Rising Tensions

Nicole Taylor

## MINE FIELDE TRIPPE TO DISNEYLAND PARIS

### By Lady Abigail of house Fiona

'TWAS a gloomy Wednesday afternoon when I was humbly beseeched to visit the office of the principal of Martin Salisbury's School for Exceptional Individuals, house of education for me and those in my household. When I entered, I saw she was not alone - Knight Franklin, founder of the school, was there with her. He told me that he and his sisters-in-arms from Antwerp office of The Hidden Ones were being sent on a diplomatic mission - they were to meet with representatives of the Council of Nine Mystic Traditions, and discuss how to avert a renewal of open conflict between the two mage factions (at this point he pretended to correct himself by saying "my mistake, 'Enlightened' and 'Deviant' factions", making dramatic air quotes while saying "Enlightened" and "Deviant"). The meeting was to take place on neutral ground, namely Disneyland Paris.
The realization that Disneyland Paris was neutral territory had inspired Knight Franklin - as the budget for the school had recently increased, a field trip for the class to Disneyland was affordable, and with the presence of the diplomats, Disneyland was as safe a place to visit as it would ever be. Naturally, I was not interested in such frivolities, myself, but Knight Franklin requested that I join too, to watch over my subjects while he was occupied by his mission, and I generously agreed.

KNIGHT Franklin's beloved, Stefanie, acted as additional, if unnecessary, security in the guise of chaperone on our journey to Disneyland, which was highly uneventful - the bus driver only had to take a single Senex tablet (I do not understand why a type of medicine tablet was named after an archmage - presumably it was an attempt to counteract the propaganda of The Hidden Ones). When we arrived, Knight Franklin, futilely attempting to hide his mild panic, informed us the theatre was to be avoided, as the Technocratic Union was engaged in some activity there which should not be disturbed, so we went straight to the rollercoasters, which were great fu adequate.
While we the members of my household were enjoying the sights, Knight Franklin contacted us, and informed us that the members of the intended catering company for the diplomatic meeting had been struck by illness, which he and his comrades believed to be part of an attempt to get hostile operatives hired as replacement, who could then poison the food. As they did not know which, if any, of the available catering companies and food shops would be safe, Knight Franklin requested our aid in providing the catering, since we were the only ones he could trust.
We leapt into action, borrowing Knight Franklin's credit card to purchase ingredients and equipment, and made several beautiful courses, including fugu (fortunately, only the one I ate to test still had poison in it) and a scandalously sexy Trinity cream, prepared using flamethrowers for authenticity.

AS we later found out, while we were preparing the meal a threat to the meeting arose: one of the agents of The Hidden Ones that was assigned to the theatre had been murdered and replaced by an imitator. While Knight Franklin discovered and arrested the imitator, dressed as the fictional modern knight Iron Man as usual, his comrade Jane was attacked by a mysterious assassin, which vanished before they could be captured. Although this attempt had been thwarted, it set Knight Franklin and his comrades on edge, which was not helped by the meeting being off to a rough start. Fortunately, our courses and their presentation were well received and helped ease the tension, with Jane even splitting in two so she could enjoy both of the Trinity cream bowls.

LATER, Knight Franklin made another request of us - information had come to light that White Cat, one of the representatives of the Council of Nine Mystic Traditions, was being targeted by assassins. We agreed to shelter him for the night, but Jane had several bad premonitions, and even deciding to take turns keeping watch wasn't enough for her to feel he was safe - eventually he was taken to a campfire, where he was watched all night, while Jane disguised herself as him, soul and all.

THE next day, while exploring scouting Disneyland for further threats, I discovered a lady in distress, named Tara. I quickly realized she was being helped captive by a demon, and swore to slay the demon for her sake. When I informed Knight Franklin of this, however, he was unwilling to assist, and begged me not to charge into battle until he had time to explain the situation more thoroughly, apparently already having been aware of Tara's plight.
Some time later, he returned and explained the situation: the demon she was bound to was named Hastur, and although they were not hostile towards humanity, their play, The King in Yellow, had the unintended 'side' effect of driving its audience insane. Hastur had captured Tara because she was a good actress and was immune to the play's effects. Realizing Hastur's strength and the widescale damage that a fight to save Tara would cause, Knight Franklin and his comrades had compromised and agreed to let The Hidden Ones protect the shows of Hastur's play, using their magic to protect the audience. As a sane audience enjoyed the play more than an insane one, this was also agreeable to Hastur. They also convinced Hastur to give Tara more freedom, by claiming it would keep her morale high so her performance wouldn't suffer. Although Knight Franklin was clearly unhappy with the situation, he emphasized that Tara was not a damsel in distress, but a tragic heroine, sacrificing her happiness for the sake of humanity, and that all we could do to help her was to make her breaks inbetween plays as enjoyable as possible.

WHILE we were keeping Tara company, her plight having moved all of us to tears, Knight Franklin sent us an alarming message - apparently White Cat was behind the attempts on his own life. By the time we arrived (we had to wash the ice cream off our clothes make sure Tara was safe first), however, Knight Franklin's comrade Taylor had already managed to defuse the situation. As Knight Franklin later explained, White Cat was concerned that any peace between the two mage factions would just result in The Hidden Ones launching a surprise attack after lulling the Council of the Nine Traditions into a false sense of security, and decided that his own murder, being blamed on The Hidden Ones, would be the best way to thwart such a peace. Taylor's attempts to convince White Cat that his suicide was not necessary were complicated by Knight Franklin (and to some degree, Jane) agreeing with White Cat, to the bemusement of the other representatives of the Council of the Nine Traditions.
With White Cat placated, those present focused on another issue - the disappearance of Senex. After initially believing one of the Antwerpians' enemies from The Hidden Ones, named Sakura, was responsible, they eventually realized the Consanguinity of Eternal Joy had kidnapped Senex, and the Antwerpians set off to rescue him, but not before Knight Franklin entrusted me with the mission of making sure Tara and the members of my household enjoyed our stay in Disneyland Paris "as much as you are legally allowed to".