Voicemail

[glacial_queen]

"Hey, this is Karla! I could go all fancy and Queenly, but only friends have this number, thank the Darkness. So, leave your name and a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I'm done with whatever issue currently demanding my attention. Blah blah blah, you know the drill."





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Comments

[heromaniac]

"Hmm. That's probably what happened; the poor girl was almost in hysterics over her mom when I first talked to her and she's been so busy with everything since. I don't even know if she's thought to call anyone since that first round."

Momoko stepped away from the classroom and found a corner to sit in. "Leda got an offer from someone about her memoirs or something and she went on a trip to meet him in her Arizona. While she was there, she collapsed and when they got her to the hospital the doctors said it was this Elven Flu that had been going around a while back. I don't know if you heard about it? It was a pretty big thing a few years ago because Elves supposedly can't get sick."

"Leda's stable but they have her isolated so it doesn't spread. She wasn't conscious when I was there, but she was resting comfortably. Sai and Strider are there watching her; we went over the reports together."

[glacial_queen]

"Can you send me the reports?" Karla asked. "I might be able to spot something." Perhaps not, because her Healer training wasn't the same as a medical education from this world or one of its analogues, but it was worth a shot. "Has she regained consciousness?"

[heromaniac]

"I'll upload them tonight. And no, she's not awake yet. I've made sure everyone knows to let me know when she is. The doctors don't seem worried about that, which I thought was weird, but apparently this hospital has done some work with elves at some point or something. The people I talked to were more upset at the idea of it spreading than anything else."

Momoko made a face. "Well, they were also a little starstruck because she's a queen. Let's both be glad we don't get twitter feed from that universe."

[glacial_queen]

"If they were professionals, they'd keep quiet for her own protection and safety," Karla grumbled. "Especially if their media is anything like Earth-usual and would consider it their duty to try to sneak through and take pictures."

Which increased the likelihood of the sickness spreading, too. Ugh. Amateurs.

"I don't remember hearing about the Elven Flu, though. Does it only affect elves? Or elves and humans? Elves and other races of the Fae?"

[heromaniac]

"Sometimes coming face to face with a celebrity is too much for some people," Momoko sighed, TOTALLY not mentioning any of the stupid things she'd done over the years as an otaku. "The security is really good tho. I couldn't even sneak in!"

...ANYWAY.

"Elves usually don't get sick, so it was a big thing. Someone invented this drug that made humans sort of turn into elves? You know, so people who always wanted to be one could? The ultimate fangirl thing? Apparently, though it messed with human genetics enough that it made a disease that Elves and half-elves could catch. It was really bad and even killed some people a few years ago."

She hesitated, then added: "I don't remember if it affects any other Fae, but since she's in isolation I am guessing they're at least worried it might?"

[glacial_queen]

"Hell's fire and Mother Night," Karla said, pacing back and forth in her room, her gown rustling around her legs. "Does the information you have for me include details of the virus itself? I might be able to figure a little more about how it works if I can see the structure."

[heromaniac]

"No. Sorry. I was more interested in how and why it happened and not the flu itself. I can probably get details from Sai and send them on. It will take a few days, though, since I have them working on tracking down one of the people who went missing."

[glacial_queen]

"Could you?" Karla asked. "Any information that you can provide would be helpful for me to see about unraveling it." She sighed. "In a few days, when Raven comes home, if she's still sick, we can have her teleport there and see what she can do? Do you think that might work?"

[heromaniac]

Momoko frowned thoughtfully. "If it works on people from magical races... How about we decide that for sure when you've seen the reports and I've asked if it affects only Elves? That way everyone can stay safe."

...

"Especially since I am only half convinced it wasn't intentional."

[glacial_queen]

WAY TO BURY THE LEDE, MOMOKO.

"You think what?" Karla asked, her question of whether the Blood would count as a 'magical race' completely forgotten.

[heromaniac]

Momoko's cringe was purely out of instinct from her reporting days during the war. "I know, I know! But she's a Queen and the attacks on you totally make me worry about political stuff now!"

"I'm probably just being totally paranoid." Momoko shrugged and ran a hand through her hair. "I just... We'd talked just a few days before she left for Phoenix and she was fine. No one on the trip noticed any symptoms coming on, and if Leda knew she was sick and was hiding it... well, she totally wouldn't put other people in danger by going on a joy trip."

Another slight shrug. "But the doctors are saying it's the flu thing. And only thing that stood out in Strider's reports is that one woman who was with them on the trip is gone."

