After an apparently momentary pause that felt like weeks, Mani realized that this plan wasn't going much of anywhere. Everyone was just staring off into the distance, and for once in her life, she knew it was time to be proactive about something while the sun was up. Getting into a house was important, she knew this, so she was going to make it happen, complicated group plan or not.

She tromped over to the nearest praetor, the Selkie woman that they had planned on tricking, and stared at her hard enough to catch her attention. What followed was an exchange of glamours that left the praetor temporarily under the impression that her eyes sockets were filled with spiders, hopefully showing enough magical prowess to leave SOME KIND of impression.

Offtopic: Sorry about not posting, I was out of town without my computer.

Ty blinked. Nobody had seemed keen on his suggestion of talking. Instead random acts of aggression towards praetors was the name of the game. Ty stood still momentarily before deciding that perhaps it would be best to distance himself from the girl torturing the selkie. Ty floated towards some other end of the courtyard and saw the biker guy from earlier talking to what looked like a minotaur and some other guy. Ty slowly made his way towards them and overheard that the biker had been accepted into a house apparently.

Ty was irate, seemed like everyone was getting into houses before he was. It was enough to make him lose his head. Without even a moment's thought, Ty rushed over to the minotaur fellow who appeared to be in the business of getting people into houses and stuck out his hand.

"Hi, name's Ty."

The minotaur seemed unimpressed, and merely nodded towards Ty. "Firmino."

"Right yeah, so Firmino, you wouldn't happen to know anything about getting people into houses would you?"

"I'm a praetor, yes, if that's what you're suggesting."

"Well doesn't that just beat all. Here you are, looking for pledges for your house, and here I am, looking for a house to pledge to. Isn't it nice how things work out sometimes?"

Firmino seemed somewhat less than blown away, "Hmm, so you've got designs on joining House Peregrina then do you?"

House Peregrina? That sounded familiar, "Sure. I mean yes, of course."

"Right, well, with all due respect, we here are not in the business of merely recruiting individuals who ask nicely. So unless you've planned something a little more...substantial, I'm afraid we'll have to wish you better luck with another house, perhaps the Ordo Dracul back there will be a more rewarding venture for you."

Ty snapped his fingers behind his back. It was a stretch, but there was a wish in there. Of course this would still take some doing on his part.

"Now hold up a minute, are these two guys in the House Peargina? How'd they get in?"

Fermino glared at the butchering of the house name, "These two gentlemen," he said, gesturing towards the biker and the other guy, "picked a fight with the entire Ordo Dracul and came away unscathed."

"What, that's it?"

"The Ordo Dracul may not be the smartest house, but they can certainly put up a fight."

"Right, yeah, hold on, just stay here."

Ty quickly hovered over to the Victorian style mansion and floated right through the front door. A more rewarding venture. Fermino had certainly used some vague language there. Ty grinned. He ignored some androgynous dwarf thing and made his way to the stairwell. He wasn't entirely sure exactly where he was going, merely letting his gut lead the way.

Unfortunately this wasn't really working out so well for Ty, as he wound up back in the main lobby where he began after a few minutes.

"I said are you an applicant, or are you just the delivery guy." The dwarf thing was back.

"Oh, uh, sorry, didn't hear you down there," Ty paused to consider if perhaps that was a poor choice of words "I'm a delivery guy, supposed to pick something up from the...from the head of the house, from their office. I'm afraid I seem to have forgotten where the office was."

"Oh. So you're not an applicant, alright, stairs are down the hall, make a left then a right, office is on the second floor, 3rd door to your left."

"Thank you, have a nice day."

Ty floated off before the thing could respond and made his way upstairs. He quickly found the office and turned the knob. Locked. Ty tried to float through the doorway, but they'd been smart, installed an electrical sensory field in the doorway. Ty cussed as he was knocked back by the field. Okay so this would take some effort. Ty fiddled with the door some more. Effort wasn't working as quickly as he'd hoped so he slammed his fist on the wall, or through the wall, rather, as in his frustration, he'd forgotten to solidify all the way.

Aha.

Ty floated through the wall and into the office. He wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for, but there was something rewarding in here; that much he knew. He began rummaging through various desk drawers and peeking through the wardrobe that took up much of the room. These vampires sure did have a thing for black.

Before Ty could finish his search, he heard the door rattling. Fuck. Someone was here. Ty hid under the desk and watched through a small crack as an immensely pale man in skintight black pants and a shirt that appeared several sizes too small came into the room.

Ty sat as still as possible as the man walked over to the desk and sat down, his legs mere inches from Ty's face. Ty wasn't sure just what he was doing but it sounded like he was playing with his keys. Eventually he stood up and the keys tumbled to the floor. Where Ty quickly swiped them and put them in his own pocket.

"God dammit, sometimes I wish we didn't have to wear these stupid pan-who the fuck are you?"

