Billy, Goody, and Pam | Yorkland, Day 2
Nov. 27th, 2018 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainPam visits Goody and Billy, and they decide to contact the local wizard for hire - Caleb.
The air was chill as the sun set over Yorkland, carrying with it a hint of snow and causing windows and rooftops to frost over. All the windows except one, where Pam drifted, peering inside in the hopes of catching Billy's attention.
She almost hadn't come. It seemed pointless - even if Billy's patron had agreed to help (which she still thought unlikely), she seriously doubted he could. Money could do a lot of things, including, apparently, taking out the entire Guild structure. It couldn't do magic, and it couldn't do miracles.
On the other hand, meeting that genasai in the market had her actually wishing, for the first time in a long time, that she had a body, and even if they couldn't manage that, breaking the Guild's obedience bond would at least meant that when someone ordered her to kill Billy, she could tell them to fuck off. It was probably grasping at straws, but a the end of the day, it wasn't as if she had anything else to do.
All it took was the shifting of the frost patterns on the window, and Billy was there, first peering warily into the night, then confirming who it was who had come and opening the window to her.
"I'm glad you came," he said with a smile. The room was lit up this time, hearthfire and lamps, and it was clearer that life as a bodyguard was agreeing with Billy. He still moved like the killer he was, but there was something a little less hidden in his mannerisms. "Goody said he'll help."
Goody himself stood near the fire, eyeing their visitor (or where he assumed she was) with a mix of trepidation and extreme curiosity. For all that, he said, smooth as silk, "Welcome to our room, M'mselle. Wish I could invite you downstairs proper, but I hope it'll do."
"I've seen your downstairs," Pam replied coolly, because at the end of the day, this was the guy who'd not only lured Billy off, but who was responsible for everything she knew having come to a rather explosive end. With that in mind, she also didn't bother to pull herself into any semblance of visibility. Billy'd know where she was; somehow, he always did. "It's not that exciting."
Billy offered Goodnight an easy shrug. "You're not being rude. It's not like hired killers get shown in through the parlor a lot anyway," he pointed out. He looked back toward Pam. "But anyway. Goody's got some possible leads."
Goody just chuckled. Never let it be said he’d let a little invisibility and a lot of sass—plus Billy’s adorable cluelessness—slow him down. “Couple of routes we could take. Magic, prophecy, commerce... what exactly are we trying to fix here?”
This time, Pam did coalesce into something somewhat more visible so that she could glare at him. "I don't know - could we maybe start with the part where I'm made of air? Or the part where if someone takes control of the Guild, I'm going to have to kill you both? Either would probably work."
Hm, so that was who he he was dealing with. Good to know. "I've got that part," Goody said with a little chuckle. "What I meant was, how was this servitude accomplished? Was there a ritual? Billy mentioned bracelets?"
Pam held up her wrists, see through though they were, to show the bracelets in question. "There was a ritual, yeah. I don't remember a lot of it," she admitted. "There was a sorcerer, and chanting, and then all of a sudden it felt as if my body were being turned inside out, one atom at a time. And I must've passed out or something, because the next thing I knew, this really far away sounding voice was calling my name. And when I pulled myself together to answer, I found I was really pulling myself together, and these were in place." She shrugged. "No matter what I do, they don't go away."
Billy nodded, somber now. "I thought they might vanish when Adolfo died. Those things bound her to his will, but now he's gone and they're still around. And from what Pam says, it didn't bind her to him specifically, but to whoever leads the guild."
"That's some mad, mad magic," Goody said thoughtfully if unnecessarily. It did tell him something about the options he'd been turning over in his mind, though. "Well, there's the cautious route, which would be to go to the Oracle first. It can take months to get through the queue, but the priests are susceptible to bribes, and the Robicheauxs are masters of that art. The Oracle might be able to tell us where to go from there.
"Alternatively, we could go to a couple of hedgewitches outside the city--though this seems like the kind of dark arcana you need formal education for, at least, so far as I've heard. There's that magic shop people talk about, and I think a witch or wizard owns it, though I ain't been in... " Admittedly, though, Goody's knowledge of sorcery was limited to what magic his family had used. That said... "There's one wizard I know... he installed the teleportation circle in the basement. Took ages to get it done, and lots of power. Discreet, no nonsense, likable. Name of Caleb Widogast."
