Mia has a red and green scarf on.

"Woo, somethin' smells good." She looks down at the spread. "Nice. Who brought it up?"

Janos comes in after Mia and talks off his medium gray scarf. He steps aside to let Archibald come in as well. Once Benjamin has shut the door, Janos walks over to the spread and looks it over. Looking over to Benjamin,
"Is this for the squad, or just breakfast for the denizens of this abode?"
He is smiling as he says this, though his voice has a mock-serious tone to it. He looks over to Mia, his eyes daring her to take the first bite of this wonderful spread.

Ben was already serving himself bacon, eggs and sausages from the spread. One could say that he was enjoying the perks of the lifestyle. "This, my friends, is breakfast for all! Merry Christmas to one and all on this fine morning! I'll admit, it's a little biased towards my tastes, but I made sure there was plenty of variety for all. Everyone dig in!"

Daphne turned back to look out the window for another moment. Snow was always fun to watch, but that wasn't what held the young woman at the window. She was thinking about the day, and how it was a big day for them.

Since learning of her mother's death and the end of her shade, Daphne had become more convinced that the other side were the bad guys. The people running around celebrating the birth of the other side's son - a birthday that had happened so long ago that no one alive had been there - filled her with both anger and loneliness. So many followed this bad God-thing.

Food lured her back to the table; she was hungry. She sat down and began to eat, enjoying the good food. For the last few days she'd said little to anyone and the preparations for getting to New York had given her relief from well-meaning curiosity. Hopefully, the search for Rasputin would continue to distract the others. She wasn't sure she was ready to tell her story.

Christmas a time for joy and happiness. Arch's pain of missing his parents weighted heavy in his heart during this time of year more than any. The knowledge he gained about his parents eased some of that pain he normally experienced. He still wasn't sure if/how/when he would find if there was any strings attached to his choice.

For now though he would eat and be merry this day, with his new friends. "Merry Christmas everyone! Let's enjoy this fine breakfast before we discuss our plans."

Catori was not familiar with the smells that reached her but it smelled good nonetheless. She joined the others at the table and smiled shyly. She wasn't sure if there was a habit or custom she didn't know of. Christmas was a day of celebration, she knew that but her knowledge didn't reach further than that.

Not sure what to take she just copied what Ben had taken for his breakfast and sat next to him and started to eat quietly.

Marion was the last one down, in her dressing gown and with her long brown hair pinned back in an untidy attempt at a bun. Her eyes were half-closed, and had bags suggesting poor sleep. This was reinforced by her shuffling gait and the heaviness of how she sat in the empty chair next to Daphne.

Without comment she reached out to start pulling food onto her plate...then glanced around as if just noticing the others and mumbling something that was most likely 'Merry Christmas.'

"I'm all for enjoyin' breakfast." Mia picks things off the spread and sets them down on the table. She eats while making notes in a voluminous notebook marked Strange Events and Unusual Goings-On.

Janos pokes at his breakfast for a minute or two. He keeps looking toward Marion, pondering something. Finally, he just asks.

"Marion, what has been causing your restless nights sleep? Is it something concerning this matter? Have you some spiritual tie to this object?"

His mood is dark and his worries are running high, maybe too high.

Ben piped up as well. "Yes, dearest Sister you look like you either never went to bed or never got to sleep. Have you been up researching all night, or has something been troubling you?"

"No it's not a spiritual tie," Marion grumps irritably. "Nothing magical or mystical going on this time. I've just been pushing too hard, and it's..." she makes clutchy gestures with her hands, "it's so infuriating that something as powerful and dangerous as this has almost NOTHING written about it. It seems inconcievable."

She eats some melon off her fork, then drops it in disgust.

"Which begs the question of how this Rasputin and his followers learned of it. Which begs all SORTS of questions."

Before anybody could respond to Marion's comment a knock could be heard on the door of the room across the hall. Realizing that somebody was looking for one of them Janos rose and went to the door. Opening it out to the hallway he found there was a bellhop at the door to their rooms. The man was carrying a tray with a domed silver lid and he once more knocked on the door and waited. Janos stepped into the hallway, "May I help you? That is my room."

The bellhop turned and nodded, "Yes sir, I've a message that was left at the desk for Mr. Janos Rakozi. Are you he?"