The man had kneeled down to pick up his keys only to find himself face to face with Ty.

Ty snapped his fingers and pushed past the man on his way to the front door, only to slam into the electric field and bounce back towards the man, who quickly grabbed him by the collar.

"Where do you think you're going? You can't just come in h-"

The man paused and looked down. His eyes bulging in horror as he did so.

"D-did you do this? What are you doing you-AHRJ YOU FUCKER SON OF A BITCH GRAGHHGHH."

The man released Ty's collar to grab for his legs, which were gradually withering as he spoke. Ty watched as the left leg vanished entirely, sending the now very angry pale man tumbling to the ground. Ty flew over to the window and popped it open, disregarding the furious invalid now on the ground behind him.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER. GET BACK HERE."

Ty hopped out the window and floated back down to where Firmino had been standing. Thankfully, he hadn't left during Ty's escapade.

"Ah, welcome back, so, may I ask what the point of your disappearance was just then?"

"Well, you said it was impressive that they picked a fight with the Ordo Dracul and came out unscathed right?"

"Correct."

"Well I just picked a fight with their headmaster, and won, and I'd like to point out that I'm also, completely unscathed." Ty hoped the minotaur wouldn't notice the singe marks on Ty's clothes.

"Well that would certainly be quite the feat, provided of course, you had any proof that you'd done so."

"Hmm, that certainly would be wouldn't it. All the more so if I had say, taken the headmaster's keys after I won wouldn't you say?"

At this Firmino perked up, seemingly regarding Ty with interest for the first time.

"Why yes, indeed that would be quite an accomplishment I would have to say."

"And such an accomplishment would probably warrant inclusion into the House Peregreena right?"

"The House Peregrina," said Firmino, emphasizing the correct pronunciation, "would most likely reward such a feat with acceptance into their house yes."

Ty pulled the keys from his pocket and jingled them around. "Well in that case, I most graciously accept." Ty tossed the keys at Firmino who chuckled. Sort of. It's hard to tell with bulls.

"Heh, well, I suppose I should officially welcome you into the House Peregrina. I assure you, you'll find no house more loyal than ours."

"I don't doubt it, now, if you'll excuse me for just a moment, I have a call to make."

Ty quickly absconded to behind the nearest tree and proceeded break into the biggest, shit-eating-est grin he'd ever grinned. One brief, private fist pump later, he was on his way back to Firmino.

Bernie's little group had kind of sort of dissolved into not much of anything really. Mani had wandered off to 'talk' with the selkie, and Ty had floated off somewhere else. Bernie cast a brief glance at what remained of the group before setting off in the same general direction as Ty.

He eventually found the massive guy in the suit and approached him tentatively. He cleared him throat.

"Yo, I'm Bernie. Listen, could you help me out? The guys that recommended I come here didn't give me a lot to go on when they explained this whole house situation to me. You look like you know what's up, so how about giving me a shift in the right direction?"

The giant man looked at him, appraising him for what felt like hours.

"Hello Bernie. I am Firmino, praetor for House Peregrina. Are you some sort of Fire Elemental? I believe they have an entire house dedicated to you lot." Firmino said, a condescending tone in his voice.

"I'm not a Fire elemental. I'm human." Bernie spat, holding a large flame in his hand, "I can actually swim."

Firmino's face lit up. "Human, you say? That's... very interesting. I tell you what. A lot of the other applicants have been messing with Ordo Dracul, another house, located over there," Firmino pointed to a large Victorian-style mansion, "You go see what you can do, and then we might discuss your entry into House Peregrina."

"Uh, sure." Bernie replied. He made his way over to the large mansion, a plan already forming in his head. He entered the main lobby and casually rested his hand on a wooden support. An angry-looking dwarf waddled over to him.

"Can I help you?" He demanded.

"Yes, sir, I'm with the local fire department," Bernie flashed a very real-looking badge, "I'm concerned about your fire-proofing in this building, can you bring me up to speed?"

The dwarf proudly drew himself up to his full four-feet. "We have had our best enchanters cast wards on every part of the building to completely protect it from any kind of magical fire. The building is completely fireproof."

"Magical fire eh? not just plain old fire?" Bernie asked.

"Of course not, magical fire is used in every aspect of fire-related business in the building. Natural fire is simply too dangerous to have around vampires. It also protects us from any would-be arcane arsonists." The dwarf replied.

"That's true, sir. Thankyou for your time." Bernie replied. The dwarf bowed and returned to his seat in the lobby.

Bernie exited the building and went around the back, running his hand along the ornate wooden handrails that circled the perimeter of the house. He then trailed his hand along back the wall of the house, also wooden, and walked back around the front. The old wood was already beginning to smoke.

By the time he made his way back to Firmino, the building was belching out a thick black smoke, and a dozen spellcasters were rushing about the place, trying to extinguish the entirely natural flames.

