15923/Things are getting confusing...here is stability.

Things are getting confusing...here is stability.
Date of Scene:	27 December 2023
Location:	Harry Dresden's Office, Kingston Falls
Synopsis:	Harry is looking for Dracula. Willow help to throw him off the trail a little, preventing a precise location.
Cast of Characters:	Harry Dresden, Willow Rosenberg

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Harry Dresden has posed:
Things are pretty normal at the office. Mouse is watching the place, Mister is off doing Mister things, and downstairs Harry and Bob are working on something. Back to abnormal and waiting for the next disaster it seems. It's been quiet for a few days, the next show to fall should be anytime.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow had kept to herself a few days after the incident with Thomas. But on the third day she arrives as though nothing was the matter.

Unless you counted the devil may care attitude that she occasionally was bringing to bear. Up to, and including, the single black streak in her witches forelock. Just a tiny streak - barely enough to comment on.

She scritches Mouse. And then gives Harry a kiss. "I brought Chinese?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry looks up as he feels the wards open and close. Mouse chuffs and moves to get some lovings from Willow and then lays down again.

Down in the lab it is dark, but Harry looks up when she comes in. He stops his work and moves to meet the kiss. When that breaks he tells her softly,"Sound wonderful. Glad to see you."

Bob is quiet, like dead silent. The lights narrow some as he studies Willow. Usually one to quip something vugar and sexist, he is quiet. He did hear what she said that night and he can't miss that witches forlock in the darker room.

Harry, on the other hand, doesn't see the hair color difference yet as it is a little dark down here for that.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow tilts her chin up, as if she was daring Bob to say anything.

"I've decided that to heck with what Thomas thinks." In other words she'll show him. Willow was still a bit feisty about the topic. "Really, He could have said it more politely. I mean, We all realize that everyone listens to you. Just that thing about massaging my ego? Where did he come up with that?"

She flumps down on a stool.

"What are you looking for today?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
A nod and he goes back to the work. Bob shuts right up, aware of her now. His lights go out and Harry frowns thoughtfully. Shrugging, he puts the rag on the skull, apparently done with him anyway.

"Thomas is Thomas." he admits,"He thinks with his crotch and rarely with anything else." Shaking his head, he starts mixing a poition over heat,"If Dracula is out here, I want to find him and get him gone from here." he mutters.

He nods and takes up a leather necklace with a stone on it. He dips it into the potion and the starts to make a circle over the city map. He watches it spin in the circle and let it look. The stone drops on Thomas and Faith's home. He frowns and picks it up and sets it to spin again.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Oh?" So very casual. "How come? Because he bit Faith?"

Willow leans over, curious how Harry does his scrying. "I use my laptop, mostly. I guess I have to bring out the old school methods." She grins. "But didn't we get the bite fast enough?"

Of course she reminds herself again about Harry. "Even so, if he really considers me as his little sister, then what was that all about? Surely Faith isn't threatened by me. Heck! I sleep with you! I really don't want Thomas - even if I wasn't your partner." She shakes her head in mystification.

Harry Dresden has posed:
"Thomas was focused on her and her situation. When he does that, he doesn't really think. He agreed to let Bob ride around in him one night after Faith was turned to stone if Bob would help me free her."

The srcy chrystal drops again, this time on Willow and Buffy's home,"What the hell..." he mutters,"I am trying to find Dracula, not slayers." He sighs and admits,"Scrying isn't my specialty." He starts to spin it again and waits for it to drop again,"I am pretty sure he isn't looking to bed with you Willow, he's just...a bit thick in the head sometimes."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"It really hurt me. Like I said, we all know that everyone turns to you with magical problems. I'm pretty used to that." At least where the Scoobies were concerned. "He didn't even think gosh darnit! I'm too smart to be bamboozled by his comment about massaging my ego. I would have more respect if he said we all turned to you with magic. The end. Period."

Willow frowns at his scrying. "Buffy tasted his blood once? Could that be the problem?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
"He looks to me because he's my brother." Harry replies and the thing drops again, this time in a middle class apartment building. Not likely to find him there.

He sighs and starts it to spin again,"He knows you are capable, he just has a pattern. Look at him."

He considers that and frowns,"I wonder if Faith has then?" he muses,"That might make sense. He's bitten both of them too hasn't he? Buffy I mean. I know he bit Faith."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow shakes her head. "Faith was bitten. Buffy tasted his blood. But I don't know if your scrying could tell the difference. The other one - I haven't a clue."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Shaking his head, Harry sighs,"There is definately something interfering. I wonder if he leaves some sort of mark on those that he bites and that is what is interferring."

He's just throwing something at the wall to see if it will stick at this point. The crystal falls on Thomas' club again and Harry sighs. Pretty clear the old man is covering his tracks somehow.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Can I try?"

