090. One Night Ultimate Vampire

The motley tries to put out fires at a party.

### Play of the Game:

Liz as Sophia and Scott as Braum, for throwing and surviving the most awkward engagement party.

***"Let me introduce you to a place from my childhood: the chicken coop. A place of toys and games from long ago…."***

The Spark's garden is lit up with lights and dominated by a giant wooden table, complete with horns of mead: it seems Claude went to quite a bit of trouble to make the engagement announcement party *feel* like Braum. As he prepares to greet those closest to him, Kyoko surprises him again by showing up in a perfect tuxedo, something "a little unconventional," she admits. Braum announces the engagement to the assembled guests, trying to be succinct, but is interrupt by an urgent call. Tossing his phone to Patches, the nocker learns from an anxious Giorgio that Claire is on her way there now… and she's enchanted.

Patches berates Giorgio for his carelessness and tells him to watch Braum's kids with his life, while she moves to intercept Claire. A radiant Sophia (as well as Xaeron goes to run interference as well, and their combined strangeness shocks the enchanted mortal. Braum leaves his party to bring Claire upstairs to Sophia's penthouse, hoping to explain to her as best as he can. She is distraught that he's been lying to her all these years, but Braum is adamant that he did his best to not try to hurt her. He had to retreat from his marriage because he was denying a part of himself, a part that she could never understand; "So then you never loved me, you just wanted to escape." Braum tells her that loving both Kay and Kyoko wasn't *just* because they too are Fae. Hurt and vulnerable, Claire asks Braum if they can "try again", that she still loves him… and that he can't marry Kyoko anyway, because she never filed the divorce papers.

It is at this moment that Lauren arrives at The Spark, unannounced. Sophia deftly whisks her out of the freehold and down to a ramen restaurant, hoping to keep her away until Claire has left. A man at the next table interrupts them, embarrassed to ask if she is Sophia, the famous musician. She is happy with the adoration, until the man commands her and Lauren to sleep, with a strange power they've seen somewhere before….

Back at the freehold, Braum calls Georgio to inform him of the divorce development, and Patches takes Talus's advice to try to trick Claire. Talus uses the power of Summer to calm her, and they put her to bed, hoping to get her away once the effects of the satyr brew wear off. Braum agrees to meet Georgio for a drink. Patches gets a call from Seven inviting her to the Grand Bes Din in a week's time to show High Queen Lenore around and present her with her gift.

Meanwhile, Sophia awakens in a basement, shackled with cold iron. The man is there, and assures her that no harm has come to Lauren: he merely wants to talk. Veritas is a businessman at heart, and has merely been trying to get back what was taken from him: Abford Pharmaceuticals. He asks if Sophia needs any help dealing with their "lupine problem", but admits that his primary objective is simply to negotiate that these two dangerous groups stay away from each other. He wants Sophia to agree to never again interfere in the vampire's business, but won't promise the same in return. Sophia has a brainwave: sell this monster something that he wants in exchange for favours. She tries to convince him that in her veins runs blood like fire, which he could have, and so defeat his enemies. Veritas seems intrigued, and tries to invade Sophia's mind to check its truth. At an impasse, he agrees to let her and Lauren leave on the condition that she return the following day, and that she not tell anyone.

Stepping out into the evening, Sophia breathes a sigh of relief, safe at least. And at that moment, a butterfly makes its way up to an open window in the apartment complex above, Claire's building… and a blast of Glamour signifies the birth of a new Changeling!