Shin's dressed in a navy coat and slacks, looking at 'Tasha' and having some interesting, complicated feelings. "I mean, I still think of nercy as girls who spend all their time in libraries reading books. It's gotten complicated. Now you're a nerd for liking comic books, and there's like a whole bunch of students who wear those Adventure Comics T-shirts at school."
He pauses. "Really, I think you look pretty. And I'm happy you wanted to look like that for our date."
He gestures to the theater. "I already reserved tickets. Which is honestly great, not having to show up and find out at the ticket booth there's no more room." He offers her his arm. At least here he can put the weirdness effecting Halcyon aside to enjoy a moment of normalcy.
When Maeve opens the door out of the bathroom, Connie comes in, nodding in satisfaction when she sees Maeve et al.
She fakes a smile but it's not her best
"Fancy bumping into all of you here, in the bathroom farthest from active classes." She hops up onto the sink counter, but can't stop fidgeting, legs swinging violently enough to warn the other girls not to get in reach.
"Hey Mae. Could I borrow you before you head back to class? It's important."
“Okay,” Mae replies to Connie. Then to Gina and Raquel, she says, “It’ll be okay,” even though she has no idea what it will be. “I’ll be okay,” she tells herself as much as anyone else.
I’ll definitely have to tell the teacher I was crying.
Once Raquel and Gina leave, Maeve finds a spot on the counter between sinks adjacent to Connie’s spot. There she sits, one leg crossed over the other, hands folded on her lap. There are two unused tissues in hand, just in case.
"It's... Bad. Like, makes me want to use a straight razor and a potato peeler to 'solve' it bad. Probably. Okay, there's a real chance that the sigil could be meant metaphorically, but contrasted to the very straight ahead barely-even-symbolism of Matariel's sigil I'm more likely to assume it's literal that-"
She stops, eyes squeezed shut, breathing out rapidly through her nose as her fists tremble.
"Sorry. Let me start over. The sigil is a hypocorism of the true name of an entity identified by Samuel L.M. Mathers et al. in the Little Key of Solomon as Duke Zepar. He was once regarded as an angel of love and fertility but Fell, or must be conceived of as Fallen in nature, but became extant in adjoining realities without having actually Falling in any sort of linear understanding of events/time.."
She clenches and unclenches her left fist over and over and over.
"I don't know of any time it/he's manifested corporeally, and that's typically an undertaking that wouldn't go without notice for similarly constituted entities. Some form of limited possession is possible, but more likely he's being called upon by a practitioner/supplicant in a less complete form than Rain's sword, and bound towards a specific task or tasks:
"Usually Zepar is invoked to make a woman barren, and/or to fill her with lust for a man."
Maeve is furious. Her face reddens so much it’s a wonder she doesn’t burst into flames. The tears well and one escapes, but she ignores them. Fuming.
”Thank you for this, Connie.”
She says this first. She doesn’t want there to be the slightest doubt. Connie just confirmed Maeve’s suspicion.
Percy’s explanation makes Femtite wonder if ‘that guy’ Reverend Reibold is using any kind of magic on his ‘flock.’
Femtite is very grateful that Connie took the time to research. Her anger is NOT directed at her teammate.
“Lust for men—FILL HER?!!! What is wrong with them?! They would sooner have their own daughter ra—” She chokes on the word she can’t bear to say. “—that’s somehow better than an innocent girl crush?????”
She gets off the sink, fists clenched, but Maeve just turns to the mirror and glares at her blurry reflection.
“This is war,” she says.
“They figured it out—the Seer’s Truth was fighting their magic, the blackness in Chastity’s eyes, her involuntary reactions. I KNEW it wasn’t just a religious upbringing, I just couldn’t prove it or I’d have told you before.
“Chastity is moving like a puppet again—at the basketball game, and today at lunch. Like an IDIOT, I tried to normal-humanize it all, like it was just her mother’s talks making her act this way. I should’ve known! The smoke monsters in my vision look just like the Ugly Thoughts from Chastity’s subconscious.
“But I…” She nips her rant in the bud. “It doesn’t matter. We’re doing this one as a team, right? Because some hypocritical PERVERT is trying to make my girlfriend WANT to be the object of male-fornicating-lust, and I want to end him.”
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With a roar and surge of power, Indarius rips open the aether and follows the orcs to the source of the strange occurrences. His vision goes white and he feels weightless, not knowing which direction is up, down, or any other direction.
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The bright, colorless whiteness filling Indarius's vision eventually resolves into pale blues and greens, with blurry glints of gold and silver. As his eyes focus, he sees that he is in an ice cavern, with bright sunlight beaming in from a gap high above him.
Ice coats everything in view, and the slightest movement causes the rime around his scaled body to crack and splinter. The frost-rimed caverns go deep, shrouded in dark bluish shadow. The gold and silver appear as coins and other treasure, all locked behind a sheet of crystal-clear ice upon which Indarius is laying. Mine. My hoard, comes unbidden into his mind.
For a moment, Indarius content in knowing this, that he has amassed a great treasure hoard over his centuries of existence and that his name is whispered with fear amongst the lesser races of Harrowguard. Sometimes they come to bring him tribute so that he will not spread his wings and fly from his mountain lair like an avalanche. Even rarer, adventurers would come, drawn to his hoard and the hopes they could slay him. Inevitably, their valuables would be added to his treasures.
The feeling passes, and Indarius remembers himself.
What do you do??
Tasha smiles at the compliment. "I don't have anything white, so I couldn't go full as Princess Leia, but the hair was easy enough... no, I'm lying. It was a f$~%ing pain. So I'm glad you like it."
The pair make it to the theater in time and take their seats. It's a smaller venue than the usual high-def, surround-sound giant multi-plexes that are outside downtown near the interstates. The seats are old and creaky with worn velvet upholstery and the rows are arranged in tiers going up with an actual balcony overlooking the stage.
Valerie reminds Shin that he doesn't have to buy her any popcorn when she goes to take her seat. There's not much time for small talk before the theater lights go dim and the curtain draws back to reveal the movie screen. In the booth above and behind them, the whirring of the projector begins, and a bright white light illuminates the screen.
Shin's eyes must have adjusted quickly to the darkness because the sudden light is painfully bright. It intensifies, requiring him to have to raise his hand against the silver glow of the screen. The rest of the crowd also react, as does Valerie who is experiencing it as well. Before he can react, his vision goes fully white and the whole world feels ripped away. Shin feels weightless, not knowing which direction is up, down, or any other direction.
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The bright lights of the stage finally dim to the point that Shin can make out what's going on. The actors are bowing and the crowd is applauding.
"Wasn't it marvelous, beloved?" Valerie's voice speaks out of the darkness next to him. "It's always nice to leave the castle and see what the mortals are up to, isn't it?" Shin turns to see Valerie in a form-hugging black dress cut low that exposes plenty of her creamy white flesh. Her lips are blood-red, and a trickle of that same color drips down from the corner of her mouth to her chin. She smiles, revealing a pair of red-stained fangs. A serving wench, her wrist showing several bite marks, stirs weakly at Valerie's feet.
"Mmmm. She was sweet. I'd like to keep her." She waves a hand and a glassy-eyed servant steps into the private viewing box. "See her taken to our carriage, then fed to get her strength back up."
As the servant collects the girl, Valerie grabs Shin's lapel, causing him to notice that he is also in an elaborate suit. She kisses him full on the lips, and he can taste the sweet, nourishing liquid on her lips.
It's just then that Shin realizes he also has fangs as Valerie's tongue dances across them! She breaks the kiss. "I'm ready to go back to the castle, beloved. Care to join me?"
What do you do??
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The urge to scramble away from everything hits him all at once for the briefest of moments. But instead Indarius simply breaths trying to clear his head, squinting all of his eyelids to close with a frosty snort.
He opens them slowly to take in the surroundings, coin, gems, a home -no- a lair to his own. The unbridled feeling of power over those who'd see him worn down by their constant demands and gazes. No longer would he have to serve, to aid, to hide.
Stirring to movement he rose to take in his holdings fully, flexing body and mind to shake off whatever ice had fallen over him in his apparent sleep.
How did I get here again? Where am I? Right followed the creatures through the rift, but this doesn't look like anywhere they'd have been.
Having steadied himself he stands and starts to move out of his lair-home, he'd have to start by figuring out exactly where he was before he could do anything else. That required him to head outside. You're on your own here probably. Figure out where you are, find the source, stop it from spilling through, get home. RIGHT... all before anyone has a chance to worry.
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But that wasn't true. There was a flash of light, a feeling of falling, then coming to consciousness here. Though other things were concerning. Like how much he enjoyed the taste of the coppery liquid on Valerie's lips (One heck of a first kiss), and he's very certain that if he commanded it one of these servants would offer their wrists or necks to him as well.