"I'm not big on it taking ages," Pam observed. "We probably don't have ages. But I've met the guy at the magic shop, and I don't think this would be this kind of thing. And I don't have money for the Oracle." Which raised a very big question, actually. "How much is this going to cost? And would he let me work it off, after?"
Billy snorted. "I already offered. And he wouldn't let me work it off either." He could only shrug by way of explanation. He adored Goodnight more than he even knew how to say. But he was so weird sometimes. Generous. But weird.
"Why worry about payment when you've got a rich boy at your disposal?" Goody wondered with a snort. "It makes me feel like I'm getting one over on my family, and that's payment enough."
"Fine." Pam really had no compunctions about his family paying for it; they obviously had the money. And as he'd said, Billy (and by extension,she herself) might as well make the most of it. Rich people had the attention span of slugs; sooner or later, Goody's lose interest in Billy and he'd be out of luck. It was just how it was. "How soon can we see this guy?"
"Depending on how much he needs money, I reckon we can see him pretty quick. I'll send a message--right now, if that's the course we're taking." He started for the door.
Billy snagged Goodnight's collar before he'd gotten two steps. "We talked about this," he said firmly. "I run your errands. Because you're still a target."
"You're both still targets," Pam pointed out. "I can take a message, if it just needs to be dropped off."
Goody smiled at Billy and winked, then took the hand off his collar and held it, squeezing reassuringly.
"No, I need a reply. Tell you what, Billy, I'll get James" --one of the footmen, about their age, who always had a twinkle in his eye-- "to do the job? That suit everyone?"
Billy nodded. "Yeah, I guess that's OK."
"Whoever," Pam agreed with a shrug. It wasn't like the "who" mattered anywhere near as much to her as the "what". Seeing as the two of them weren't using it, she floated over to "perch" on the edge of their bed.
Goody kissed Billy's hand gallantly before bowing out of the room.
In the hall, he scribbled off a note:
Dear Widogast,
Your curious friend has another potential job for you, of the utmost secrecy and arcane interest. Please reply if free, or call yourself at any hour convenient.
Goodnight Robicheaux
This he gave to James with instructions to deliver by hand and hurry back with a reply.
As soon as the door was closed, Billy gave Pam a triumphant little smile. "See? Told you I should ask him."
"I'm not celebrating yet." Pam made a face at him and lay back on the bed, though given the lack of sag in the mattress, the uncreased bedspread, it was obvious it was appearance, not substance. "But fine, you've got him wrapped around your finger, I admit it."
Billy laughed. "Or other parts. But yeah... I thought he was all rich boy bullshit when I met him. I'm not sure now. Maybe like only half bullshit. And at least it's an entertaining half."
"Yeah, not bad," she conceded. She patted the air next to her in invitation. "You really like him, huh?" she asked, just a little wistfully.
Billy nearly hesitated before settling in near her. Part of him would have loved to curl up with Pam, they way they'd used to before Adolfo had changed her. But he knew he couldn't, and he didn't want to test his emotions that way. The only time in memory that he'd ever cried was when he'd found out what they'd done to her, and now wasn't the time to scratch that up.
"He's been good to me. And I think he means it. I think he... just wants me, not what I can do for him."
"That's cool," Pam said softly, genuinely meaning it. Her hand twitched out, wanting to reach over and cover his, but she resisted the urge. It'd just go through, and neither of them needed to watch that. "I'm glad for you." She grimaced. "Well, not so much that you took the Guild down for it, but other than that, I am." She smiled, just a little, looking back up at the ceiling. "I met a guy today. He knew I was there. It was cool."
Billy grinned, wicked as any blade. "Want me to kidnap him for you? It worked out OK for me."
Pam laughed and shook her head. "Nah. I mean, it's not like there's anything I can do with him anyway. Besides," she observed practically, "he's with the Slayer's Take. Probably better you not take out two guilds this month."
