...Thou canst be serious. Sheer folly.

You were never this afraid of Imoldra.

Thy familiarity with the Lord of Lupi came afore mineself were fully established. But a lycan alpha-

You're letting your prejudices show again. Are we not an official diplomat? Well, by extension of his career path, so is he. He has the wellbeing of an entire pack to be responsible for, and has to maintain that authority keeping all their primal urges under control. If anyone else is going to be familiar and concerned with 'balance', it will be him.

Fie. Have it thine own way, but-

I will, thanks. We're doing this.

*paces over to instigate formal intrductions and headbows*

Would I be in the presence and territory of one Detective Decker?

Decker: *lifts a curious and slightly amused eyebrow* You would. It’s not often I’m met with that much propriety. I apologize if my own is lacking; I can’t say I’ve ever met anything remotely close to a unicorn before. Come into my office, *he gestures to a small patch of sandy shore beside a large, calm lake* make yourself comfortable. *he settles down and adjusts a fishing rod stuck into the sand* You smell nervous. I promise I won’t bite.

My other inner self quite naturally is, but I'm trying to reassure and prompt him to be more open-minded.

*sits down beside the fishing spot*

I like the air-conditioning facilities.

Decker: "My other inner self"... that sounds familiar. *takes a long breath of the slightly damp air and exhales with a small smile* It's pretty good, given the department budget. So, what can I do for you, Mister....?

The official title would be 'Ambassador Eala of the Sidhe High Court and Verdant Regency', but since that's a bit of a pompous mouthful, just 'Eala' or 'Two-Minds' are the more colloquial options. Real names are best kept private where I reside, I'm sure you understand that part as well.

Decker: Eala. You can just call me Decker. There’s no need to stand on ceremony if you’re not in someone’s pack. *nods* We’ve seen our fair share of small-time fae criminals. You’re from the —forgive me, I’m about to butcher the pronunciation— the Sid-Hee, then?

'Shee'. I'm a resident there some... thirty-seven mortal years? I occasionally have to refresh myself on how time fluctuates between the two worlds. But in truth, I'm as human as... well, you are.

Harrumph.

True though. Oh - human surnames. That's something I've fallen out of practice with using. Not much call for that generally in the Sidhe.

Decker: That’s a good chunk of time. *tilts his head quizzically* I admit that I don’t know much about unicorns, but I was under the impression that they don’t typically start out human. Mind if I ask what happened?

They don't. I was, shall we say, 'recruited'. Proverbial 'long story' with a lot of details as yet missing and out of order that have to be figured out as I - well, 'we' - go along. But I'm a problem-solver; I exist for my combination of human logic and physical world knowledge, together with unicorn instinct, drive, magical intuition and extradimensional sensing.

Decker: *returning his attention briefly to his fishing rod when there's a tug on the line, but it immediately slackens* It sounds like we have some things in common, then. One foot in either world, trying to bridge the gap where it needs bridging and make a wall where there needs to be one. *glances your way* Usually I'm the wall.

And I'm the bridge. Be in the right place at the right time to make things happen.

Decker: Are you making something happen here?

Not this time. I pop in and out of where I happen to be needed on occasion but here is well outside my own jurisdiction. This little venture is more for exploration and education in the potential for new diplomatic relations, as well as proving a point to myself. That and since I used to also be physically human, whatever opportunities arise to see how the old world is being taken care of, I'll take them.

Decker: *seems to relax slightly* Good, then you're welcome to visit as long as you like. I don't mind having a "bridge" to advise my "wall" as long as I have a say in what's going on. *he sighs and levels you with a weary look* We're dealing with one hell of a precarious house of cards in this little town, and there are an unusual amount of supernatural creatures that want to knock it over.

Why, what passes for 'usual'? 'Unusual' is when I can appear and be 'just another one'? That sounds uncomfortably like 'an unusual level of background radiation'.

Decker: It’s not too far off, honestly. ‘Usual’ used to be a rogue vampire here or a run of faerie pranks there. Now it’s ramping up at an alarming speed. We’ve had two supernatural murders in the span of days instead of years. There’s a coven of vampires that moved into the outskirts, too, though we haven’t had problems with them yet. And then there’s that. *he points to the lake* Deer, squirrels, coyotes, you name it— their bones have been washing up to the shore in droves.

Elmwood is in trouble, and I can’t for the life of me figure what it is about the place that’s making it such a damn monster magnet.

It hath the semblance of failure of balance twixt light and darkness.

I was just thinking that myself.

*to Decker...

I should hasten to add that 'light' and 'darkness' refer to states of being; reflections of each other, and not good or evil in themselves. The 'perceived threat' response of humans especially can label anything a 'monster', be it an entity they don't understand, or one which they relate to their own darker side only too well. As a lycan aligned with Law, I'm sure you follow me; chaos reflects a lack of control. Imoldra the Wolf God is the spirit of the hunt in distilled form, but fiercely protective of both his adopted 'children' and the ecosystem they're a part of. One of my own best mentors has been the Queen of Witches, of whom in turn I've been able to sway their ambitions away from corruption in a balanced and mutually beneficial fashion. Sometimes my other self may disapprove, but results are results.

Likewise, beings of light like myself are quite capable of overstepping the boundaries and acting inappropriately in what they mistakenly believe to be the greater good, then find themselves incapable of stopping. Mentioning no names, but it's a factor I find myself needing to keep a frequent close eye on.

There are, however, forces which one state or the other are more naturally inclined to gravitate towards and embrace. So if your 'monster magnet' were a source of Chaos, the metaphor may be truer than you think.

I imagine you have an an advantage over human investigators with their weak noses.

Decker: *smirks* It doesn't hurt. I mean, there are some strings attached, but it's a nice perk.

"beyond outdated MP3 player"

I mean, if it works and you like it. I still prefer my PSP over any actual mp3 player I've owned. Somehow a device that was a video game player with bells and whistles still played mp3s better than devices designed to play mp3s.