"...I would be delighted to join you." Shin says, trying to work out what was real, what was in his head, and if this Valerie was his Valerie. "Honestly, I was a bit distracted. How did the play end? All I remember about the beginning was a sudden bright flash of light that was quite painful..." He says, trying to read if she recalls this as well. Trying as well not to get distracted by the gothic romance with his arm comfortably wrapped against the curve of her back and the strong urge to kiss her again.
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Glasswing's mouth twists. "It's LA. Everywhere there's traffic. I'll figure something out, though. Don't worry."
Indarius shrugs, "Sorry that's the issue with transporative magic."
Glasswing meets back with Indarius. She shows him her phone, which has a picture of The Getty and a unique spiraling garden. "There. As long as you think you can manage to not tear up the topiary, you can take us there and not worry about any bystanders."
Indarius arrives in his full form having let the team know he'd be out of town for a while training somewhere safer than Halcyon.
When Glasswing pulls her phone, he holds up a claw and calls forth his spellwork to shift and shrink down to his humanoid form again. He shook his entire body out after the change, "Gahh. That feels so weird still." He looks close and hums, "Why does this read.... yeah that should work, stand close."
Closing his eyes Indarius focuses on the location having never been there it would be a difficult teleport in terms of accuracy but it was better than going in blind. After a few silent moments he began to trace complex sigils into the air in front of him. It didn't take long, but soon a portal swirled open rimed with fragile ice. "Alright should be good."
Glasswing watches Indarius change form with wide eyes and antennae that pop up high. "Weird how? Weird to be in full dragon mode? Or weird to be human-shaped?" she asks curiously.
When the teleportal opens, she steps through and waits for him to do so as well. The instantaneous travel from the cold midwest to the sunny west coast is jarring in both temperature, time of day, and sunlight. The sun in LA is just cresting the eastern hills and the balmy climate is a shock.
Glass quickly takes off her modified coat that is tailored to account for her wings, and stretches. "Much better! And props to the teleportation! That's a heavy-duty power you've got to go with your dragon-ness."
"The actual shifting from one to another. It's uh.... oddly natural feeling despite the heavy restructuring and downsizing of my entire skeletal structure. If that makes sense?" He follows through not nearly as affected by the temperature change, but the change of time inevitably causes a sort of jet-lag eventually.
"Yeah, thankfully you had a picture. Long distance portals can be difficult. So I tend to avoid them, again don't like the idea of accidentally spaghettifying anyone, anything, or myself." Indy thinks back to when he first learned to do that and did some tests with an apple that quickly turned into a thought experiment on particle collisions with Mrs. Garfield's ferns.
"A clearer mental image allows for safer and more accurate jumps, so more recent or live looks at a place and the surrounding area are very useful. Portals are also sort of the tip of the iceberg when it comes to manipulating aether... er mana. Ehh everyone's got their own word for it." Taking a deep breath he closes the portal after making sure all limbs and items are fully through. Then takes a moment to get a sense of the flow of the local area's aether.
"I'll need a bit to recover so, if we're good to take a small break that'd be awesome. And if it's not too personal can I ask more about your powers?"
Glasswing walks to some benches and leans on one while Indy takes a breather. She stares over the gardens when asked about her powers.
"I see things in a different spectrum. UV lights and all that. I can pick up tiny changes to chemicals in plants... it's almost like talking to them. Basically I know what's happened to them and a lot of things that's gone on around them." She smiles. "Definitely not Halcyon caliber, that's for sure. But I have a few friends who have made it there. Which is cool. Good for them."
She takes a seat and gathers her legs up to her chest. "So, were you always a dragon person under your robes? What made you decide to take them off?"
Indarius nods and joins Glass near the benches taking a seat, "That's really cool, and sure maybe not limelight Halcyon stuff, but trust me it's exhausting. As for the uh.. dragon stuff it's... complicated. So for the majority of my life I was just... a kid ya know. Then I got this magic book from my local library, thought it was just like street magic or stories and stuff, never so simple in Halcyon."
Leaning he placed his elbow on his knee and rested his jaw on his knuckles, "Turns out it was an actual magic book, full of arcane spells and well I could read it despite it being this weird language. I'm one of very few people who has a large enough, 'battery' to use Aether/Mana, what have you in a meaningful way. Everyone has some potential for it, but most are so insignificantly small that they'd be lucky if they didn't put themselves into a coma lighting a match or something. So I continued on as just the guy in the robes for years. Then there was this incident with a time traveling worm thing gave me a nasty scratch instantly festered because time warping stuff yeah?" Idly scratching at the spot on his arm as the memory surfaced he continued on.
"After that cleared up it was scales, which was weird even by normal standards. Then I got kidnapped by Mr. Mathers and used as the battery for a ritual that tried to tear the veil separating our world from the world of magic and fairies and all the things that go bump in the night from our ancient stories down. Not the sort of bandaid you can just rip off, that made me... significantly more scaly, but still not full dragon. Now aether is bleeding through the tears and well more aether seemed to progress this all faster and faster. Then early last month I uh.. I had to go full dragon to protect my team, Halcyon... the world from another dragon. I sealed away a large portion of his power and he tied my human form to that same seal so I'm not able to look human."
Sitting up and looking at his clawed scaled hands he gives a bit of a sigh, "Not that I... really ever was after all I guess. Always been a dragon in human clothes I guess."
"Wow," Glasswing says, then falling silent. She stares at the gardens quietly for a time.
"That could be scary, changing slowly like that. I... I didn't. Mine was quick -- well, quick to me, anyway. I changed too." She gestures at herself and her butterfly wings flap. "I mean, look at me. How could I not, right?" She forces a laugh.
"It's not a contest, I know. I can tell you about my transformation, if you want. If we're sharing."
"It was... something that I had to get used too, but I'm okay with it mostly. I just... well you know how people can be, especially when all they've heard about dragons is they're fantastical beasts of legend that exist only to burn, maim, and kidnap princesses." His jaw quirks, "And of course the uprising of DnD memes about bards and dragons.. ugh. But yeah no contest, so share if you want but I'm not gonna force you to."
"All right. It's not like yours, but... I guess if it helps you to know that others have changed too."
She crosses her legs, keeping her hands in her lap. "I should probably start by saying my mother had been a henchwoman for the Entomaster. It's kind of embarrassing, honestly. But she needed the money, and wasn't afraid of bugs like a lot of people.
"When she had me a few years later... it's thought that he must have done something to her DNA. My legs didn't work right so I used a wheelchair most of my grade school years. I was also... well, you could probably guess. Shaped like a caterpillar." She puffs her cheeks out and holds her arms out wide.
Glasswing shrugs. Puberty hit and I actually spun a cocoon around myself. Felt like I went to bed and woke up a different person. But six months had passed."[/b]
She takes a deep breath. "My transformation had a happy ending, but it doesn't mean that yours can't be? You saved your friends, right? Stopped an evil dragon?"
She rises and offers a hand to help Indarius up, even though it's a purely symbolic gesture. "And you get to fly! Ready for a lesson?"
Indarius hummed that was certainly interesting to think about, a human caterpillar. "I wouldn't say stopped.. deterred for a time, he's still a filthy rich douchebag with enough money and personal guards and research facilities to do whatever he realistically wants. He just has to be more... Human about how he does things for now."
He takes the hand, though he still mostly stands up himself, "But I get to fly, and be me. Where too first?"
"The fight never ends, does it?"
Glasswing walks over to one of the lookout spots that give visitors to the art museum a spectacular view of Los Angeles. "First rule of flying should be taking off, right? Otherwise, you're not actually flying."
She turns to face the moderate breeze coming up the hills that overlook the city and spreads her wings. "Use whatever wind you've got. Makes it so much easier. Otherwise, it's all on you to generate the lift, and for winged flyers, it can be exhausting. Starting from a higher point is also useful, as is getting a running start."
The wind lifts the butterfly girl off the ground as her forewings and hindwings work in tandem. It's a bouncy, erratic flight as they flap wildly. "See?"
Indarius shrugs at her question, he was too young to really say if it did or not, hopefully he could help abate it even if only somewhat.
He moves with her to stand near the lookout, he had his fair share of looking down from high rises and skyscrapers, so the verticality didn't bother him as much. He always had safety nets incase he needed them after all. He just didn't need them right now.
Following her example he turned into the oncoming wind and slowly spread his wings, shifting his feet and moving his tail to help adjust against the spread out body mass.
"Yeah that looks.. well not so graceful, heh. So face into the wind wings out running start and.. what just.. jump off?"
"Yeah! You want altitude. The wind is stronger the higher up you are," she says while rising into the air herself. "Then I can show you how I ride the currents."
"Okay.. okay." He takes a few breaths, "I've uh... never actually done this without magic, well except for the fight with Drake but that doesn't.. count I was hopped up on all kinds of stuff like adrenaline and some magic hell-yeah from fully changing into a dragon."