Janos inspected the man carefully but could find no fault in his uniform or manner to suggest he was other than what he appeared to be. "I am he," he replied simply.

The bellhop removed the top off the tray and held it out to Janos. On the wooden circle was an envelope of thick paper the color of butter. It was simply addressed to "Janos Rakozi". Janos took the envelope and tipped the bellhop before retreating into the room. The door shut with a click behind him as he carried the letter to the table.

The others waited silently and Janos finally opened the envelope and removed a single sheet of folded thick paper. There was no salutation or greeting the letter simply read in a neat hand:

The color drains from Janos' face and he takes a step back. He takes a seat, re-reads the message and crumples it slightly in his fist. He looks out the window a moment before reading the message aloud. When he finishes, he adds,
"I think this message is from my sister, Ammura. I had just about given up hope of ever hearing from her again. Now this."

He looks at the group with deadly seriousness.

"We need to act. We meet the Servants half way. We trap them with the Shard and find out what they know."
He looks at Archibald at the last.
"Sadly, I'm not very good at setting up these civilized ambushes. My idea would involve us all in a kidnapping plot. Not very good. Suggestions anyone?"

"Yeah, how we gonna trap them with the Shard, first of all? Does it do that? Secondly, let's hear your idea. If anyone's got anything better they'll pipe up, I'm sure."

Oh, fudge. Am I gonna have to get tied up again? Well, better me than someone who dies easy.

Catori furrowed her brows and asked the Count, "I'm not sure if I understand your idea. What does kidnapping mean? And how would that help us get what we want?". The word "kidnapping" was obviously alien to her.

Marion looks up from her food at Janos and gazes at him consideringly.

"Don't take this the wrong way," she says with care, "But this could be a forgery. Something set to goad us into doing something rash. On the other hand, we clearly need to do SOMEthing. Janos...Mia...do we have some idea of where in New York to look for Rasputin's followers?"

Arch pipes in to Catori "Kidnapping is taking someone against their will, and in this situation I don't see how that would help either."

He turns to Janos his nervousness coming through in his voice "Though I agree that we should be proactive in this matter. If what you read is true then we should be on the lookout even now."

"Nothing specific, no. To find out where they are we'll need to wear out shoe leather and bend some ears."

"That's right up my alley Mia" Arch says smiling. "Between me and Janos I think we'd be able to get the info we need."

"If this is from my sister, and someone would have to know the inner workings of my family to fake it, I would think the Followers already knew we were here. We need to lure them out."

He looks at Archibald and nods.
"I remember the deceased courier though. If death is not source of fear as it is for most people, we may have problems. I'm not squeemish, but I think time would be working against us. We need to find some more reasonalbe associates. Seperating the fanatic from the greedy is needed. I'm not sure how we accomplish that."

Ben looked thoughtful as the others discussed. "You know, I think I have a way to sort that out. I'm good friends with a few people in the Aeon Society, and they have a chapter here - in fact, I think New York's is one of the bigger chapters. I'm not suggesting that we ask the entire chapter to assist, but I know a few people in Aeon here, and they'll know a few people too. Give me a day and I can have as much discreet help as we need."

"Aeon, huh? Yeah. I like that, sounds like a good idea. And yeah, Archie, you two let me know what you find. I'm gonna hit the libraries and the newspaper stacks, see if I smell anything bad. Besides the smell of dead newspapers."

"Good thinking Ben, I feel a bit silly about not thinking to ask any local members for help. If you don't mind I'd like to tag along with you on that, matter of fact, I recommend that nobody travels alone while were here. It wouldn't do for any of us to get ambushed by Rasputin s followers."

Catori nodded in agreement to Arch's comment about not going alone and said with worry in her voice, "I'd like to go with you, Ben if you don't mind. I think you need protection... spiritual protection."

She looked at him and hoped he wouldn't object.

"Two teams then? Benjamin, Archibald, and Catori in one. Mia, Marion, Daphne, and myself in the other. If nothing else, I think we can provide several eager hands and eyes for Mia's search while the three of you see what this Aeon Society has to say."

Janos reaches out and pockets the note from his sister. It had become precious to him.