[glacial_queen]

"Being worried about political stuff is totally valid," Karla said, going back to pacing. "Because Leda's reign hasn't exactly been hugs and kittens any more than mine has. And even if you're wrong, it's better to consider than a possibility and eliminate it, rather than dismissing it out of hand and be wrong."

She shoved a hand through her hair. "Who is this female? How long was she part of Leda's court? Any ideas where she's gone?

[heromaniac]

"See that's the fun part." Momoko smirked. "She wasn't a member of court. She was the personal assistant of the guy Leda went to meet. And there's like, a whole day where the reports don't mention her at all! And she hasn't been seen since Leda got sick. I talked some to her cousin, and I've asked Sai and Strider to track her down."

[glacial_queen]

"If nothing else, that's sketchy enough to warrant a closer look," Karla agreed. "Momoko, your instincts are good, okay? Remember that the next time you second-guess yourself. She might have taken this opportunity to slip Leda something."

[heromaniac]

"That's what I was thinking. I just can't find anything definite enough, you know? Things are weird and my police senses are tingling, but it totally could just be a coincidence."

"I don't want to get anyone upset or start a witchhunt... sorry." Momoko eyerolled at herself. "But at the least and best, we need to find the woman and make sure she isn't a carrier of the virus or sick herself."

[glacial_queen]

"If you word it that way to everyone but Sai and Strider, you can probably avoid anything approaching a..." Momoko could probably hear her smile. "...witchhunt."

[heromaniac]

Momoko did hear that and she made a face at the phone.

"I did. Well, I made sure everyone knew that's why I was demanding reports and information beyond 'how is she doing'. But then I focused more on the sickness part after a while. Sai and Strider have Leda really secure and there's human FBI there too, so I'm not too worried about her safety right now."

Hence being at her dance class.

[glacial_queen]

Karla loved you, Momoko!

"So long as the plan isn't to use her sickness as a cover for something else," Karla said darkly. "Like a poison that mimics the symptoms of the sickness, at least enough that no one looks any further than that."

What? It's what she'd do!

...In a few years, she was going to look back to this conversation and cringe.

[heromaniac]

....

"Thanks Karla, now I'm worried all over again!"

[glacial_queen]

"You're the one who brought up the possibility of assassination," Karla pointed out wryly. "Trust me, I'd prefer not to be as much an expert in the area as I am."

[heromaniac]

"You are definitely getting the reports sent now. And I'm probably going to email them to Scully too, just in case." Momoko tapped her chin. "Though the idea still doesn't really settle well with me. Why poison?"

[glacial_queen]

Oh, you had asked the wrong person, Momoko. At least, if you ever wanted to sleep again. Otherwise, you were asking the right person.

"Poison works on a timetable," Karla explained. "You stab someone, it's pretty damn apparent what happened. Poison is subtle, it could take hours before it becomes apparent that something is wrong and a good poisoner can make it look like something else entirely."

Like, a sickness of some sort. Just saying.

"This gives the chance for the poisoner to run before anyone knows to look for them and can waste valuable time making people treat one thing instead of what's really wrong. Have the doctors run a tox screen? Done bloodwork?"

[heromaniac]

"If it's a poison, it's one that the doctors couldn't find," Momoko shook her head. "But why would you try to poison an elf, though? Someone that can't get sick? I mean, unless it's an elf poison. That would totally make sense. And if you know enough to poison an elf... is that kind of a person really going to be hard to find?"

Again with the thoughts about how much Madame Wu could be trusted...

[glacial_queen]

"Not if you're elven yourself," Karla pointed out. "Or you work with someone who is. The average human might not know anything? But how hard would it be to hire someone and say, 'Dump this into their coffee and then get gone'?"

She huffed a laugh. "Trust me, Momoko. I'm teaching a class on that subject this semester. I can go on for days about poisons." She frowned. "Have the doctors looked for anything like a metal splinter or something? Some elves are poisoned by cold iron. I can't remember if Leda would be, but a small splinter would be easy enough to overlook, but then would be poisoning her slowly from the inside."

[heromaniac]

"Hmm. I'm totally going to have to take your class. I am terrible about poisons." Which was ridiculous of her when you thought of how much Momoko ate.

"There was no mention of it, but I don't know if they'd look for that. I'll send a note to Sai to look for something like a splinter. She didn't drink anything weird; I did look for that."

Mostly for any hint of her taking Peca again, sorry Leda.