17140/The Dragon of St. George (pt 1)

The Dragon of St. George (pt 1)
Date of Scene:	09 February 2024
Location:	Diocese of New York
Synopsis:	Patience Alperen reports to the New York Diocese and is introduced to Caitlin Fairchild. Their first objective: retrieve the Sword of St. George!
Cast of Characters:	Caitlin Fairchild, Patience Alperen

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Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin's dealings with the Vatican have been... a little tense, in the last few years.

When the Angels took Manhattan, Caitlin first fought on their side with the blessing of the Church. Then when Michael played his hand, revealing the disaster he would visit upon the world, Caitlin had turned on him. The Church had elected to downplay it as an alien invasion, citing that it was impossible for Angels to turn against man. And then, Caitlin had been quietly blackballed from major congregations, and her pastor sent to a proverbial farm up north.

But there are still factions in the Church that see the world for what it is and don't shy away from what's dealt them. So word had been passed, quietly, from bishop to priest, until Caitlin's confessor Father Pat simply told her 'the Diocese wants a word with you'.

So it's a somewhat nervous superheroine, in her best Sunday dress, who is being escorted into the inner chambers of the Cathedral of St. Patrick-- her own, original church.

They pass her into the innermost rooms of the Cathedral and Caitlin is bade to sit in one of the heavy chairs facing a desk. The escort withdraws, leaving Caitlin alone for a few moments.

When Cardinal Dolan walks into the room, with Patience trailing behind him, Caitlin almost jumps to her feet in surprise. "...Your Eminence!" Caitlin exclaims. She gives Patience a startled examination, then kneels down and kisses the Cardinal's ring when he approaches. "I'm-- I'm sorry, no one told me, that, uh, you'd be, umh...."

It's perhaps a bit of an odd sight for Patience, seeing the positively amazonian woman blushing nervously in front of the Cardinal. The elder priest blesses Caitlin quietly, and soothes her with a touch. "Caitlin, please, it's all right. Relax, and take a seat. Caitlin, this is Patience," the Cardinal says, gesturing at his companion. "Patience, this is the woman I told you about. Caitlin Fairchild."

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen had been contacted through the usual Inquisitorius channels. It was always tense. If Caitlin has found her interactions with the Church to be cool and distant, Patience most often finds them frigid and terse. There are some who understand her choice to distance herself from being the mouthpiece of the Inquisition while still working toward the same ends. Some understand that she has her own methods to achieve those results. But the leadership of the secret sect charged with protecting the Church and its followers from the true evils of the world? They don't like having a loose cannon. They want a pawn to control. A weapon to point and shoot and then be put away in secret, only to see the light of day when completing this or that task. A puppet. And Patience? She has made it abundantly clear.

The Magdalena will be no one's puppet.

Working with the Church? She will do that. This, then, is one of those occasions.

She enters behind the Cardinal with a black cloak drawn about her form, hiding her attire undernealth. Only dark boots and glimpses of a crimson lining to the edge of the cloak can be seen. The hood is down which lets her dark brown hair hang freely about her shoulders. Strapped to her shoulder is a burlap wrapped object. A staff perhaps. Those who can sense divine power could certainly sense that the object has no small amount in its own right.

Looking to the statuesque redhead, Patience smiles and nods. She offers out her right hand in greeting. It's covered in a black glove and her arm in a black sleeve as they emerge from within the cloak.

"Hello Ms. Fairchild. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
If Caitlin's sizing Patience up, it doesn't show. She has an earnest face, one that seems reassuring, but ill-considered for keeping secrets. She matches Patience's smile with a warm one of her own, and (very gently) shakes Patience's hand. Most people would think Caitlin moves timidly out of some lack of self-possession, but someone possessed of Patience's experience would quickly note it's the movement of someone acutely aware of their ability to cause negligent property damage just by existing.

"It's very nice to meet you, Miss... Patience," she says. She was already informed there was an element of cloak-and-dagger present, and doesn't press the other woman for more information than she's willing to provide.

The Cardinal invites both of them to sit, and once they're settled, her interlaces his fingers on the desk. The imposing, high-backed chair he occupies seems at odds with his pleasant, round-faced demeanour.

"Caitlin, you've done some... covert work for the Church in the past," he states. "When you helped us secure the relics of the Church of our Lady of Victories. St. Ignatius' college," he clarifies, nodding at Patience. "Patience has been doing the same thing, for most of her life. She is one of the more accomplished..." he takes a deep breath, "demon hunters, in the world. The Vatican has become aware of a situation brewing in Israel. Not far from the city of Akko-- Acre, for you historians."

He looks to Patience and spreads his fingers slightly. "Would you like to give her the particulars, Patience?"

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen shakes the hand without any concern or hesitation. She does notice the restraint but offers only a reassuring smile.

Moving to sit she adds, "Just Patience is fine" she says easily as she turns to listen to the Cardinal. She only knows the very highest of points about Caitlin but if she is present then the Cardinal has confidence, even faith, in her ability to help. For now that was enough.

As the Cardinal defers to her for the next part, Patience nods.

"I'm sure you will have all manner of questions for me. For now, it's easiest to say that I am the current Magdalena. The heritage and lineage of the one who maintains the title goes back, mmm, millenia." That's enough for now on that, really.

"As the Cardinal says, I am a hunter of demons, of evil, for the Church. I have some particular talents and traits that suit me for particular situations. This one..." She takes a breath, "Well, it would likely challenge what most people believe to be real and true. Though I understand you've experienced much more than the average person of Faith."

