Looking into a mirror [LE, D1] (closed)

[Samantha Hayne]

She had been watching the place for a long time now; to see what had changed. And what had remained exactly as it once was; in so far as her tattered memories remembered things, at least.It was still a grand mansion; perhaps the grandest in all of Minuit. The people who lived there had it all: wealth, power, status. They had so very much of everything, and Samantha; well, she had so very little of anything.

She watched from across the street; looked at the lights that remained on inside the house into the later hours of the evening. The comings and goings of servants. She watched from a shadowed alley; or some other place where the shadows had grown deep; and stood very still indeed for some time. And then it was as if she didn't even exist in the world anymore. And in fact, she didn't. She was invisible, to all eyes; mortal and mechanical. The contract had been invoked.

It was then, confident, that Samantha approached. There were certainly different ways in which she could gain access to the mansion's grounds; and then the inside itself. But she started, by looking for the simplest and most mundane of ways to gain entry.

((Invoking Light-Shy, no glamour cost because of loophole activation, she becomes invisible to all eyes, including cameras))

[Mirachaya]

The servants came and went. One nearly walking into where Samantha stood, simply by chance. As she paced the parameter, she could see how the mansion was upkept. Some of the gardens, while not having fallen into ruin, per se, were less maintained than they used to be. In the darkened yard a loose old red tick hound raised his head, sniffed, and made a snuffling sound before settling back to sleep. A few dog houses were in the back yard, near the rose garden.

As Samantha looked at the old six foot wrought iron gate, she would notice a few sections further back had fallen in to disarray. Despite their great wealth, an overgrown piece of fencing on the side yard obscured by bushes had separated from the rest of the fencing. Perhaps the work of a lazy servant, or lack there of, rather, there was a narrow gap just big enough to squeeze though.

[Samantha Hayne]

She shook her head upon finding such an opportunity. It was a sad state of affairs, to be sure. She would have to have a word with the young man who would soon be starting his new job. Perhaps he could do a better job than whoever had left things to go to waste like this. But for now, it meant her task was made a little easier. She squeezed through the gap; her small size proving an advantage here; and found herself on the grounds themselves.

The hound should prove no cause for alarm. After all, she should be hidden from its eyes the same as any other; as far as she could tell. That left her with all the time in the world to casually observe the mansion from up close. Looking for ways inside. An open window would of course be ideal, although she was ill suited to the task of climbing. A servant moving into the yard and back inside, leaving the door open, now *that* would be even more perfect; but it was probably a little too late for that.

She took a closer look at some of the windows and doors, to see if there were any sort of special security measures. She probably didn't know a whole lot about modern such systems, but if she saw any signs of one, she might have to find other, more mystical means of entry.

[Mirachaya]

The hound was soon joined by a younger partner, who sniffed the air frighteningly close to Samantha. Though he could not see her, he apparently could smell something on her. He sniffed and whuffed lightly to himself in confusion before laying down. The poor dog looked quite dejected at having not found the new 'friend.'

None of the windows were open. In fact each of them had a little grey box with a wire on each, attached to each window. no doors were ajar, but one servant was out throwing away trash into a large receptacle behind the mansion.

[Samantha Hayne]

She did not trust the wires; not really understanding how they worked. She was worried it would do something bad if she tried to simply jimmy a lock. But the servant drew her attention; and she came closer. If they were outside to handle the trash, then presumably they would go back inside once they were done with that labor; if that were the case, it might be a simple matter of timing it right and sneaking in right as they did

[Mirachaya]

As expected, the servant quickly finished the task and after pulling some treats out of his pocket and throwing them to the hounds, 'who's my good boys? You are! You're my good boys!' he turned to head back inside. He pulled a silver key from his pocket and a small whirring machine above the door with a glass lens traced his movement.

[Samantha Hayne]

Assuming she could, Samantha would follow him inside. She took notice of the strange whirring machine above the door, but ignored it. It would probably ignore her as well, she figured. She was invisible after all. She simply didn't exist. Still, it was something to take note of. She also took notice of the silver key; that might open up more than just this door. But she wasn't too concerned about it for now.


((Darkling variant of the contract makes her invisible to cameras as well))

[Mirachaya]

Samantha easily follows along into the mansion. Surprisingly, not much has changed inside the manor. Even, some of the furniture is the same. Sure the walls got a fresh coat of paint, but they even remain the same color. There's that old Persian rug on the floor, the old fireplace. Pictures on the wall show various family members, with older members going back several generations depicted in painting. There is even a painting depicting Samantha as a young girl on the wall.

[Samantha Hayne]

She looked at the painting; tracing a finger over it. Shame it probably wasn't small enough to be portable, or she'd grab it for later use. But that wasn't really why she was here right now. Instead she started to wander the halls and rooms... searching for any mirrors to be found. Samantha would stare into each one, and also touch their surface with a sense of purpose. She would start with the least important ones... working her way up to the two most important rooms around. That of Marie LeBlanc, and that of the family's matriarch. There were surely mirrors to be found in either of those rooms. Though she might have to open a door or two to get inside; doing so wouldn't necessarily make her visible, she didn't think, but it was still a slight risk.

There was also the question of whether or not any of the mirrors she found in the house could reflect her face while she was under the powers of the contract.

[Mirachaya]

She soon found Marie's room, door ajar, and thankfully, the large mirrors on the closet door and on the nightstand didn't reflect anything in her place. Marie herself wasn't in her room at this hour and voices from downstairs indicated the LeBlancs were entertaining some house guests late into the night.