Season 2, Episode 1 - Friday Night Clash 8: Abbigail meets with an old friend
Crowley Estate, London, United Kingdom:
The taxi pulled up to a stop at the gates outside the mansion and the driver looked back at his passenger, one Abbigail Dresden. “Y...you sure this is the place you’re goin, lass?” Abbigail smirked a bit and nodded. “Is there a problem?” The cabbie looked to the mansion and back to his passenger and Abbigail could see the inner conflict in the man. Centuries of rigidly enforced class rules and mores battling with the reputation of the family who owned the mansion. Eventually, the man decided discretion was the better part of valor and shook his head. “No, it..it ain’t my place to gossip about the nobility… but you’ll have to walk up to the house. Not enough quid in the whole bloody isle to convince me to set foot on that ground.” Abbigail smirked and nodded. “No worries.” She said as she paid the man and got out of the driver before walking up to the gate and pressing the button. After a few seconds, the speaker clicked to life and the voice of one of the servants responded. Abbigail leaned closer to the speaker. “Abbigail Dresden, here to see Rosalyn Crowley.” The servants voice responded quickly with a firm. “Americans… no bloody respect.. Who are you here to see?!” Abbigail rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. “Her Ladyship, Rosalyn Crowley… who, by the by, hates the use of her formal titles.” This time Rosalyn herself answered. “True, but one must keep the hired help in line.. And I do so enjoy having a bit of fun with visitors.. Most don’t have the spine to come knocking on my door…”
The gate opened and Abbigail walked up towards the mansion.. About 3 or 4 minutes later, she arrived to find Rosalyn leaning on her cane, waiting for her with an bemused expression on her face. “You know, we have these wonderful inventions.. The automated carriage, more commonly known as the automobile or ‘car.’ You can even rent them now.” Abbigail nods. “Yeah, but you people drive on the wrong side of the road.” Rosalyn nodded. “My country has existed for milenia.. We gave birth to your country and thus, our way is the proper way and the fault lies with you for not knowing which side of the road to drive on.” The women stared at each other for a long moment before both laughed and hugged each other. After the hug, Rosalyn looked Abbigail over and nodded. “Well you look better than I thought you would, considering you foolishly invaded North Korea for reasons passing understanding.” Abbigail shrugged. “I didn’t have a choice.. Surely you heard the news.. I apparently am a major drug dealer. And before you call my country fools and idiots for the government they elected.. Your country is on the verge of leaving the EU.” Rosalyn rolled her eyes. “Don’t remind me.. This is what happens when you let peasants run the government...I used to think they could be trusted, but damned if Druscilla wasn’t proven right.” The two women walked into the house and as they walked, Abbigail glanced at Rosalyn’s right leg, around the knee area. “Still can’t heal it?” Rosalyn, sweat already beginning to bead on her forehead from the effort of merely standing and walking shook her head. “You know better, Abbigail.. “ Abbigail shrugged. “No.. what I know is that you’ve said it can’t be healed. You’ve kept details to yourself.”
Roslayn and Abbigail entered the main study and take a seat as Rosalyn leans back and regards Abbigail for a moment. “Yes, well human nature does tend to push one to try and avoid talking about one’s setbacks.” Abbigail nods. “Call it morbid curiosity since it is an important detail of my friend’s life I find myself curious about.” Rosalyn thinks for a moment and sighs, nodding. “Perhaps later, I believe we have more important things to discuss at the moment.” Abbigail shifts in her seat a bit before settling in, regarding her friend and ally for a long moment before nodding. “I appreciate your help.. I know I didn’t give you much to go on.” Rosalyn smirks, glancing back over her shoulder to one of the servants in the house and gestures for her to come in. The woman entered the room with a tray containing tea, pouring a cup for Rosalyn, making it the way she likes and Rosalyn looks at Abbigail. “Tea?” Abbigail smirks. “It would rude to say no, right?” Rosalyn let out a small laugh. “In my experience, most Americans are not stopped by the fear of being rude.” Abbigail smirks as the maid comes over and pours a cup of tea for Abbigail as well, before heading out of the room. Abbigail looks at Rosalyn and nods. “So.. as I said, I know I didn’t give you much to go on, and I wish I had more resources but…” Rosalyn nods. “You might find yourself in possession of more means and resources than you think. I have a bit more digging to do to uncover who your birth parents are and why they left you with your adopted father in Chicago… but suffice to say, Dresden might be the family name of the man that took you in, but I do not believe you are his blood.”
Abbigail let this sink in for a few moments and then tilts her head. “Tell me you didn’t actually ask him.” Rosalyn laughed and shook her head. “As if I would do something so mundane. Given your….talents, there’s a very select group of people who could have been your parents. I started looking through my own family’s notes and books as to people known to have the gift. I’m still technically researching and sorting down the list, but I do have a couple of strong possibilities as to who you might be descended from.” Abbigail takes another sip of her tea and nods. “Well, obviously seems like you need more time, but can I hear some of the options?” Rosalyn sips her tea, considering and nods. “My current favorite for your family is the Bishops.. The family has a long history, in the Colonies, their story is centered around Boston and Salem. Sarah Bishop was actually one of the first ‘witches’ executed in the Salem Witch Trials. I think there are strong ties there for you, but the main hole is I can’t explain why they would have abandoned you, and why they would have left you in Chicago of all places. Outside of them, there are a few more families you could be connected to though before we continue to discuss options, I have to ask.. I’m no big fan of your adopted father, but you’ve always taken pride in being a Dresden.. Why the curiosity now?”
Abbigail shrugged. “My mentor.. Valora’s been training me, helping me. I found out before the world did what she… used to do.. I expressed interest in that work and between that and some of the weird stuff going on, I wanted as many tools as possible. She told me that I needed to know myself and I got to thinking.. Now was as good a time as any to start asking questions and tracking down answers.” Rosalyn nods. “I have a few questions as well. For starters… and before I get to the real questions, aren’t you supposed to be training or something? Why aren’t you with Valora?” Abbigail sighs and rolls her eyes.. “Because both of us are in the same match.. I’m one of 3 people she has to fight for the title.. And she doesn’t have champions advantage. She doesn’t have to be the one that loses. I offered to help her retain the belt and she went on about how rare title shots are and how I need to seize the chance and how she expected me to want the title.. Then she said I needed to find the proper mindset and she wanted me to train for this fight on my own, make my own gameplan.. I get the feeling she plans to use this match as a evaluation or something, see how much I’ve learned.” Rosalyn nods. “Which brings me to my next question.. Why come here instead of training?” Abbigail shrugged. “Well, I’m in a ring with 3 other top level competitors, one of whom is my mentor, the other is my tag team partner. For another, I have been training and plan to resume training.. And I wanted to see if you had learned anything and check in.” Rosalyn was again silent for a long moment, considering the words of Abbigail and nods. “Perhaps I’ll buy a ticket and see the fight in person.. Will give us a chance to continue our conversations and I can see how your training is progressing.” Abbigail lets out a laugh. ‘Great.. Nothing better than losing a big match except losing a big match while friends are watching.” Rosalyn laughed a bit and nodded. “You could have more confidence in yourself.” Abbigail nods. “Really? I’m going to be locked in a steel cage with 3 other people. One of whom is my mentor and has been training me and is also undefeated thus far in UOW. One is my tag team partner and an amazingly skilled martial artist. The third may not look like much at first glance, but has proven himself to be a very skilled fighter too. It’s not a one on one match where the odds are better, this is first one to get a pinfall or submission walks out champion.”