Offering a slight smile she continues, "You've probably heard the story, at least in passing, of Saint George and the dragon? How he faced it down with a sword of mighty power and, with great valor, was able to slay the creature. As with many storys, or legends, they have basis in truth. The fact is that there was a dragon. Is a dragon. It last appeared in the middle of the Tenth Century. Possibly the Ninth - there aren't clear records these days obviously."

Looking intently at Caitlin she offers quietly, "It has returned. Or so it has come to be believed. And if that is true, then Saint George's blade may well be the only one that can stop it this time as well."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin chokes at Patience's introduction. She shoots an alarmed glance at the Cardinal, but he is busy (pointedly) paying attention to Patience's explanation. It's a good thing too; Patience smoothly heads off what was clearly about to be a religious conniption from the Catholic superheroine. Fortunately, as Patience has been briefed, Caitlin was brought up primarily by Jesuits, and therefore she's a little more open-minded than most.

But still!

The question about what she's faced is met with a wary nod; Caitlin listens carefully, nodding at the appropriate moments as Patience explains things. When she finishes, the redhead, not realizing she is leaning forward, resettles in her chair and properly straightens her back.

"Uh... okay. Wow," she comments. "Give me... give me ten seconds," she requests, lifting a hand up, and focuses on some spot in front of the Cardinal's desk..

Exactly nine and a half seconds later, she exhales in an affirming way and squares her shoulders. "Okay. Sorry. That was just a lot to process," she apologizes. "And I have a lot of questions, but business first."

The redhead quirks her lips, brow furrowing. "Okay, well, step one with any task, is intelligence. What do we know about it? Size, weapons, location? What it looks like, when it was spotted, and anything ... I don't know, 'unholy', associated with it? We've seen dark omens with other incursions from the Enemy," she points out. "Data is data, anything we know will help build a profile up."

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen listens and waits, dare we say it, patiently as Caitlin takes her moment to absorb that at least one dragon really is real and that it's coming back. The other things, well those will have to wait for a different time of course.

"I've as many questions, much the same as yours, really. I don't have any answers myself. Just that we've been asked to take this on and find out how to stop the creature and then accomplish that task."

Looking to the Cardinal, she reaches to a plain manilla folder and opens it to slide over a color picture. "This is the Sword of Saint George. We know that in the later Thirteenth century, around 1273, that Guillaume de Beaujeu who was a knight of the Templar Order, was given the rank of Grand Master of the Knights Templar and that the sword of Saint George was his weapon. The last verified sighting was in 1290, in Acre, when the Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil conquered the city, ending the occupation of the Holyland by the Crusaders. De Beajeu was killed in the battle and dropped the blade. It can be presumed that the sword was recovered by the Mamluks, probably as a prize for their Sultan." She shakes her head, "But that, as far as I know myself, is the last time it can definitively be pinpointed at a time and place. At least until recently." Which explains how a color picture of the blade could sit on the table in front of them.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
To her credit, Caitlin takes out her cell phone and jots down actual notes while Patience talks. The redhead is a meticulous note-taker, and when Patience is done, Caitlin uses her phone to scan the image she's been handed. The device is set down on her lap and she visibly sets it to 'do not disturb' so she can keep using it while they talk.

"Where was this picture taken?" she asks, looking for Patience to the Cardinal.

"It's allegedly from a black-market auction happening in Czechoslovkia, soon," the Cardinal explains. "This was advertised as part of the inventory. I'm waiting to hear back more from INTERPOL, but ..." his lips twist. "Well, the Holy See doesn't have the pull it used to, with police services. The sword has been missing for centuries. We can hardly report it stolen, and there are plenty of governments that could leverage a claim for the blade under the Antiquities Act."

"Oh, that's easy," Caitlin says, perking. She looks from him to Patience, back again. "I mean, I've got a bunch of clearances," she clarifies. "If there is some underworld deal, I'm pretty sure I can pull enough strings to find out where it is."

Once again, she looks between them. "I want to clarify something though," she apologizes. "I'm willing to help to any extent I can, as Caitlin the Private Citizen. But not representing the Titans or anything like that. I don't want to draw them into some international incident over stolen religious property. I... I hope that's OK, but that's a hard line for me," she says, and sits back in her chair with her lips slightly thinned.

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen watches as Caitlin makes the notes and snaps a picture of the picture. As the Cardinal explains more details from the present day, she looks at him and nods along with his assessments.

"As with all artifacts with religious association, it can become a tangled mess quickly as those with some link or avowed claim to an object. We're going to have to find a way to authentic that this is the true blade and get it away from the auction without attracting a lot of attention."

As Caitlin makes her position clear, Patience listens. "I understand your perspective, Caitling. I'm a member of the Justice League Dark. This is a Church request. It is not something that either of us are doing with any guidance from our respective organizations. Only as agents of the Church."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"...Ahhh..." Caitlin tenses very slightly, and leans back from both of them. A very palpable guardedness rises up around her at the mention of the Dark League. "I... we should..." she clears her throat. "We should ... at some point, sit down, and talk about that," she says. It's quiet and polite, but it's clearly a point that Caitlin is concerned with.

Which is fair. She's part of the reason Jon Simms got killed, after all.

"But we're all on the same page about the main goal, so--" hands spread, flatten. "We can work together, I'm sure. I'll need to run home and pack some things, and let the Titans know I'm taking a personal trip," she tells the Cardinal and Patience. "...and let school know, something has come up. I'm-- it's medical school," she clarifies. "My professors are awesome, but even I can't just miss class without something calamitous happening."

She gathers herself and gets to her feet. "How are we getting there?" she wonders, and looks to Patience when the Cardinal gestures at her.