Willow hops off of the stool, and holds her hand out. "If he is the one who is messing with our dreams, it could be that whatever keeps you from having them, might be the reason. And it is possible that he isn't the dream giver."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Unlike the others, Harry doesn't have an issue letting Willow take a shot. Standing up, his height towers over her enough to not miss the hair this time. He looks at her and nods,"Give it a go."

He lightly touches her hair and tells her,"Interesting style you have going on there." He isn't being critical. He could just as easily believe she dyed her hair, maybe not wanting to consider bad options yet.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Oh that? I wanted to try to change my style after what Thomas said. You like? I've been trying to be more assertive too."

She tucks her hair back.

"Now let me see. What are the parameters you are looking for?" She traces a circle - first tight, then as she goes ever widening circle. All with her eyes closed. Feeling the tugs of the stone.

Harry Dresden has posed:
"It looks good." he tells her,"Just don't let my older brother bother you too much." He studies the hair again, but opts to take her at her word. He trusts her.

"Dracula is a little different than any other vampire. Different from the Red or Black court despite being blamed for both. He's different from any others for that matter. I used some of the saliva I took from Faith's neck and focused on trying to find her blood with him. He must have burned through it already."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow could tell that Dracula was putting people (especially Harry!) off of his trail. But he didn't have what Willow did: a coin. A very old coin with ties to Dracula.

But does she want to use it?

Most definitely she wasn't going to let Harry see the coin. It was in her pocket of her skirt..

She almost did touch it, and immediately the stone wrenched in a direction. As she stopped, the scrying stone went in a circle around Avalon, with a few dekes on the outer edges. Still the scrying stone stayed in that general area.

Even without the coin, Willow probably could know where it was going to land if she let it.

But would she?

That was the question.

"It seems to want to stop over here, in Avalon. I could try to pin it down?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
Nodding, Harry watches her work. He doesn't interrupt. Her scrying is clearly going better than his. Crossing his arms, he tells her softly,"If we can get a lock on him, I want to get Faith and Buffy together. They are just going to have to work together on this. It's been said he can't be killed. I think between the four of us we should be able to bring him down and see if we can get him off this plane if not outright dead."

He's got bad intentions. Whether he is a huge fan of Faith or not, Dracula is Dracula. He's the killer and destroyer of lives. If Willow wants to be able to deal with him still, she better not point Harry at him. The four of them could more than likely put Dracula on the shelf once and for all.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
And with his words the scrying stone went silent

"That's.. strange. It just.. stopped."

And as if to make a point, she began to circle the stone again, and again and every time she stopped, the stone stopped dead in its tracks. "It's like he recognized what was going on, and put a stop to it. Sorry Harry. I tried?"

Until she had to choose.

Oh Harry, what is Willow up to?

Harry Dresden has posed:
If he notices the timing, it isn't obvious. He shakes his head and admits,"We know more than we did. Mine was all over the map. At lease you've narrowed things down to an area of the town."

He shakes his head,"I'll text Thomas and give him a place to look around. He and Faith can look on their time and you can tell Buffy."

He looks at the larger map and the crystal there is resting in Manitoba Canada,"I believe I narrowed down this most recent 'freak of the week'. We'll have to gather some to go looking for it. I don't buy into coincidence."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
If she's been on the ball, she wouldn't have left it in Avalon. Then again, to be as good is she was in scrying.. the odds were better that she would be believed if she gave them a smaller field to look around in? Right??

"In Manitoba? Wow, these dreams are taking us all over the world."

Okay, Willow had only been on one of those trips, so 'all over the world' was a bit of an exaggeration.

Harry Dresden has posed:
"Bad things are everywhere I guess." Harry mutters. He looks at the Avalon scry and then the Canada scry,"I hate having our attention split up like this, but we need to worry about both."

He shakes his head,"We should probably assemble a team and go deal with Canada first and then come back to this and see where we are. I hate leaving him running around since there is never an easy way to know what he might be up to.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
That? Willow had to agree with.

Though she added, "He was gone for a while. Two years? Something like it. Maybe he will get bored again and fly away? It could happen."

Harry Dresden has posed:
A raise of his brow and Harry leans over to kiss her gently,"I like the way you are thinking, but I don't know if we could get that lucky." he suggests with a smirk.

He looks to another map and shows her,"The trip through the Way Between Worlds is going to be a lot more difficuly. As much as I'd like to bring Mouse this time, I think we need to keep him here and have one of the Carpenter family come here to take care of the place while we're gone."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Not likely with Willow as a student.

Both reasons were valid. After all, she's not lying. Dracula was forcing the scrying from working. (Even if she could bypass that.) She did believe that Dracula was up to something, and at the same time she could offer the honest truth that he had gone away, and might be bored enough to slip away again.

She hadn't lied. Just she had omitted several things.

"Let's go eat. It's getting cold."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry nods and replies,"No microwaves in here. Let's go eat." he agrees and starts putting out candles, then following her upstair. When he closes the door, the towel on the shelf and two glowing points appeara behind it as Bob has been listening all along.

A soft sigh and Bob mutters,"Oh Harry..."