"I didn't do it all on my own... though that does make a better story," he admitted. "Hey, Pam? Are you going to take over the guild once you have your body back? I mean, what's left of it?"
"Me?" Pam turned to stare at him, incredulous. "No way in hell. Why?"
"Curious, I guess. I mean, I can guess why you wanted me to. We'd be working together again, almost safe. I just wondered if you wanted it for your sake too. And... you know. If you'd want to try doing the bodyguard thing if you didn't want to build up the guild again." He shrugged, his smile no less bright. "But I'm guessing you might be looking at monster hunting instead."
Pam let out a snort of amusement and shook her head. "Haven't thought that far," she admitted. "I mean, honestly? I don't think it's going to happen, anyway. But I wanted you there because I miss you, and because if I'm going to be anyone's 'pet'," she made a face at the term, "I'd rather be yours than Wade's or Belladonna's. Besides, if you're running the show, you won't order me to kill you."
"Not unless I've got one hell of a plan up my sleeve," Billy agreed. "But I've missed you too. I didn't doubt you'd made it, but it wasn't the same as knowing you were watching my back."
"Yeah, well, you've got someone else watching it these days," she observed, letting a hint of jealousy sneak in - or maybe more than a hint. "Didn't figure you wanted me hanging around. And besides," she admitted, just a little grudgingly, "I was pissed."
"Yeah." Billy sighed. "Can't say I blame you for that."
Pam shrugged. "I'm over it. Or, y'know, mostly. You saw a chance to get out; you took it." It would've been nice if he'd thought of what it would mean, to her - but he'd said, he figured the spell would break with Adolfo's death. So maybe he had, after all.
"It'll be your way out too, you'll see."
Goody tried hard to hear what they were talking about, even though he was terrible at moving silently and Billy knew his step by then. Alas, he heard nothing, and slipped back into his room. “We should hear something before too long, unless Widogast is out. And I gather he hardly ever is.”
"And hope I never killed anyone he was attached to," Pam observed with a grimace.
"He wouldn't know if you did," Billy assured her. "It'll be all right, Pam." This level of optimism really wasn't typical for Billy, but Goodnight just got under his skin in a good way sometimes.
The air was chill as the sun set over Yorkland, carrying with it a hint of snow and causing windows and rooftops to frost over. All the windows except one, where Pam drifted, peering inside in the hopes of catching Billy's attention.
She almost hadn't come. It seemed pointless - even if Billy's patron had agreed to help (which she still thought unlikely), she seriously doubted he could. Money could do a lot of things, including, apparently, taking out the entire Guild structure. It couldn't do magic, and it couldn't do miracles.
On the other hand, meeting that genasai in the market had her actually wishing, for the first time in a long time, that she had a body, and even if they couldn't manage that, breaking the Guild's obedience bond would at least meant that when someone ordered her to kill Billy, she could tell them to fuck off. It was probably grasping at straws, but a the end of the day, it wasn't as if she had anything else to do.
All it took was the shifting of the frost patterns on the window, and Billy was there, first peering warily into the night, then confirming who it was who had come and opening the window to her.
"I'm glad you came," he said with a smile. The room was lit up this time, hearthfire and lamps, and it was clearer that life as a bodyguard was agreeing with Billy. He still moved like the killer he was, but there was something a little less hidden in his mannerisms. "Goody said he'll help."
Goody himself stood near the fire, eyeing their visitor (or where he assumed she was) with a mix of trepidation and extreme curiosity. For all that, he said, smooth as silk, "Welcome to our room, M'mselle. Wish I could invite you downstairs proper, but I hope it'll do."
"I've seen your downstairs," Pam replied coolly, because at the end of the day, this was the guy who'd not only lured Billy off, but who was responsible for everything she knew having come to a rather explosive end. With that in mind, she also didn't bother to pull herself into any semblance of visibility. Billy'd know where she was; somehow, he always did. "It's not that exciting."
Billy offered Goodnight an easy shrug. "You're not being rude. It's not like hired killers get shown in through the parlor a lot anyway," he pointed out. He looked back toward Pam. "But anyway. Goody's got some possible leads."