December 26th 7 pm

Tired after a long day chasing down leads Ben climbed out of the car and straightened his coat. The neighborhood was unimpressive but the location was the thing. The house was close to the airfield, and thus close to the owner’s livelihood. As Archibald and Catori climbed out of the cab behind Ben and surveyed the area Ben hoped that his companions would humor him for one last visit. An early morning visit to Æon had resulted in a day of running around New York speaking to various members. Dead end followed dead end. If the cult was operating in New York it was doing so beneath the visibility of the local Æon members.

One member had met Rasputin years before and found the man to be intense beyond measure and yet “sincere, a deeply spiritual man, not at all as he is portrayed.” Of the members they had spoken to few had any useful knowledge to share however. None had heard of the Cult of Grigori though many expressed no surprise that a religious cult would pop up around a man such as he. Likewise no information regarding the Russian or Janos' sister was to be had either. The local Æon chapter head did say that it was no surprise. The branches in the larger cities tended to be autonomous reporting only yearly to the main Chicago office at which point any needed information would be relayed among all members.

Ben sighed and stuck his hands up under his armpits as a gust of wind threatened to draw the heat from his body. This last man was a occasional friend of his. Kolya Draczynski was a pilot. A Pole who had flow for Britain in the Great War. His parents had emigrated to London in the early years of the century and Kolya had been split between his loyalty to his heritage and his home. Ben had run into him a few times before and recalled that he was the sort of man that trouble tended to follow behind, nipping at his heels as though drawn to him.

As such when a man clad in black leather crashed through the second story window and tumbled off the porch's roof to the ground Ben was both astonished and completely unsurprised at the same time.

*****

Marion sat nearly obscured by the stack of books and newspapers. Across from her Mia was likewise surrounded by periodicals. Nearby Janos sat with a book open by the words meant little and he was finding it at best trying and at worst outright boring. Daphne had long since given up proclaiming how uninteresting things were and was instead looking through one of Audubon's books at the colorful paintings of various birds.

The note pad in front of Mia was rather sparsely written on. If the Cult of Grigori was operating in New York they were keeping to themselves and doing a damn good job of it. Frustrating was an accurate word to describe the situation. Still there were some things, things that didn't add up to the trained eyes of a reporter that others would dismiss, ignore, or outright not even realize. Firstly in the years since Rasputin's death and the apparent birth of the Cult there had been an abnormal rise in grave robbing in the city's resting places. Second, and probably more telling, was that every year on All Hallowed's Eve there had been a church, mosque, or synagogue defiled. It was either a coincidence or evidence.

Marion was faring better in her search for more information about Rasputin and the Cult. At the last occult shop they had located the proprietor had been able to sell her a book which he explained might help. At the library Marion had started reading and been rather irked, the tome had been about ancient pagan gods and mythology. She had been about to give up on it when she found a single nugget that was well worth the substantial sum she had paid. It turned out that there was an ancient race known as the Kurgans who would later settle in the Russian steps. These people worshipped a deity of darkness and shadow whose power was said to be unmatched. Their word for this deity was Greegoru. Further research into the Kurgans and their culture was running slowly but Marion was confident that the library at home would be better suited to this than even the public and university libraries in New York. Regardless there was now a possible explanation for their limited connection between Rasputin and the cult.

Finally fed up the four left and went back to the hotel to eat and wait for the others. They hailed a cab and rode through the slushy streets as the last shred of daylight were swallowed up by the growing darkness and the shadows of the great skyscrapers. Exhausted Marion requested room service from the front desk and they headed to her room to relax and eat. As they opened the door they found the room a shambles, with furniture strewn about. Obvious that they room had been ransacked Mia and Janos checked their own and found it likewise violated. In Marion’s room the safe was found, its door torn from its steel hinges and the box and shard were gone.

Daphne was both astonished and completely unsurprised at the same time. This sort of setback was becoming almost expected. Angrily, she walked to the open window and leaned out, whistling sharply. A shadow on the roof across the building immediately stirred in response, but Daphne didn't watch her companion fly across to their room. Instead, she crouched next to the safe and began to sniff at it. When Spot saw her, he joined her, his hot, wet nose wiggling as he snuffled loudly. He knew the signs of a hunt when he saw it.

