~~Beatrice~~
Beatrice stared at the crow that'd wandered into the cave. That, was unusual. Rats, sure, sometimes they approached the cave entrance, but the people inside, the lack of food, and the overall air of 'don't come in here or you'll get eaten' the cave gave off dissuaded rodents and insects. The entrance was also full of sharp brush, and not friendly to birds.
The crow hopped over to her, and the motion announced who it was. It had a broken wing.
"Scully?"
Jennifer sat up. "What? I--oh! Um, that... that does appear to be Scully."
"Scully, what're you doing here?"
The crow hopped up to the alcove, and flapped her wings a few times, settling. The broken wing looked nasty when she did that, but it did work, fully flapping and everything. Triss couldn't help but smile at the thought of her flying, like a car with some drag on one side.
"My Animalism sucks. Jen, help me out?"
Jennifer rolled her eyes. "Learn to step outside your comfort zones of Disciplines."
"You can talk when you can Cloak. At all."
Chuckling, Jennifer leaned over to the bird, and clucked her tongue a few times.
Scully clucked back, crooned, cawed, and hopped left and right a bit. Pretty damn animated. Triss looked past her to Othello and Madison, who were still going at it, and deep into the heavy, grunty loud parts of sex. Madison was borderline comatose, Othello having Kissed her, but the big lug just kept pounding away, making the poor girl cum again and again and again. No wonder they didn't notice the bird.
Aaron would have noticed instantly, but the dude was out with his supposed girlfriend none of them had seen. Triss was starting to doubt she existed.
Jen snapped her hand out, and grabbed the bird.
"Jen, what the fuck!?"
Jen snarled as she held the shocked bird by the body, pinning her wings, while her other hand grabbed her feet.
"Scully, listen to me closely. If you're lying, I'm going to rip you in half. Say it again."
Scully took a few seconds to recover, but eventually she clucked and cawed again.
"I... I don't believe you."
Scully cawed again.
"Shit. Shit shit." Jennifer slowly let go of the crow's body, but not her legs. "She says Jack's in danger."
"Jesus, I figured it'd be something like that if she came looking for help. But why are you--"
"She says Jacob's the danger."
Beatrice froze. "What?"
"Jacob's the danger. Jacob's been up to something, and everyone knows, everyone except us, and they're all out dealing with stuff right now connected to it."
Oh fucking shit. Triss groaned and buried her face in her hands. No no no. Jacob, what the fuck are you up to?
"She know details?"
Jen shook her head. "She's a familiar, not a person. Probably not safe to give her too many details, cause, you know." She gestured to how easily she'd caught the bird.
"Did Jack send her?"
"No, she came on her own, because she thinks Jack's in trouble. She thinks Jacob might have done something, and apparently, he's been up to something for a while?"
Triss leaned in close to Jen, and whispered. "When Jacob took me outside a bit ago, he... he thought I knew about something, about... something."
"About... something." The word was quickly losing all meaning.
"He was up to something, and he thought I already knew about it. Apparently Jack and the others already know. And... And whatever it was, it was big. He ran off to do... whatever it was."
"And you're telling me now?"
"I had to fucking think about it, okay?" Triss sighed as she looked to the crow. "Why'd she come here, and not visit the others?"
"She says she can't get to the Prince, but Mulder's still trying. She tried everyone else, and they're all gone."
"All of them?"
"Everyone with a window."
Groaning louder, Triss slid back and smacked herself in the face a few times. "Jacob Jacob, what the fuck are you up to?"
Jen and the bird clucked at each other a few times more.
"She says whatever it is, everyone's been trying to stop it for a while. Something to do with Black Blood."
Black Blood. Hearing the name in this context was like getting stabbed in the fucking spine with a fucking icicle.
"So, Natasha?" Triss asked. Jen shook her head. "Damien?"
"With Jack."
"The werewolves?"
"Most of them are with Jack. The others aren't at their home."
"Eric?" Triss asked. "He's probably with Jessy."
"Not home."
"Sándor?"
"Probably with Jack," Jen said. "Scully says they're all grouped up to fight a spider monster. I assume she means an azlu, not Fiona. And... she thinks Jacob's interfered."
"Fuuuuuuck. Wait, what about Fiona? She around?"
"Scully doesn't know where she lives."
"Fuck. I don't have her in my phone either. Fuuuuuck." She snapped her gaze over to Othello, who was slowing down. For half a second, she thought about going over there and telling him, getting his opinion. But, no, that'd be stupid as fuck. Othello was her friend, but he'd been Jacob's friend for fucking decades. Did he know what the fuck Jacob was up to, then? Probably not. Didn't mean she could trust him.
"Triss?"
"Let's go outside."