Spreading his wings wide Indy leans forward and gives the leathery membranes a few test flaps, it felt like flexing his fingers and since his brain hadn't gotten completely used to operating the separate limbs yet his hands did the motions as well.
"Okay three.. two.." Charging into the oncoming wind he flapped as quickly as he could and for a while there wasn't much actual lift, but he did bound quite the distance with each successive flap, but it became quite clear there was never going to be enough runway for him to liftoff on this terrain normally. So he skidded to a stop with several backpedaling wingbeats before he went careening off the side of the hill to tumble down.
With a few huffs he turned and looked to Glasswing "Okay... too heavy for this small space. I can totally cheat with a little boost right?"
Glasswing circles around and descends back to the ground, landing lightly. "Think about the wind as a head start. Run towards it. If you've got a ten mile per hour wind, you're already moving at that speed through it before you even start."
Indy hangs his head, "Alright no cheating then heh.. ok... don't get in your head it's easy you've flown before." The latter half he speaks to himself, "Just run and flap, jump at the end..."
He heads back to the beginning and turns back to face into the wind once more, "Run, flap, jump, run, flap, jump...." He waits for a good wind gust and then starts running into it as fast as he can, flapping his wings harder and faster than he did the previous run. As he nears Glasswing there's a second of hesitation as he thinks he's gonna fail again, but then the pressure on his feet feels noticeably softer so he kicks off and begins to fly forward off the hill. As he goes he howls out in excitement, "Glass look I'm doing it!"
In his excitement he tries to look back at her and his concentration on maintaining altitude slips as his wingbeats hiccup for long enough for him to lose the momentum he'd gathered up that allowed him to stay aloft, quickly sending him tumbling towards the ground. "Wait! No Shiiii hold Aaaaaahh!" He tumbled down the hill for about thirty yards before finally losing enough speed that he came to a stop.
Glasswing might note that he just let his lower half hang through the flight, while his full dragon form is built for being sleek and aerodynamic his humanoid form might need a bit of reorienting to maintain a good flight pace.
Glass glides over to where Indy skidded to a stop. "You okay? You look tough, hopefully it's just your pride that's hurt."
She waits for him to recover. "Your back half is dragging. If your center mass isn't right below your wings, you gotta keep your core rigid. Kind of like a pushup." She lifts the hem of her top to reveal truly well-toned abdominal muscles. "There's a good side to it. Your abs will be rock hard."
By the time she gets to him he looks less stunned and is pulling himself back together.
"Knocked the wind out... I'll be good."
He sits up and looks at her. "I should probably focus too.. on the wingbeats i mean." Somewhere he recalled Caio showing off his abs and it making others swoon. "Perks to it, yeah. Lemme try again."
With that he collected himself and made his way back up the hill again.
"Don't try anything fancy. Just get in the air." Glasswing takes flight and is at the takeoff spot when Indarius gets there.
Indy works his way back to the start and psyches himself up again. This time he casts a minor enchantment on himself. Taking a running start he once again flapped hard and just at the end of the run like before he sprang up, but this time the enchantment sent him bounding a dozen feet into the air. Keeping his forward momentum Indarius hammered the air as he kept moving forward.
"Okay now what!?"
He asked as he attempted to pull his lower end back and up.
"Up!" she shouts, following Indarius into the air with her own erratic flapping. "Get up where the wind is stronger! Then hold your wings out, let it take you higher!" She glides out in front of him, wings wide and beating hard to help her gain altitude. Once several dozen feet in the air, she levels off, her body rigid with her hands to her sides.
"This seemed way easier.. the other time I did it." He heaved his way skyward. The entire time being quite the struggle with his little bit of practice, flying via magic was way easier and he was glad and miserable he'd asked for help.
"Sonofa...
But after painstakingly long he finally leveled out with Glasswing and stretched his wings out to ride the updrafts.
"Did you have someone to teach you? Cause this sucks."
"No," Glasswing shakes her head as she glides along side him. "I was so elated after I emerged from my cocoon, I was in the air the instant my wings dried out. It came so natural."
She seems to have a revelation. "You said you're an actual dragon, right? Like out of the stories? Then you should be built for flight! Maybe shift back, try to not look so human. Then let your body do its thing!"
"Well... yeah just like from stories, turns out less fairy tale than lost history. Speaking of which fae are real."
He keeps a good distance between him and Glasswing. "I suppose I could, but I figure this'll be easier to be when i'm in Halcyon, less damage if I crash into or get hit into a building. Guess I should do both though."
He looks down and reminds himself exactly why he's glad to have safeguards for falling. "Maybe... maybe I stay like this for a bit and next time we come up I'll change over?"
"Also changing back while in flight seems dangerous, so 'if' that's the plan gonna need to land somewhere that'll fit all of me."
"I'm just throwing out ideas. Like I said, for me it was just natural," Glasswing replies.
Higher up, the winds are much stronger, giving both winged fliers something to work with. However, the double-winged butterfly configuration of Glasswing doesn't match the broad, membranous wings of Indarius. She flaps more frequently and with a different motion.
"Sorry," she eventually offers, as her lessons are barely able to keep him in the air. "I can't really explain it well. I just kind of do it, like walking or running. Your legs just go on their own. Same with my wings."
Indarius seems pretty content with just gliding for a bit even getting used to this is better than nothing, "Maybe I'm just.. overthinking it? That was a big issue when I was learning to really control my magic, I hurt someone pretty important early on and was always afraid I'd do that to anyone else. I think it'd be a good idea to practice in both forms though, just.. uh.. need to land first. I don't want to like drop the transformation and then fumble my way to the ground trying to reorient again."
The higher air currents seem to allow Indarius to really take advantage of his greater wingspan, flapping less and just adjusting the tilt of his wings. It sort of feels like when he was a kid holding his hand out the window and twisting it along the air currents which would want to drag his arm up or down depending on the cupping of his hand. "Do you think you could teach me some aerial maneuvers once I get the basics down too? Oh also I hope I'm not like keeping you from doing your heroing for a lesson."
"I can try," she replies. "See if you can keep up." The young hero starts a series of wild loops and turns, challenging Indarius to follow her through the air.
"Alright." Indarius watches as Glasswing begins her tight looping pattern and attempts to follow, but given he isn't as used to flight as her he is quite slow on the draw. Though his body should very well be able to handle the maneuvers he simply isn't used to such tasks yet. And after several attempts she manages to outpace him.
Afterwards he calls out to Glasswing, "Alright alright... not ready for that yet after all, I'll have to practice more at home. Also can we land my chest muscles are starting to ache?"
"Sure." The butterfly-winged girl flits down easily, landing lightly roughly a mile from where they'd started. She turns to watch Indarius's landing attempt.
Watching Glasswing land, Indarius does his best to follow suit he heard somewhere that birds flapped really hard forward to stop their momentum from carrying them into a crash. Swooping down and letting his abs relax to drop his legs down beneath him again he gave several hard flaps creating enough downforce to throw up dust and small rocks. Although the landing was a bit hard on the knees it was mostly without incident.
"He-hey I got that right at least, little rough but.. I think it could pass." He rubs at his pectorals to start to soothe the ache that had started to build in them. "Dunno about you but.. that is a real workout."
Glass is a little out of breath, but not as much as Indarius. "Yeah. Flying long distances, or trying to fly against the wind is a real workout," she agrees.
She pulls out her phone and checks it. "Looks like there's a Smoothie King nearby. Good avocado power shakes, if you don't mind vegan nut milk." She waves her hands around Indarius's draconic form. "Not sure how much your dragon bod needs the animal proteins."
"Truth be told.. I don't know either." He laughs. "In Halcyon I tend to recover a lot faster than you'd think, something about how Aetherically dense it is lots of extra juice to pull from."
He looks over to her and nods, "I think a quick Smoothie or two.. or three couldn't hurt as a break. Maybe you can tell me a bit more about LA while we're there?"
When they descend to head over to the eatery Indy examines Glasswing for a bit, "Hey Glass.. can I ask you a erm, maybe a weird and super personal question?"
She looks over her shoulder at Indy. "I guess," she says with a surprised laugh.
"You weren't forced into any particular situation or anything so I guess. Why do you hero? I mean heroing or I guess well super stuff affected your life alot so maybe." He rubs his shoulder, "I uh-that sounded stupid sorry you don't have to say."
Glasswing pauses for a moment as her antennae bob up and down. Before she can respond, a nearby commotion draws her attention. Several people at the smoothie place have spotted them and are pulling out cell phones. "Hold that thought for a sec. You can wait here; I'll handle crowd control and get the smoothies."
She steps over to the crowd who seems elated to see Glasswing, though leery of Indarius. Though, the fact the two hadn't been battling keeps the crowd from being overly alarmed by the draconic being. Glasswing poses for selfies as she works through the people and then steps up to the window to place the order.
