was getting too good, too close to the answer! It was quite possible that someone wanted her moving about but still thrown off. It was something to think about anyway and that meant she had to be extra vigilant about everything she did.

"Ouais, smart thinking, Avery," she breathed--a proper spy wasn't loud unless they otherwise needed to be. She was glamorous and best known for her fabulous hats and striking shades of lipstick, but she was also on a mission which meant she had to be as blended in as possible. "Your intelligence is unparalleled by any other," she directed towards Fallen Sky as she skipped the stiff, English handshake for a French faire la bise not really caring if Fallen Sky would be taken aback by the double air-cheek kiss. Besides, it was trademark Flora Deschamps and if she couldn't have her hats or her lipsticks then she was going to have her bise!

Flora slide into the seat across from Fallen Sky and continued to talk in the affected, overly-French husky whisper. "Now, tell us everything you know about the conspiracy! We may need to run a raid--you'll lead it, of course, as the senior officer reporting on the crime." It was plain to see that they were on Fallen Sky's home turf and while she and Avery were the heads on their assassination case, it was obviously tied up with some sort of local dealing where Fallen Sky was in charge. He had so much intelligence on the situation already.

"And my dear," she continued. "If we're going to be working together, then we really ought to call each other by our first names..." she trailed off, hoping Jozua Sparks would understand that she didn't want to continue dealing with a nameless contact.

10 Flora Deschamps Something stranger this way comes! 340 Flora Deschamps 0 5

Hank Niagara (Jozua Sparks)

November 24, 2016 11:14 PM

I was anticipating. This is definitely strange by Hank Niagara (Jozua Sparks)

Lily gave him the play-along look, so it was a pretend game, which he was all about, but normally they didn't include others in their games, so he was still a little uncertain about the whole thing. But Madeleine - er, sorry, Flora - seemed pretty into her thing (he was attributing her air kisses to playing her part) and he trusted Lily to play fun things, though this did not seem to be one of their normal adventures.

They were running with his Science Club information, turning it into some kind of conspiracy thing. Right then. It sounded like it might be a detective thing, maybe?

He still wasn't entirely caught up on what exactly was going on, but he would break the game by asking, so he just had to wing it and hope they could work with any mistakes he made. First, though, he needed a play name. A name other than 'Fallen Sky' that was, which was evidently some kind of code name they'd been using until he could name himself.

Jozua looked around the Hall, seeking inspiration, but pretending like the glance was to make sure they weren't being eavesdropped upon. "I'm called Hank," he said, in a low voice, not really quite sure where the name came from, but it popped into his head, and he went with it. It sounded like a good senior detective name at any rate. His last name, however, he knew exactly how the Cascade Hall had brought it to mind. "Officer Hank Niagara. My precinct has been watching this very suspicious club for a while now."

"Good to see you again, too, Avery," he said with a nod to Lily. "I'm glad to have both of your help with this investigation. We suspect a mole on the force, so outside eyes are a great help. We know they've been using meetings to exchange information and use unsuspecting students to help them with their objectives, but we are uncertain if the club president is one of the conspirators or if he and his club are just being used."

1 Hank Niagara (Jozua Sparks) I was anticipating. This is definitely strange 348 Hank Niagara (Jozua Sparks) 0 5

Avery Osbourne

November 27, 2016 2:49 PM

Not strange, just a new reality. by Avery Osbourne

Madeleine - that is, Flora - was brilliant at this. The role came so naturally to her Lily could believe she'd been Flora Deschamps in a past life. She was even giving air kisses to Jozua and Lily was certain Madeleine and Joz hadn't interacted much in the past. This was turning into a very serious episode of make-believe and Lily was very glad Madeleine had included her on it.

She was even happier when Hank Niagara came into play. This was why she and Jozua were best friends. Friends this flexible were often very difficult to find, at least in Lily's experience.

Avery nodded enthusiastically. "Right, so our next move would be to observe the club president, wouldn't it?" She glanced over at Flora for some sort of agreement. It was clear she was running the show and Lily was still trying to keep on. "But how has no one noticed? Maybe there's some Dark Magic involved as well." Avery rubbed her chin as she'd often imagined Sherlock Holmes doing. "How could we catch him or her in the act? We'd have to blend in as one of the club members, wouldn't we? To do the job right?"