Goody just chuckled. Never let it be said he’d let a little invisibility and a lot of sass—plus Billy’s adorable cluelessness—slow him down. “Couple of routes we could take. Magic, prophecy, commerce... what exactly are we trying to fix here?”
This time, Pam did coalesce into something somewhat more visible so that she could glare at him. "I don't know - could we maybe start with the part where I'm made of air? Or the part where if someone takes control of the Guild, I'm going to have to kill you both? Either would probably work."
Hm, so that was who he he was dealing with. Good to know. "I've got that part," Goody said with a little chuckle. "What I meant was, how was this servitude accomplished? Was there a ritual? Billy mentioned bracelets?"
Pam held up her wrists, see through though they were, to show the bracelets in question. "There was a ritual, yeah. I don't remember a lot of it," she admitted. "There was a sorcerer, and chanting, and then all of a sudden it felt as if my body were being turned inside out, one atom at a time. And I must've passed out or something, because the next thing I knew, this really far away sounding voice was calling my name. And when I pulled myself together to answer, I found I was really pulling myself together, and these were in place." She shrugged. "No matter what I do, they don't go away."
Billy nodded, somber now. "I thought they might vanish when Adolfo died. Those things bound her to his will, but now he's gone and they're still around. And from what Pam says, it didn't bind her to him specifically, but to whoever leads the guild."
"That's some mad, mad magic," Goody said thoughtfully if unnecessarily. It did tell him something about the options he'd been turning over in his mind, though. "Well, there's the cautious route, which would be to go to the Oracle first. It can take months to get through the queue, but the priests are susceptible to bribes, and the Robicheauxs are masters of that art. The Oracle might be able to tell us where to go from there.
"Alternatively, we could go to a couple of hedgewitches outside the city--though this seems like the kind of dark arcana you need formal education for, at least, so far as I've heard. There's that magic shop people talk about, and I think a witch or wizard owns it, though I ain't been in... " Admittedly, though, Goody's knowledge of sorcery was limited to what magic his family had used. That said... "There's one wizard I know... he installed the teleportation circle in the basement. Took ages to get it done, and lots of power. Discreet, no nonsense, likable. Name of Caleb Widogast."
"I'm not big on it taking ages," Pam observed. "We probably don't have ages. But I've met the guy at the magic shop, and I don't think this would be this kind of thing. And I don't have money for the Oracle." Which raised a very big question, actually. "How much is this going to cost? And would he let me work it off, after?"
Billy snorted. "I already offered. And he wouldn't let me work it off either." He could only shrug by way of explanation. He adored Goodnight more than he even knew how to say. But he was so weird sometimes. Generous. But weird.
"Why worry about payment when you've got a rich boy at your disposal?" Goody wondered with a snort. "It makes me feel like I'm getting one over on my family, and that's payment enough."
"Fine." Pam really had no compunctions about his family paying for it; they obviously had the money. And as he'd said, Billy (and by extension,she herself) might as well make the most of it. Rich people had the attention span of slugs; sooner or later, Goody's lose interest in Billy and he'd be out of luck. It was just how it was. "How soon can we see this guy?"
"Depending on how much he needs money, I reckon we can see him pretty quick. I'll send a message--right now, if that's the course we're taking." He started for the door.
Billy snagged Goodnight's collar before he'd gotten two steps. "We talked about this," he said firmly. "I run your errands. Because you're still a target."
"You're both still targets," Pam pointed out. "I can take a message, if it just needs to be dropped off."
Goody smiled at Billy and winked, then took the hand off his collar and held it, squeezing reassuringly.
"No, I need a reply. Tell you what, Billy, I'll get James" --one of the footmen, about their age, who always had a twinkle in his eye-- "to do the job? That suit everyone?"
Billy nodded. "Yeah, I guess that's OK."
"Whoever," Pam agreed with a shrug. It wasn't like the "who" mattered anywhere near as much to her as the "what". Seeing as the two of them weren't using it, she floated over to "perch" on the edge of their bed.
Goody kissed Billy's hand gallantly before bowing out of the room.