[OOC: Jameson, a tracking roll for Daphne and Spot, please. ]

Mia puts her hands on her hips as she surveys the mess in Marion's room. "Well. At least we know we're on the right track - people are getting ticked. That's something." She goes to inspect the safe to see how it was opened.

Daphne slowed her sniffing, concentrating on an area. The offending scent of the intruders was strongest here, and Daphne pulled it in until she felt she knew it, like she knew the scent of her companions. As she stood, content to begin the hunt, Spot sniffed the area himself, soaking up the scent.

She moved to her room to grab her spear; no hunt was comfortable without it. When she returned to the main room, Spot was ready too, hovering near the door. "We can find," she said to the others, touching Spot's head. He whined and ruffled his wings, eager to get to the hunt. Being a daemon, there was no better prey than human, and they hadn't hunted one of those in a very long time.

Janos looks at the broken safe and shakes his head.
"Why couldn't we just have taken it with us?" he mutters to himself.

When he noticed Daphne nosing around the safe, he hadn't much hope, but when Spot joined her, hope was sparked anew. They were both from some hellish dimension, right? He opened up his coat and closed within a few feet of them.

"What have you got?" he asked the girl and her dog.

Archibald had barely shut the door behind Catori then out of nowhere he heard the crash. Looking up he caught the last bit of a familiar looking shape fall to the ground.

"Ben, watch out!" he shouts as he runs to the figure laying on the ground. He quickly moves to grab the fellow in order to prevent his escape. "Now what do we have here" he says mockingly. "Ben, doesn't this remind you of a certain fellow we saw a few months ago? This can't be the person you were hoping to find is it?"

(not sure if any rolls are needed here)

Ben started walking up to the now groaning form on the ground. "I find it unlikely - Believe me, if it was Kolya, we would have had a much more exciting time a few months back! That exciting time would also have lasted a good deal longer than a single night."

As Ben reached the prone form, he continued. "But our erstwhile assassin falling out of Kolya's window? That's Kolya's style! Makes me almost giddy with excitement!" With that, Ben turned the assassin around to his front to get a good look at their features.

As Ben and Archibald crouch over the prone form a man leans out the window. In an accent combining Polish and English he yells, "Oy there, careful with that bugger! Who ... Ben?! Blimey!" He disappears from the window and Ben and Archibald roll the leather clad figure onto its back. As Ben goes to remove the mask covering the person's features dark eyes open causing Ben’s hand to halt for a split second. A split second is more than long enough. The assassin grabs Ben’s hand and punches Archibald in the chest. Muscles like steel springs propel the leather clad fist into Arch’s sternum sending the man reeling backward gasping for air. With and jerk he pulls on Ben’s arm propelling himself to a low crouch while simultaneously flipping Ben heels over head into his back in the crunchy snow.

A massive blast shatters the quiet of the early evening and echoes through the neighborhood. The leather clad assassin is thrown to the ground beside Ben a gaping wound releasing steaming blood as the villain utters a death rattle before lying still at last. “Tol’ ya to be careful, wery dangerous that one.” Kolya’s head popped into Ben’s field of vision and he offered his hand. “Right bastardly of him to bring in bystanders …” he offers a bemused smile as he breaks the double barreled shotgun open and removed the smoking cartridges, dropping them beside the corpse, “Benny, what brings ya to my flat? Who’s your … crikey, that’s one right fair bird. Your taste in women has improved a fair sight from Cairo.”

OOC: update forthcoming for the other group, I want to give Marion and Mia a chance to react/act on what they have learned.

Catori had her dagger drawn the moment the assassin attacked Ben and Arch. The gunshot made her ears ring and for a moment she wasn't sure whether the newcomer was friend or foe. Her dagger still held in a defensive stance she looked back and forth between Ben and Kolya before she slowly relaxed. Then she sheathed her dagger and walked to the assassin checking for any livesigns.
(ooc: assuming he is dead)

"I can't do anything for him, he is dead. Was that necessary?", said Catori as she walked next to Ben looking rather displeased at Kolya.

"I rather thought so," Kolya replied evenly. "Bugger tried to stick a knife in me, that's plenty enough reason." He sizes Catori and Archibald up, "Name's Kolya, you're friends of Ben right? Pleasure." He offers his hand to each in turn, giving a strong shake of the hand to Arch and attempting to lay a gentelmanly kiss on Catori's hand.