While the smoothies are being made, Glass poses for more pix and selfies. A few point in Indarius's direction, while others train their phones toward him.
What does he do??
Indarius pulls his head back a bit before realizing he had to do something, so unused to actually being in the spotlight front and center he does the first thing that comes to his mind and gives an awkward smile and wave. "Uh.. H-Hi there I'm Indarius, hero from Halcyon just um.. visiting to do some training." The sharp fangs meant for holding on to and tearing flesh are much less charismatic than people teeth, and as he waves his wings flair a bit since he'd not yet trained his brain to separate the two motions of his actual hands and his wing 'hands'.
He swallows hard at all the staring, hoping that both the smoothie and Glasswing will be ready to depart soon, 'How the hell does Shin do this?'
Indarius endures the fascinated gawking and selfie-taking by the smoothie customers until Glasswing comes to his rescue with a couple jumbo shakes. She flutters her wings as a goodbye to the crowd and then flies off to a secluded spot, trusting Indy to follow.
She gently hands off one of the smoothies into his clawed hands, then sticks straws into them. "Spinach, kale, avocado, and pineapple-coconut. Hope you like it." She takes a drink of her own bright green concoction.
"Okay. You had asked why I superhero. And... I don't. Well, not much. I mean, I do some investigating, work some crime scenes, talk to flowers... but I'm not one of those who goes out to punch bad guys."
She stares at her drink. "It's not like my talents would go in the other direction, either. No criminal gang's going to try to convince me to help them rob a bank." She looks up, antennae standing up straight. "Not that I would!"
She slumps again. "But, you know, I'm just the 'butterfly girl.' No one's going to call me in for anything but a photo-op."
With a final wave and a turn to get out of dodge Indy follows with Glasswing, instead of relying on his shaky at best take offs he cheats and uses that same spell as before to enhance his jump height in order to get a significant boost before taking flight proper. When they land he looks just a little shaken, not being the one who is usually locked into the spotlight on the team.
He seems to snap back to reality as she hands him the smoothie, "Thanks.." He doesn't care much for what flavor it is, just that it's calories that he desperately needs.
"Oh I just figured since you were at the Gala.. Sorry I shouldn't have assumed you were one of the punchy kind of heroes. Heh actually kind of reminds me of one of the first villains I fought."
He tilts his head back and forth after drinking another large portion of the beverage the cold not really bothering him, "You know one of those things you do when you're still a kid that is way too dangerous, his name was Deathshead like the moth. Didn't have many actual powers to my understanding aside from well being like a giant moth man, but he made all kinds of poisonous and paralytic powders he'd spread with gusts of wind from his wings. Anyway I'm glad you aren't like a villain or anything."
Looking over from his rambling Indy feels the need to clarify why he asked, "I wanted to know mostly cause I guess it's interesting to hear what brings people to do it you know?" He reaches over and pat's her as gently as he can on the shoulder giving her a good idea of just how naturally cold he is, the scales of his palms were surprisingly fine and smooth like those of a snake. "Don't sweat it that you don't knock people out though by the way, sometimes just being an inspiration to people is enough anyway. I mean do you know how many kids and even adults would give anything to be able to fly like you? Just to shake your hand."
He doesn't admit that he thinks sometimes punching the baddies seems to cause more issues than it actually solves.
"Also... I think it's really cool that you can get in front of the cameras. I honestly don't know how you manage it, it... freaks me out, all the staring and the cooing and awestruck faces. I feel like i'm gonna crumble under it all."[b] Indy retracts back to holding the smoothie with both hands and sipping at it carefully.
Glasswing sighs. [b]"Well, I'm sure in Halcyon City no one blinks at a dragon. Super battles, aliens, demons, and giant robots... and that's your average Tuesday. I'm sure you can get away with being uncomfortable in front of cameras or crowds.
"LA's way different. Sure, you've got your odd super battle, but half the time it's staged because of a PR company thinks that's the way to drive up your likes."
"Oh they do more than blink. I'm the uh... First dragon i've heard about hanging around in Halcyon. The other one has his own private island and research center dedicated to whatever plots he's up to. We do have alot of the other stuff though."
He sips at his drink for a bit before looking over again "So wait they just pay people to act like badguys sometimes? All for ratings, that seems.. somehow more evil than not."
"I might be exaggerating about how often it happens, but yeah. It's a thing." She offers him the last third of her shake. "You sure it never happens in Halcyon?"
Indy looks at the shake, "You sure?" Then he takes a bit to ponder that theory "I uh.. I guess I never thought of it. I hope it doesn't."
"Well, it's something to watch out for. At least when you're picking out your publicist, anyway," Glasswing says.
"Well? More flying, or do I need to put 'flight instructor' on my resume for doing such a good job?"
Indarius polishes off the shake then laughs as he looks for somewhere to throw the containers away. "I'll try to keep that in mind, and yeah more flying lemme just stretch a bit first."
As if on que once the shakes were dispensed Indarius's form began to expand into his natural form so that he was in his true draconic form again. Gone now were the vague hints of attempting to be human as his wings now stretched nearly double his body length, and quill-like 'hair' replaced by a fin-like crest that ran a good portion of his neck as well as the white to black horns that protruded from his skull towards his tail tip.
"Alright." He speaks in a much more commanding voice with a distinctly metallic thrum to it that seems to resonate somewhere from his sternum, "You thought perhaps this form would be more suited to flight then? Then we'll try it out for a while."
Glasswing takes a few steps back in awe. "Um, sure. Yeah, that's what I said. Right." Her wings begin flapping against the wind and she's soon in the air, circling above the dragon.
"See if you've got the instincts!" she calls down to him. "Just let your wings work!"
Indarius watches as Glasswing takes off, "The instincts huh..." He looks at his own body and thinks about it, there is an odd twinge to the air and a sort of scratchy feeling in the back of his head. He circles for a bit trying to get things to align and 'feel' right. After several moments of subtle shifting and twisting and lining up and readjusting he finally finds a spot he feels the most 'right' about it.
He takes a few more moments spreading his wings, reminding him of relaxing his shoulders like you do on a long exhale, feeling the subtle winds, which are much easier to pick up with so much more surface area. Noting that they still felt like odd fingers he flexed them a bit knowing that he had to get going soon, otherwise Glasswing might wear herself out just waiting. So taking off with a running start he flapped and found it much easier to get airborne and he felt much more energetic after even a small snack.
Soon he was spiraling up towards Glasswing, causing a lot of downdraft near him so he kept a good distance from her once again, though his voice seemed perfectly built to bellow over the noise some flaps of his leathery wings. "I think I may have to revisit the formula of my other form, I may have gotten the mass a bit.. heavy. This was far easier to do than earlier."
Maeve is furious. Her face reddens so much it’s a wonder she doesn’t burst into flames. The tears well and one escapes, but she ignores them. Fuming.
”Thank you for this, Connie.”
She says this first. She doesn’t want there to be the slightest doubt. Connie just confirmed Maeve’s suspicion.
Percy’s explanation makes Femtite wonder if ‘that guy’ Reverend Reibold is using any kind of magic on his ‘flock.’Femtite is very grateful that Connie took the time to research. Her anger is NOT directed at her teammate.
“Lust for men—FILL HER?!!! What is wrong with them?! They would sooner have their own daughter ra—” She chokes on the word she can’t bear to say. “—that’s somehow better than an innocent girl crush?????”
She gets off the sink, fists clenched, but Maeve just turns to the mirror and glares at her blurry reflection.
“This is war,” she says.
“They figured it out—the Seer’s Truth was fighting their magic, the blackness in Chastity’s eyes, her involuntary reactions. I KNEW it wasn’t just a religious upbringing, I just couldn’t prove it or I’d have told you before.
“Chastity is moving like a puppet again—at the basketball game, and today at lunch. Like an IDIOT, I tried to normal-humanize it all, like it was just her mother’s talks making her act this way. I should’ve known! The smoke monsters in my vision look just like the Ugly Thoughts from Chastity’s subconscious.
“But I…” She nips her rant in the bud. “It doesn’t matter. We’re doing this one as a team, right? Because some hypocritical PERVERT is trying to make my girlfriend WANT to be the object of male-fornicating-lust, and I want to end him.”
Connie's mouth thins, her rage-shakes ebbing as her whole being seems to sharpen. "Hey, Maeve, you're taking the easy way out in your mind right now and I don't like it. I haven't seen Chastity stiffen or suddenly freak out about PDAs, but I did talk to Raquel about it back in the day and she didn't find it at all out of character for her, given her background. I also remember the timeline of when you first mentioned it.
"If we kick this guy in the Fallen nuts, and she's suddenly comfortable and less inhibited in your relationship? Grats. But unless a malevolent entity was tasked with Chastity's sexlife before her family even disliked you? Her inculcated discomfort predates this. Do not write her behavior off as solely maleficar s++#. Normal-humanizing what's been described to me is by miles the most likely explanation barring your vision.