"How long do you think they'll take to figure out to use water to put out the flames?" Bernie asked Firmino, who was watching the scene unfold with an expression of amusement on his face.

"The vampires? They probably wont. They're a traditional bunch. Well done. I'd like to officially extend you an invitation to join House Peregrina." Firmino smiled, holding out a hand.

"I accept." Bernie replied, sealing the deal in a crushing handshake that ended with Firmino pulling his hand back and shaking it to cool it off.

Ulfrwyr turned to see the fire and cackled. "Oh glorious! Fire! Fire!" He started to dance and laugh like a child watching the chaos.

The sudden shock didn't seem to sit too well with the Selkie praetor.

Not very well at all.

The moment her eyesight recovered, and she found a target to vent her bewilderment-turned-anger on, her fist was in front of her, a no-nonsense sort of strike that easily caught Mani off guard, instantly shattering her momentary decisive mood, and leaving both women on a nearly level playing field of adrenaline and shock. The punch found its target with very little resistance, which sent Mani flying back a few steps. She staggered for a quarter of a second, as if she weren't sure if she planned on falling or not, before toppling back.

She hoped that would be the end of it, but it was a short lived hope. The praetor was already moving to place a kick, most likely square in her teeth, so any hoping was to be replaced with quick thought. She moved one hand up, and the ground shot up to block the incoming kick, or at least it seemed to. The illusion was enough to make the selkie falter, and the faltering was enough to give Mani the time to get to her feet.

Back on level ground, the situation felt like less of an assault, and more of a standoff. The selkie woman was quickly coming to understand what she was dealing with, and what her next move should be accordingly. She knew, to some degree, that when it came to fighting against a glamour user, the most they could usually hope to do was counter in a way that bought them the element of surprise. With the hope of that strategy dissolved, she quickly grew confident, taking a few more seconds to easily slide out her lower canines in a more animal grin.

Reclaiming the seemingly lost potential to catch her off guard, and much to the astonishment of her foe, Mani moved first, covering the distance she could in a few strides, and aiming an inexperienced blow as fast as she could. Her hand, halfway between a slap and a punch, was stopped before it could connect, but not by who any onlooker might have expected.

The other praetor, a large, bullish type called Firmino, held back her entire forearm with a gentle ease. He shot a hard look at Mani first, and then his fellow praetor, as if to communicate as fast as possible that the fight was over. "What's all this, then," he whuffled, releasing as much of his grip as he dared before his partner had created a safe between her and them, "Are you an applicant, or just looking for trouble?"

The panicked, angry look on Mani's face melted entirely, replaced with confusion, then recognition. "Oh yes, for the house thing," she blurted out. He didn't look too convinced, so she added a quick "I think..." to her statement, as if it were clarifying anything.

"Well, you're certainly tenacious enough to be Peregrina material, but I'm not too sure this is your sort of house, to be honest." Firmina paused, to look for the right words to explain himself with. "It's a pretty rough crowd, you could say, and I've never met an illusion user who had much on their hands in the ways of methods of fighting back. If I hadn't stopped you two back there, my friend would have made short work of you, more than likely."

Mani took a moment to realize that her magical prowess was being doubted, but the realization was enough to put her on edge again. She wasn't proud of much, but her grasp of her own magic was thorough. Realizing she'd have to prove herself, and fast, she racked her brain for some way to show off her own capabilities. Spiders in the eyes didn't seem like a good idea to try again, nor did any other simple glamour she could come up with on a moment's notice, but...

She paused, noticing for the first time the presence of a high level illusion that hadn't been detectable seconds ago. She felt around her body for the source, before realizing the reason she hadn't felt it until recently was because the source was the grip Firmino currently had on her arm, taking the form of some kind of intricate skin-clinging enchantment. It was something she probably couldn't create, and seemed to be both changing his appearance, and creating some kind of spacial distortion, the stuff of higher level magic for certain.

She couldn't create something like that, but when it came to tearing it down...

With very little time to impress left to her, Mani concentrated on destroying as much of the illusion on Firmino as she could, peeling it back with surprising ease, screwing up her face in concentration without realizing it until her eyes were completely shut.

She felt it all gone, along with some other sensation, back in her physical body. She was going up, being lifted off of the ground? She opened her eyes, and saw, to her shock, that the ground was most definitely a good few feet beneath her. Her forearm was no longer in the grasp of a larger man, but a full sized minotaur, towering above her, looking almost as confused as she was.

Firmino carefully put her down, tried as hard as he could to keep a stern look on his face, failed, and began belting out the loudest laugh Mani had ever heard. Somewhere between his thunderous chortling, the massive bull man found the time to wheeze out something like "I suppose you seem more than confident enough in what you've got, if this is what you really want. " She nodded, still a bit taken aback by his full size, but happy that she had cleared her name of any potential doubts.

"Welcome to House Peregrina, then! "