In the hall, he scribbled off a note:
Dear Widogast,
Your curious friend has another potential job for you, of the utmost secrecy and arcane interest. Please reply if free, or call yourself at any hour convenient.
Goodnight Robicheaux
This he gave to James with instructions to deliver by hand and hurry back with a reply.
As soon as the door was closed, Billy gave Pam a triumphant little smile. "See? Told you I should ask him."
"I'm not celebrating yet." Pam made a face at him and lay back on the bed, though given the lack of sag in the mattress, the uncreased bedspread, it was obvious it was appearance, not substance. "But fine, you've got him wrapped around your finger, I admit it."
Billy laughed. "Or other parts. But yeah... I thought he was all rich boy bullshit when I met him. I'm not sure now. Maybe like only half bullshit. And at least it's an entertaining half."
"Yeah, not bad," she conceded. She patted the air next to her in invitation. "You really like him, huh?" she asked, just a little wistfully.
Billy nearly hesitated before settling in near her. Part of him would have loved to curl up with Pam, they way they'd used to before Adolfo had changed her. But he knew he couldn't, and he didn't want to test his emotions that way. The only time in memory that he'd ever cried was when he'd found out what they'd done to her, and now wasn't the time to scratch that up.
"He's been good to me. And I think he means it. I think he... just wants me, not what I can do for him."
"That's cool," Pam said softly, genuinely meaning it. Her hand twitched out, wanting to reach over and cover his, but she resisted the urge. It'd just go through, and neither of them needed to watch that. "I'm glad for you." She grimaced. "Well, not so much that you took the Guild down for it, but other than that, I am." She smiled, just a little, looking back up at the ceiling. "I met a guy today. He knew I was there. It was cool."
Billy grinned, wicked as any blade. "Want me to kidnap him for you? It worked out OK for me."
Pam laughed and shook her head. "Nah. I mean, it's not like there's anything I can do with him anyway. Besides," she observed practically, "he's with the Slayer's Take. Probably better you not take out two guilds this month."
"I didn't do it all on my own... though that does make a better story," he admitted. "Hey, Pam? Are you going to take over the guild once you have your body back? I mean, what's left of it?"
"Me?" Pam turned to stare at him, incredulous. "No way in hell. Why?"
"Curious, I guess. I mean, I can guess why you wanted me to. We'd be working together again, almost safe. I just wondered if you wanted it for your sake too. And... you know. If you'd want to try doing the bodyguard thing if you didn't want to build up the guild again." He shrugged, his smile no less bright. "But I'm guessing you might be looking at monster hunting instead."
Pam let out a snort of amusement and shook her head. "Haven't thought that far," she admitted. "I mean, honestly? I don't think it's going to happen, anyway. But I wanted you there because I miss you, and because if I'm going to be anyone's 'pet'," she made a face at the term, "I'd rather be yours than Wade's or Belladonna's. Besides, if you're running the show, you won't order me to kill you."
"Not unless I've got one hell of a plan up my sleeve," Billy agreed. "But I've missed you too. I didn't doubt you'd made it, but it wasn't the same as knowing you were watching my back."
"Yeah, well, you've got someone else watching it these days," she observed, letting a hint of jealousy sneak in - or maybe more than a hint. "Didn't figure you wanted me hanging around. And besides," she admitted, just a little grudgingly, "I was pissed."
"Yeah." Billy sighed. "Can't say I blame you for that."
Pam shrugged. "I'm over it. Or, y'know, mostly. You saw a chance to get out; you took it." It would've been nice if he'd thought of what it would mean, to her - but he'd said, he figured the spell would break with Adolfo's death. So maybe he had, after all.
"It'll be your way out too, you'll see."
Goody tried hard to hear what they were talking about, even though he was terrible at moving silently and Billy knew his step by then. Alas, he heard nothing, and slipped back into his room. “We should hear something before too long, unless Widogast is out. And I gather he hardly ever is.”
"And hope I never killed anyone he was attached to," Pam observed with a grimace.
"He wouldn't know if you did," Billy assured her. "It'll be all right, Pam." This level of optimism really wasn't typical for Billy, but Goodnight just got under his skin in a good way sometimes.