"We also don't know it's her parents or even the church that's my best bet though, to be fair. We've seen that spells that deal with attraction or lowering inhibitions are most commonly done by the person who expects to benefit personally, and that's still plausible here."
She looks up that the ceiling for a long beat.
"Okay. Two things. And a half. The odds are very strong that whatever working is being done on her, it's going through some sort of focus or channel that's located either in her personal effects, or more likely her room. So... I think I need to get in her bedroom, which is also a lot easier if she's clued in. This isn't another cognitive dissonance scenario where telling her at the wrong time might cause her to dissociate or otherwise have a psychotic break, so I would much rather proceed under her knowledge anyways.
Second: If this is connected to Duke Zepar, like directly, then I will want backup for anything more than weeding Chastity's room. Alliance isn't... great on this stuff. So I think we should send up a flare to Rain's Corps."
Maeve doesn’t take her eyes off the mirror. Doesn’t wipe them. Doesn’t respond immediately… “You’re right that jumping to conclusions doesn’t help.
“I want to tell Chastity. I won’t mention my suspicions, just what you said of the fallen angel… and his task to make her lust for men. That is vile, and she needs to know ‘someone’ targeted her.
“Raquel, Gina and Ngon too. They need to know this is happening. It’ll be easier to convince Chastity to let us both in her room if we can convince them.” And not to harp on the subconscious thing again but: “By the way, when I saw Chastity’s Ugly Thoughts, the dark cloud occupied a corner of her bedroom. I don’t know if you’ll find the focus in that exact spot, but I should mention that.”
She removes her phone from her purse.
“Shall I arrange an after-school meeting with Raquel, Gina and Ngon? I assume you’ll want to be there? And I want to be with you when you get Caio in on this. Things have been weird with him and me since—” She avoids saying ‘break-up.’ “—November—” She almost says the exact day. “—and things will never get better if I keep going out of my way to avoid him.”
The easiest way outside was clearly up and through the gaping mouth through which the sunlight was pouring in. Bypassing a trapped fissure that would send intruders plummeting hundreds of feet to an icy river, and avoiding dozens of spear-like icicles that are rigged to fall with a swipe of his tail, Indarius reaches the opening and it strikes him that he knew about those defenses to his lair. He realizes that he has others: the ice golems in an antechamber, the coldfire skeletons, ice spiders, an entire wall rigged to collapse... his mountain peak was a deathtrap, and he'd designed it?
Before he can drive himself crazy puzzling it out -- or fall back into the persona of the dragon ruling this peak -- Indarius steps out onto a icy ledge overlooking a breathtaking landscape. Chill gales blow hard but fail to budge his powerful build as he looks upon the land. He is scant yards away from the ice-coated summit of a tall and cruel mountain. Far below him is the nearest rival peak, falling away into lush green hills and forests, vales and plains miles and miles away. Whether some power of his dragon's eyes or a feature of this magical realm, Indarius could see for leagues.
The sight is mesmerizing, and Indarius is enraptured for a long time. He is able to pick out what must be proud cities situated on silvery rivers winding through the terrain, dark and gloomy forests, sylvan glades, and scarred lands with the pall of death hanging over them.
Certainly, spreading his wings and flying through this enchanted land would be exhilarating. However, something covetous in his dragon's heart pulls him back to his treasure hoard, fearing to leave it unguarded for long.
What do you do?
Valerie's eyes go wide, then they take a hard, cruel edge. "The show was painful to you? Say the word and I will decorate the stage with their entrails, my lord!"
She stands at the balcony's edge looking as if she was about to leap down, but pulls herself back. "The play was entertaining. The rebel insurgency was wiped out to the man by the loyal soldiers of the king. The rebels were brave, but ultimately, they were doomed from the start. A cautionary tale, my Beloved."
Stepping close, her dark eyes are wide as she waits for Shin's next order, whether to return to the castle or begin the bloodbath. Valerie's expression is open; she is eager to do either one.
The more Shin looks into her eyes, the more he is able to understand her. It suddenly hits him; he (or the vampire he is portraying) had been the one to turn her into a vampire, which makes her thoughts completely open to him. Pulling her thoughts is as easy as recalling a vivid memory. Her plans are his plans -- or whatever plans he has deigned to show her. She doesn't want anything from him, she simply can't want more from him than orders for her to carry out.
Digging into her memories, Shin learns that Valerie had been a sickly child to poor peasants that struggled all their lives to take care of her. She had survived to become a young woman, but was doomed to die a maiden. They presented her to the vampire lord, begging him to save her life and he'd agreed, turning her into his vampire consort. He then ordered her to drain her parents dry, which she did, gleefully.
Pushing further past the reality of the gothic world, Shin finds the real Valerie deep inside, sleeping, parts of her own experiences influencing the persona but with no conscious awareness or control. With his powers over her, he could force her to wake up, but likely at a loss of her current immersion in this world. As his thrall, this Valerie could be a guide to help him navigate its reality.
What does he do???
Why had he not been fully lost in the immersion? Maybe some Connie made charm she never bothered to tell him about. He at least knew that this really was Valerie. And he would never seek to control her. Her role might help him understand this strange place but he couldn't allow her to be an object under his will.
How best to wake her? He holds her by her shoulders, concentrating on her and staring into her eyes. Well, she had to obey his orders, right?
"Valerie. I need for you to wake up. Remember who you are," He says, using what influence he has to try and bring up her consciousness. "As ridiculously attractive as this scenario is, I need you to be yourself."
Maeve doesn’t take her eyes off the mirror. Doesn’t wipe them. Doesn’t respond immediately… “You’re right that jumping to conclusions doesn’t help.
“I want to tell Chastity. I won’t mention my suspicions, just what you said of the fallen angel… and his task to make her lust for men. That is vile, and she needs to know ‘someone’ targeted her.
“Raquel, Gina and Ngon too. They need to know this is happening. It’ll be easier to convince Chastity to let us both in her room if we can convince them.” And not to harp on the subconscious thing again but: “By the way, when I saw Chastity’s Ugly Thoughts, the dark cloud occupied a corner of her bedroom. I don’t know if you’ll find the focus in that exact spot, but I should mention that.”
She removes her phone from her purse.
“Shall I arrange an after-school meeting with Raquel, Gina and Ngon? I assume you’ll want to be there? And I want to be with you when you get Caio in on this. Things have been weird with him and me since—” She avoids saying ‘break-up.’ “—November—” She almost says the exact day. “—and things will never get better if I keep going out of my way to avoid him.”
"You're still over-simplifying. Even leaving aside the fact that an entity like that can stretch outside their Fave Five banes, dude-lust is only one of the things he's known for. Again, the most likely, sure, but mental shortcuts very literally make it harder to defeat things like this. It's a bad habit.
"I'm fine chatting with your crew, but Raquel at least didn't appreciate being in the middle of this stuff the last time either. I'll follow your lead there. I'll start in that corner of the bedroom too. Rain... might be tough. I'd recommend that you avoid 'November-esque' euphemisms though. I'm not gonna pretend he's not protective, but the way you often refuse to face things head on does not endear you to him either."
Maeve’s expression flattens at the ‘reason’ Rain isn’t ‘endeared.’ She has a lot to say. She says none of it.
“You have a point. Two. You talk to Rain; I’ll talk to Raquel and the others today, and get a feel for how comfortable they are with getting involved.”
She creates a group chat for her friend-group, minus Chastity, since the Robertsons likely monitor her phone.
She shows Connie after she presses send. And she can’t help herself.
She does want to get back to class, so she dabs at her eyes and cheeks with the tissue and washes her face. “I don’t normally skip a third of a class like this, and Chas is probably wondering what’s taking so long, so… well… is there anything else I should know?”
Caio frowns a bit as the girl openly checks him. Do what I say, not what I do, uhn? If I was checking her like that I'd at least get slapped... more likely would be called a womanising pig.
"Yeah, started this semester, but even if I had been here since I was freshman, you'd not have remembered me probably." He says. "I was a foot shorter, skinnier and was covered most of the time." By covered, he obviously means his numerous tattoos, which otherwise would make him unmistakable.
---
Caio is very awed by the seriousness of the whole thing. He wondered if he'd be ever comfortable about it in the future. Probably not.
"Sure, whatever I can do to help. Have you discovered anything new about her?" He asks. "Must be honest that my connection with her was probably just luck on my part."
Faye giggles. "Hee. Well, congrats on getting jacked. See ya around!" She brushes past Skyler, who remains in a possessive hug around Caio.
"Tell me you don't find any of that attractive," she mutters once Faye is out of earshot.
"Don't sell yourself short," Imagerie replies. "You took a risk; you reached out to her. I'm glad you did. It might be what it now takes to get through to her."
