<div class="floatright">(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb117/hopefox17/Cuckoo.jpg)</div>Cuckoo looked up at the tall hotel named the Garden Arcadia. The exterior seemed rather overwrought, bringing to mind the most romanticised excesses of the Dodekatheon, but she had to admit that the verdant, leafy motif was rather pleasant. As she stepped inside, the Eden-like décor and the gorgeous, sensual staff couldn't help but make her smile. If she was going to be pursuing a dangerous quest, this certainly looked like a pleasant place to spend the night.<br/><br/>She approached the counter and quickly gained the attention of the attractive young man greeting guests. He was dressed in a traditional concierge's suit, but somehow managed to convey an air of being almost wholly undressed. "Good morning, madam," he greeted her, favouring her with a sensual smile. "How may I serve you?"<br/><br/>Cuckoo leaned across the counter, allowing herself to get close enough to smell the concierge's manly scent and cologne. "I'm here to see Mr O'Neill in the penthouse suite."<br/><br/>"Certainly, madam. One moment." The concierge pressed a few buttons on his telephone. "I have a visitor for Mr O'Neill," he said, his gaze never leaving Cuckoo.<br/><br/>"Oh, aye!" came a tiny voice from the phone. "Send her oop."<br/><br/>The concierge handed Cuckoo a keycard. "Just through the elevator to your left, madam. Will there be anything else?"<br/><br/>"That's all for now, beautiful," she murmured. "But I may need some room service later. Don't be a stranger, now!"<br/><br/>Cuckoo bit her lip as she rode up in the elevator. She didn't normally flirt with the staff of hotels and restaurants. Her father had taught her better than to put employees in a compromising position, which was why the castle's servants were off limits to her. Perhaps Duncan hadn't been quite enough relief for her recent drought, or maybe it was just the décor loosening her inhibitions.<br/><br/>She took a deep breath when she reached the door to Jack's suite. She had never been part of a Band, and usually worked alone on her adventures in Ireland. She needed to make sure she got off on the right foot with this son of Lugh, and that meant presenting herself as a true scion of the Morrigan.<br/><br/>Cuckoo unfolded her cloak and adjusted it into a combined mantle and kilt, hanging down her back from her shoulders but leaving her chest bare, and wrapped around her waist down to her knees. She fastened the cloak with a golden swan-shaped brooch pin at the hollow of her neck, kicked off her walking shoes, and adjusted her spear in the harness on her back so that its two-horned head protruded above her shoulders.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Cuckoo uses Visage Great and Terrible to change her Epic Appearance from beauty to ugliness. Be warned, it's a bit disgusting.</div><div class="spoiler_body">She channelled her Legend and shifted her body into her fearsome aspect. Her flaming red hair, previously fine and lustrous, became matted as if with old blood. Her strong, noble features contorted into a belligerent snarl, and her nose flattened to resemble nothing more than a cow's snout. Her huge, proud breasts sagged like those of an old woman with a dozen children, and her abdomen swelled and displayed the stretch marks of a dozen pregnancies. Her long, strong fingers grew shorter, and blood appeared to be encrusted under her nails. Her muscles bulged grotesquely, no longer sitting cleanly with the lines of her frame.</div></div><br/><br/>Satisfied, she knocked at the door, and was rewarded by a tiny voice from within. "If ye be the cuckoo lady, come on in!"<br/><br/>The door swung open, and she stepped inside, looking around at the penthouse suite. It was even more decadent than she had imagined, and certainly more indulgent than any place she had ever visited in Ireland. The bed had obviously been slept in, and there were clothes scattered around, but she could see nobody in the living area.<br/><br/>"Could ye close the door, please, miss?" said a voice behind her. She turned around and found a tiny blue figure clinging to the doorknob. Amused, she pushed the door closed and held out her hand, allowing the creature to drop into her palm. She looked around and saw four more of the creatures coming towards her, clambering across the furniture and wading through the thick carpet.<br/><br/>"Thank ye, miss," said the creature, slowly turning around to look at her. "We've been waiting for ye to... oh, crivens," he trailed off as he beheld Cuckoo's fearsome aspect. "Ye be the Morrigan's bairn, aye?"<br/><br/>"Aye, that be right," she said, slipping into modern Irish Gaelic, and once again regretting that she had never managed to master the older dialects that the aes sidhe favoured. "And ye be pictsies, aye? I never thought I'd see ye wee folk beyond the isles of Albion."<br/><br/>The pictsie on her palm nodded. "We be pictsies, aye, and I be Ruairi, the one in charge of this lot. We're here to make sure young Jack dinnae do anything too foolish."<br/><br/>Cuckoo gave Ruairi a snaggle-toothed grin. "I'm sure he takes great comfort from your wisdom, Ruairi. When can I see him?"<br/><br/>The five pictsies exchanged a glance, and tried - without success - to stifle a laugh. "Oh, he's in the shower, but ye should go see him right away. Just through there."<br/><br/>"Aye, he were very clear on that - if his cousin showed up, he wanted to see her right away," said another pictsie, nodding and grinning.<br/><br/>Cuckoo set Ruairi down on the bedside table and curtsied to him. "I thank you, then, good warriors," she said formally, and walked to the bathroom, throwing the door open. "Cousin Jack!" she called, standing in the doorway, her cloak billowing gently from the steam. "I'm here!"