It wouldn't be easy, catching the assassin, but Avery was confident she could pull it off. "I've had to don on disguises dozens of times before for other cases so I fancy it'll be easy for me to slip in if necessary. Or we can check the Potions classroom - that's where they usually brew potions for Science Club, isn't it? - and see if we can find any residues of suspicious concoctions." Lily wasn't sure where here impressive vocabulary had suddenly sprouted from, but evidently Avery Osbourne was more articulate than Lily-the-chatterbox.

0 Avery Osbourne Not strange, just a new reality. 0 Avery Osbourne 0 5

Flora Deschamps

December 03, 2016 1:44 AM

Not new, fantastically old but still exciting! by Flora Deschamps

“Pleasure,” said Flora to Officer Hank Niagara before continuing the investigation. “Do you think you can get us in, Officer Niagara?”

“Dark Magic certainly does seem to be a factor,” Flora acknowledged. “It reminds me of my old nemesis, Lili Rosen. If she wasn’t behind bars then I’d surely suspect her. As it is, Mathéo Durand and I managed her capture just before my departure Stateside. It could be one of her associates, however. Many escaped our raid on their hideout.” Flora recalled the rid on one of the Louvre’s backrooms with fondness. Madeleine, meanwhile, was doing some quick calculations to keep the game in character. The Potions classroom could conceivably be an underground apothecary while the Science Club was obviously supposed to be ‘La Société de Champagne.’

“Now, we need to find a link between the apothecary and La Société de Champagne. We know La Société is trying to monopolise the art world. Is t possible the apothecary is just a front for their shady dealings?” Further interrogation of the apothecary’s owner Mme Sophie was sure to be in order. For now, however, Flora needed to eat. It was hard work being an international super spy, and a witch had to eat.

“Waiter!” She called. “A round of drinks for my friends and I. Shaken, not stirred.” Madeleine poured out three glasses of pumpkin juice and passed them around. “Santé!” she said, raising her glass to toast the new partnership—or rather team. It was then that something terrible crossed her mind.

“We will have to be careful who we trust. According to my files—” and she pulled a stack of papers from her school bag, spreading out some of her notes from class in a tight, cursive hand, fully in French, on the table. “The conspiracy goes all the way to the top! Dlark Jones, one of the figureheads of local politics is said to also head La Société de Champagne! And there he is!” She glanced dramatically in the direction of the Aladren prefect and Quidditch Captain. He was the picture of evil with his blonde hair and shiny badges.

10 Flora Deschamps Not new, fantastically old but still exciting! 340 Flora Deschamps 0 5

Hank Niagara

December 08, 2016 10:24 PM

We mustn't get too excited and betray ourselves by Hank Niagara

Jozua nodded thoughtfully, stroking his chin with his thumb and forefinger. "Yes, I think I can get at least one of you in. Flora might be easier, though. Sorry, Avery, but she already has some of the credentials that would help her blend in to a group like that." Here he nodded toward Madeleine's Aladren badge. "The president is part of that same Aladren Society you have already infiltrated, Flora."

He jumped a little as Madeleine called for a waiter, and honestly half expected a Prairie Elf to show up, but it was just an imaginary waiter, so he nodded politely at the air beside the table and said, "Thank you." He sipped at the juice Madeleine/the waiter had given him and said musingly, "A front is certainly a possibility." He actually had no idea what all Madeleine and Lily had been talking about with dark magics and apothecaries, but this seemed a thing he could latch onto and confirm with relative confidence that it wouldn't derail that plot.

With interest, he glanced over Madeleine's notes - class notes, he supposed, but as they were all in French, he supposed they very well could have actually contained intelligence about the Science Club's evil plots - er, rather the French words for 'Science Club' (he guessed) which sounded way cooler and more dangerous. He looked over at the towering menace that was Clark Dill - sorry, Dlark Jones - as he was pointed out, and quickly averted his gaze so the villain of the story wouldn't see that he was under surveillance. "What is he doing here?" he asked in a hushed tone. "This isn't one of his normal haunts, is it?"

0 Hank Niagara We mustn't get too excited and betray ourselves 0 Hank Niagara 0 5