She guides Caio through several secure checkpoints and takes him on a heavy-duty elevator down several levels. Once deep underground, they go through another checkpoint and into a row of cells. Imagerie looks troubled. "This wasn't our first choice. We tried a number of less restrictive options, most of which were designed to acclimate her to a home environment. They all set her off. It makes me sick, but she seems more comfortable here in a sterilized cell than in a home."
True enough, Caio sees Scythe, clad in a hospital gown, pacing back and forth in a padded cell. Large clamps are in place on her metallic wings, keeping them compact and restrained. Her head snaps up in Rain's direction the instant he comes into view. "Her senses are good. That's one-way glass. Security teams will be at the ready, and I'll stay close by. Tap the button on the side to open the intercom and turn off the polarization," Imagerie instructs.
As she steps back to give Rain some room to work, she taps an earbud. "Checking in. I'm at Site 29. Yeah? Of all the times... All right, I'll be there when I can."
Raquel, Gina, and Ngon join Maeve at her dorm room. "You don't have to bribe us with food," Raquel deadpans.
"Speak for yourself!" Ngon laughs. "Snacks are always appreciated."
Gina gives him a hard glare, then turns to Maeve with concern in her eyes. "What's going on? Why are we meeting without Chastity?"
"Aside from the fact that, you know, she has to go home straight from school," Raquel adds. "How much drama are we talking about, here?"
A look of confusion crosses Valerie's face like she doesn't grasp the instruction. Then her eyes roll back and she goes limp for a second, requiring Shin to hold on to keep her from collapsing to the floor.
After a brief moment, she stirs groggily. "Wha--? Shin? Sorry, I can't believe I fell aslee-- Wait. What the?" She looks around in bewilderment, first at Shin, then the theater, and then down at herself. "What am I wearing? And whath with my teeth?" She opens her mouth and grips a fang with her thumb and forefinger, giving it a hard tug.
Getting her feet under her so Shin no longer has to hold her up, Valerie runs her hands up and down the sides of her dress. "I'm feeling very weird, Shin. What's happening?" A slow look of dreadful realization appears on her face as she touches the last remnant of the blood on her chin and licks it off her finger. "What. Is. Happening?!?"
"Not about Chuckles, no. Do you know your sister is probably walking around though? Human-looking body of course, thence the lack of pointing and all. I'm gonna have to say hi either way, but I wanted to make sure no one was unduly surprised by it."
***
Connie: Heeeeyyyyyy
Connie: I have news that will... probably be unwelcome?
Connie: One of matty-mat's cousins is maybe messing with Chastity's namesake
Connie: Z 16/72 from the little key
Connie: Thought your old corps buddies might have something interesting to say when they're next available
Roma Downey: read
Before her guests arrive, Maeve strips down, transforms to her pixite-hybrid form and lays out the tea cups, tea bags, graham crackers, dark chocolate and marshmallows. Once the pillows are in place, water poured and plates snacked, Femtite makes a quick video call.
“HI-hiiiiiiii!! Sorry for the short notice. I need a small favor—really small. I’ll skip school so I can meet you at your ‘workshop’ at your convenience. It’s urgent. Please call back in an hour.”
She then uses her power to heat the tea and s’mores flowers…
…and barely has time to clothe her human body before her guests arrive on time!
• • •
Mae gestures toward Raquel and assures Gina, “That’s the reason. I’d have invited her if I thought there was any chance at all her mother would say yes. Chastity needs to know, and I’m hoping the three of you can tell her what will be very hard for her to hear… and hard to tell you.
“I love her. That’s not the hard… I wanna preface… so, anyway, I wouldn’t say it’s drama. I mean, sure the basketball games and the not-a-couple act and the way she keeps suddenly backing away from me freaked me out a little a lot, but I just thought she was being extra-careful. She did get caught sneaking off to a Christmas party with me. I just thought she was worried that her mother might somehow know, so instead of claiming to ‘watch the boys play’ and sneaking off to where the girls play—we actually watched the entire game.
“And it all seemed so normal. But—oh, please, eat your s’mores flowers before they cool.” She gives Ngon an encouraging smile, then gets to the harder part. “So, I… try not to get you all in on what Raquel calls That Superhero Crap. It’s nice to have a break from it myself, really. I’m so happy to have all of you in my life. But Chastity… well… I had a vision of her.
“It was this shadowy creature trying to force her, pull her in different directions. But there was a word that I couldn’t read, so… I had started to wonder if my vision was just like a meaningless nightmare fueled by my worries.”
She takes out the paper that shows the sigil, and the name: “Duke Zepar.”
She sips her tea. Her hands are trembling. The warmth of the drink… doesn’t help. She wonders why she thought it would have.
“Connie translated the sigil from my vision and explained who this Zepar is. He’s a fallen angel of love and fertility. A reason one might summon him is to make a woman lust for man.
“Duke Zepar has been summoned to target Chastity, very likely for that purpose.” She lets her friends react before getting to what she would ask of them.
“Faetite, at school? Hmm… we gotta talk about this later.” Maeve doesn’t seem as bothered by this news. “I’ll call you tonight and tell you how it all goes!”
She seems in a hurry to get to class and apologize to the teacher!
He tests one fang with his tongue. "We've gotten zapped into one of those realities. Thankfully we've got our wits about us. And no one's permanently hurt right now," He says to her, trying to lift her spirits and keep her calm and centered. "We'll figure a way out of here and back to our reality, okay? Everything's going to be all right."
He looks down at the theater. "Let's first leave. If this theater's been changed, it's possible that leaving its boundaries could change us back. If not, or if the effect is wider spread, we'll have to blend in and not draw the wrong kind of attention."
He looks down at Valerie. Trying to ignore how her gown clings to her. "Do you need some more time? Are you working out the weird false memories in your head?"
"What the actual f&#!, Maeve?" Raquel exclaims.
Ngon scoots closer to Gina. "He can only make women lust for men, right?" She slaps him. "Hey! It's a legit question!"
"Ignore the troll," Gina says, "but I gotta agree with Raquel. What the hell? I mean, not literally, but... you know."
Raquel scowls at the couple, then throws her hands up as she turns to Maeve. "We literally don't need this s$~~. Neither does Chastity. I assume you're going to do the superhero thing and kick its ass, right? Why are you telling us this? I don't want to get into the crossfire and end up wanting to jump on some dude."
"Wait. Oh, s%~%!!" Ngon says as he pulls Gina close.
"At last. He gets it." She shrugs out of Ngnon's embrace. "But... Raquel's right. Why tell us this? What can we do?" Ngon puts on a hurt puppy's face and she sighs, letting him close again.
Valerie steadies herself after Shin explains the situation. She licks at the blood on her fingernail. "I don't think I'm a werewolf. Am I a vampire? I've been called that before." She again looks down at herself. "This dress is so tight I can hardly breathe, but..." She pauses for a moment. "I'm not breathing, Shin! I'm cold. My heart! It's not beating!" She grasps at her wrists and then neck, searching for a pulse.
"What the actual f#~*!?!" she shouts as she searches her memories. "You killed me?" Valerie raises her hand to strike him, but her arm freezes in place. She falls back a step, eyes wide and full of fear. "I can't... Are you in control of me?!?" she rasps.
“Okay… first, understandable reaction. I got that wave of anger out in the girls’ room, well, sort of. Connie was there and… had to rein it in so we could plan stuff. But yes, we have a plan and a goal.
“One part of the not-ass-kicky part of the plan is for Connie to enter Chastity’s room and investigate. I’m not allowed in there, so there are only two ways in. One is to fly through her wall—subatomically, not making a hole—and open a window for Connie. But alarms, cameras, waiting until Sunday. I don’t like it.”
She turns to Raquel. “The other way is with help from someone not kicked out of Chastity’s home. What I’m asking you to do is convince Chastity to invite you over, and get her consent to let Connie and I come with without her parents knowing.
“Chastity must know, and so we don’t scare here, let her know how you’ll bring us in—if you agree to helping in this way…”
Maeve opens the curtain to her loft bed. There is a small bag tied with a golden thread.
“By small, I mean smaller than Barbie. A G.I. Joe sized outfit—fairy sized, but the outfit can cover the back. Preferably a sweater. It’s not for me, but for my ex-girlfriend, and I want her to be comfortable. I need to sneak her into a place, and if all parties agree, I’m going to shrink her with—“
“—fairy dust!”
She holds the bag very carefully.
“Raquel, would you please convince Chas to invite you over tomorrow, and let her know Connie and I will be in your handbag?” Gesturing to her own handbag, “Or mine, if you like it.”
“The purpose: find the focal point of the summoned spirit, which she believes is in Chastity’s room. I don’t believe any of us will be in danger of Zepar’s influence, and if it helps, those behaviors that freaked me out… I believe that is Chastity fighting him.” In the vision, Chastity is fighting two spirits. One is Zepar, the other is her Ugly Thoughts. She hopes both of those entities will be sealed… or obliterated. “Her strength is the reason we have a chance at stopping him… because he hasn’t completed his task. But I don’t know how long Chas can hold out.”
She turns to Gina and Ngon, and adds, “I also want to do everything legally. Hence my calling all of you. Feel free to spare Chas the scary details. I just need her consent to let Connie and I in her room. With no laws broken, the DA can persecute whoever summoned this fallen angel.”
She summarizes the last bit. “That’s the goal: stop Zepar before he can complete his task, and lock up whoever summoned him.
“And I truly am sorry for getting you involved or even informed, but I believe what I’m proposing is the best way to rescue Chastity.”
"F@~* no, for so many many reasons." He says quickly, comforting her. "But she probably means trouble.
As they turn to return to the classes, he adds. "What do you remember about her?" He takes his phone and quickly sends a text to Connie.
Caio: Purple's name is Rebecca, but she goes by Faye now
Caio: She was a student here before
Caio: Not human btw
Caio: Mismatched eyes like Femtite
---
Caio listens to all the instructions while looking at the girl, wondering how was he supposed to bond with her in such a place and with reinforced panels between them.
After he turns on the intercom and turns off the polarization, he gives her an awkward smile. "Hi... you speak English, right? I could try Spanish but it will become Portunhol pretty quickly."
---
Caio: Just great
Caio: Duck me
Caio: Duck
The message show Caio as tying something then stopping a couple times.
Caio: In an 1 to 10 apocalyptic scale, where 1 is just some old goetic witchcraft love spell and 10 is Zepar marching ahead of his twenty-some legions, where are we?
He considers briefly if he should put her under again. Not unless she's going to hurt herself or others. "I don't want to control you. That I know I can scares me. I like you a lot and I just wanted a simple, drama free date to figure out if we wanted to be together or be friends, and now that's all f!$+ed up because of something messing up the city," He admits. "And now we're in this weird fantasy reality and I'm getting really thirsty and worried I'm going to attack someone for their blood and I don't know if these are also people caught up in this rift or some simulation," he admits.
"I am just as scared as you. I've just been taught to deal with it a little better. Let me - no don't phrase anything like a command - you can trust me to help you. Like I trust you to help me get us out of this place."
The trio fall silent as they consider the crisis and how Maeve plans on handling it. Raquel sighs and pulls out her phone. "I have a project due Monday," she mutters.
Ngon holds up his hand. "Um, I don't know a lot about this, but isn't this a lot of freaking out over a vision? Maybe it's, like, you're own, I don't know, anxiety over Chastity's deal? She's stressing, so you're stressing, and it's like you're creating a monster you want to fight?"
Raquel stops herself from completing the call to Chastity and looks at him. "Ngon, you are actually making sense right now." She turns to Maeve. "Scary as that is, is there any chance he's right? 'Cause we could all be on Mrs. Robertson's s@!* list if we get caught smuggling a fairy-dusted Connie into her home and there was nothing to it."
She gets a reply back. "I don't have a lot of clothes that size, assuming you're not talking about the ones from the '70s. Let me ask around."
The girl nods slowly. "Yes. Can you let me go? I need to fly."
The bindings over her wings shudder, but hold them secure. She moves quickly, slamming her body hard against the glass with a dull thud.
Valerie calms down, but twitches at the sounds of the last of the crowd exiting the theater. She wipes her chin with the back of her hand. "I think... I've eaten."
She pushes past that topic quickly. "Yeah, I was curious about where this date would go too. Except, I know you still have a thing for Psyche, so... if it went well, I was fine with it being a fling. You know, just a good time, for however long it lasts. I fell hard for Rory, and that... I'm not going to make that mistake again."
She steps close and gives him a kiss on the lips, less passionate than when she was a thrall, but genuine. "You're trying real hard not to take advantage of this... vampire thing that's happening between us. That's... I appreciate that."
She steps back and furrows her brow in concentration. "There's a castle! Of course there is. I think I know where it is. You want to go there? I don't want to find out what happens if we're not inside before dawn."
Maeve deflates a little at the resistance. But she doesn’t want Raquel to fail a class or get on a s*#*-list.
“Okay… I will admit I’m still new to these visions, but I don’t believe I’m capable of dreaming up a fallen angel I’ve never heard of whose name was written in a language I don’t know. The point of Connie investigating is to find evidence—because if this is a real threat and no one stops it, Chastity will be forced to…” She can’t bring herself to say it.
Mae turns to Ngon. “If I told you the same thing, but Gina was the target instead of Chastity—” She turns to Gina. “—or if Ngon were being forced to Lust for men, would you suggest I not have Connie investigate and shrug it off as Only a Dream?”
And on the topic of Connie, she adds, “Connie is my ex-girlfriend. She wouldn’t be on board with my approach if she even suspected this was some bizarre wish fulfillment to rescue Chastity from a monster I created.
“Investigating the room is her idea, not mine. She insists on Chastity’s consent so she isn’t trespassing in her personal space. It was my idea to involve you.”
Mae places a hand of Raquel’s. “All that said, you are right… there is a risk, though Connie and I would do our best to minimize it. You and Chas could go out for coffee after you let us out of the bag, for example.
“But Raquel, if I’m asking too much of you… I’m asking. Sometimes the answer to a question is ‘no,’ and you’re still my friend whether you say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”
Of course she hopes Raquel would say ‘yes’ for Chastity, but what’s more important, at this very moment, is that Raquel sees Maeve is her friend, and she won’t push Raquel’s to do something she doesn’t want to.
He's at least happy for the real kiss, as opposed to when she was just acting as a thrall. He kisses her back. "Heading back to the castle is a good idea. If this world follows vampire logic then we should make sure we aren't destroyed by breaking the rules," He agrees, before offering her an arm. It makes sense for her to cling to him, but he won't tell her what to do if he can help it.
And his guilt about that makes him open up more. "...you're right. It's complicated with Kylie. She changed my world view for the better, and I'm not ashamed about having feelings for more than one person anymore. Sometimes they don't feel the same way, or it's not as deep as love, just liking each other enough to fool around without strings attached. That's happened with Connie. I think that I feel like we're on the same wavelength, like we share some experiences. I still want to explore that...at your pace."
He looks around as they exit the theater, trying to analyze their surroundings and figure things out. "Okay, let's - dammit. Keep an eye - no. Do you think that you can keep an eye out for something that doesn't belong to this 'setting'? That might be a key for leaving this place or restoring us back to normal."
|
|
Indarius is keenly aware of the tugging in his breast back to the lair, maybe it'd be fine without him keeping watch, but there was a severe doubt about that. With a shake of his head he cast those thoughts away and figured the best way to protect it while he got the lay of the land would be to seal up any easy entrances. So he called forth his icy breath and sealed the way he had left hoping that would assuage his feelings of unease for a time. Besides a small jaunt to get an idea of this place wouldn't hurt right.
Taking wing he started to sift through his newfound memories, he had built that lair, designed it to be a deathtrap to anyone who might assault it. The question then remained, when did he do that. Sure his traps back in Unity station were of his own design, but they weren't meant to kill anyone, only stop them until they could be dealt with. But these golems, skeletons, everything just seemed as if it were right out of a fantasy book. His mind once again turned to Quincy and if he had something to do with this, he could have gotten a power boost after the ritual after all.
"Whatever. If it's that bad, go bust through the wall to Chastity's room," Raquel says. "I don't know why you're trying to make us all into Femtite's Sidekick Squad. She's your sort-of girlfriend. You call her." She shakes her head and turns to the door.
Gina half-rises to her feet like she is going to follow Raquel, then pauses as she looks at Maeve. "I should... see how she is. Sorry." She squeezes Ngon's hand then follows Raquel out.
The awkward silence that follows is broken when Ngon says, "I thought it was a good plan." He stands up and stretches. "I should goooo, and let you have some peace while you, um, fine tune your strategy?" He tries to nonchalantly make his way to the door.
Indy soars down from the great altitude of the mountain peak, the terrain below him switching from white glaciers to the deep greens of alpine forests peeking out from thick snow upon the trees' branches. He flies past a mighty worked stone aqueduct feeding fresh water into a great fortress of stone with massive carvings of dwarves standing in silent vigil. His flight was not unnoticed, however, as a deep bass horn sounds to alert the fortress' defenders.
Rivers fed by the snow caps of the mountains wind through a frontier land, full of wooden cities and forts, huddled against both the winter cold and the dangers of an untamed wilderness. The land is dotted with ancient ruins, stone keeps and tangled forests. It's an amazing world, full of the promise of adventure.
Indarius soars over the land, draconic pride seeping into his heart that he was the apex predator of this realm. Nothing could realistically challenge him except the vilest of demons or the ancient unliving, but they lurk far, far from--
He has to bank hard, tilting his wings and flapping hard to keep himself from flying straight into an empty void just before him. He deftly maneuvers around it and continues his survey of the lands.
He flies over sylvan glades, where through the canopy he is able to spot cavorting faerie creatures, unicorns and centaurs, elven communities living high in the treetops, and--
Another void requires him to adjust his flight.
Humans work in fields with their crops and livestock, supplying goods to their mighty walled cities and fortresses that stand as a bulwark against the wild and savage orcs. Other human nations toil underneath the yoke of tyrants, projecting their strength with cruelty and oppression as their black-clad knights ride on dark steeds--
Indarius again has to fly around a void.
He finally begins to notice the voids, rather than just fly around them. They mar the landscape, deep pockets of emptiness, feeling like the undrawn parts of an incomplete map. Worse, the voids' edges are unclear, and at times appear to be advancing upon an already defined land and consuming it, while other borders recede to reveal new territory.
A fear grips his draconic heart. His lair! Could it be eaten up by one of these voids while he's not there?
What do you do??
==============
Valerie arches an eyebrow severely when Shin mentions fooling around with Connie. "The talkative one? You and her--? Ookay." She stares off into space for a moment until he starts to leave and she takes his arm.
Valerie hangs on Shin's arm as they exit the theater, though she is steady on her elegant shoes and form-hugging dress. She glides along next to him, letting out a soft gasp when they step out onto the cobblestone street. The bright moon casts a silvery glow upon the buildings that evoke an eastern-European medieval village. Small fires in lamps throw a ruddy light on the wet streets and a few windows show fires burning within. The air is chill with the smell of cookfires and woodsmoke, chamber pots and animal dung.
Looming high above the slanted rooftops are the spires of a dark and imposing castle, its form silhouetted against the starry sky, with its turrets and walls faintly outlined by the silver moonlight.
Few people are on the streets of the village, and they keep their heads down with only furtive glances in the vampires' direction, trying not to be noticed and finding someplace else to be. The only exceptions are the pair of servants in charge of the ornate coach which is pulled up to the theater entrance awaiting the lord and his lady. Two large black horses are hitched to the coach, their iron-shod hooves ringing against the cobblestones every time they step.
Shin studies the crowds of people and is quite certain that no one is a threat to him. Even if these beaten and cowed townspeople could summon the courage to defy him, he knew with his new vampiric strength that he could slay hundreds before they could possible get lucky enough to harm him. Everything about the setting evokes 'gothic horror.' Without a metallurgy expert or history buff, or architectural historian to analyze the clothes, materials, construction, or other minutiae for anachronisms, Shin simply cannot find something that doesn't appear to belong, or could counter this reality-warp he and Valerie find themselves in.
Valerie's eyes, however, are fixed on the castle. "That must be home. Is it weird that I'm kinda curious about all this?" She tears her eyes from the castle and looks around at the peasants who flinch under her gaze. "Like, it's disturbing and messed up and it ruined our date, but... I'm not scared about it." She steps up to the carriage where one of the servants is poised to help her aboard. "I want to see our home up close. What do you think?"
As she enters the carriage, she turns back to Shin and gives him a wink. "'Beloved.'"
Sort-of?!
Maeve rises, and swiftly moves to the doorway as Ngon is trying to leave. Her cheeks are flush. Her eyes are moist. Her hands are trembling as she holds up a plate.
“At least take a s’mores flower with you so I didn’t toast them for nothing.”
"Yes, 'Beloved'," He replies, a little glad that at least the shock for Valerie's worn off. He knows there's a girl in the carriage who's been half-drained, but hopes she's unconscious or sleeping off her donation. "Certainly, I think seeing the castle might be our best bet. Maybe there's other magical artifacts stored there that can lend us a hand. And...yeah, other than being a monstrous tyrant, I am curious," He admits to her.
He at least holds her hand. Which he was never afraid of before, but it's nice that she doesn't have to make sure her powers are off to do it. He realizes his own powers aren't functioning - but what was that power compared to the strength of a vampire lord?
"...Okay, I keep getting a lot of intrusive thoughts. Vampire Shin really has an ego," He tells Valerie. "And an appetite. Oh, a really gross appetite...which thinking about I'm considering delicious. This is weird. How much does he feed? Surely he doesn't need more than a pint or two a night to sustain himself..." He thinks on it, trying to uncover more memories. How had he become lord of this land in the first place?
Caio flinches a bit when Scythe slams the glass. "I can't. I don't give the orders here." He tells her, trying to distance himself from the Alliance. They locked her up, not him. While true, it was somewhat a half truth, because if he was the one in charge he'd have locked her up anyway. Nevertheless, perhaps this small distinction could help she seeing him as an ally, as if he was a lawyer trying to bail her out.
"Look... I'm not going to lie to you." He starts. "They are scared of you and so they'll not let you go... not until they get to understand you and be sure you'll not harm others."
"Perhaps I can convince them to let you fly, but you'll need to help me convince them, Scythe... Scythe." He repeats, disliking the name. "Do you have a name? My name is Caio."
Ngon accepts the invitation to take a smores with him, and grabs an extra for Gina. "It's messed up, but I know you'll figure something out. Okay? It's just... I don’t think Raquel wants to get involved. Superheroes are a weirdness magnet, and us normies can get the bad end of it. So don't be too mad at her."
"Scythe," she says, her head thumping on the glass. "They say I'm Xiu Ying in here." Her head lolls around, her body arched and strained like it's fighting itself. She throws herself against the wall again. When it fails to yield, she takes a step back and flings herself hard into a jarring impact.
Before she's able to hurt herself further crashing against the glass, magnets activate in the floor and yank her down to the ground. She roars in protest as she struggles uselessly. She thrashes in the limited amount of movement she's allowed and screams until she tires herself out.
The magnets deactivate and she pushes herself up to her knees, panting.
Imagerie appears next to Caio. "Well, you got a few words out of her. We were able to decrypt some archives in a black-ops research facility we investigated shortly after your Montigua adventure. We found the name Xiu Ying, but not a lot else about her," she explains.
"I'm afraid I have to cut this short. There's pockets of a fantasy world opening up all across Halcyon and it's getting worse. People are disappearing. Would you like to join me, or do you want to stay and see if you can make any more progress with Xiu Ying?"
What do you do?
The carriage begins its journey to the castle, bouncing softly upon the cobblestones. The serving girl is unconscious, leaning in one corner of the coach's interior and kept in place by a restraint. Valerie stares at the girl while listening to Shin wonder aloud about his vampiric nature.
"You should know. I think I can remember some stuff if I just let myself 'be' the vampire you made me, but it's like... letting go from a cliff. If I let go real quick I can grab on again. But letting go all the way, I think I'd start falling and couldn’t stop after long."
She turns to him looking worried. "Which maybe you shouldn't try that much, since you could order me to let go and then we'd have no one to, you know, pull us back up."
She swallows nervously. "Probably best that I try first." Her eyes partly close and she goes deathly still, with only the slight jostling from the moving carriage. Not even breathing, she has all the appearance of a pristine and lovely corpse when she begins to speak. "You are centuries older than me, Beloved. You taught me how to control the hunger. We drink from the human cattle, savoring it like fine wine, but we do not gorge ourselves. It is always good to be a little hungry, because it sharpens our focus and keeps us on edge. Alert. Powerful."
Her half-lidded eyes open wider and she gives Shin a sultry gaze. "My lord, it is such a beautiful night. I thought we would fly. Or would you prefer we run with the pack? I hear them baying even now." Valerie runs her hands along Shin's chest as she sensually leans close. "Or did you have another purpose for us to ride in this carriage?"
Her eager seduction is interrupted by a heavy thump from the outside causing the entire carriage to shudder and sway followed by another jolt as the rear wheels strike the same obstacle. Valerie strikes her head against the carriage's roof and comes down incensed. "I will punish that inept fool, Beloved!" Her furious expression dissipates into mist along with the rest of her, which then flows out the window!
What do you do?
Mae replies, “I’m mostly mad at myself, Ngon. I feel like I Broke the Code, asking for help. So then… should I even ask Chastity’s consent to go in her room? Or is that breaking the code too?
“Connie wants consent and I don’t want Chastity to panic—or what if she says no because Zepar can make her say no?” Maeve can feel a shortness of breath. She isn’t typically anxious in her human form. “Sorry… it’s hard to do Human. Supers were my intro to humanity, and I feel so peaceful with all of you at lunch. No talk of villains or plans or my Mother. It’s so peaceful.
“So… how can I get consent from Chastity to investigate her room without disrupting that peace for her?”
"No, 'Beloved', sometimes I think the centuries can make me forget the petty concerns and trials of the rabble. And - wait, Valerie!"
Shin panics when she turns to mist and leaves the carriage. "Leave him be-" He starts to say, before something smells off. The driver would never be this careless to hit a hard bump like that. Which meant it was something that caught him by surprise. Which meant...
Ambush? HOW DARE THEY?
Fury threatened to overtake him as he kicks the carriage door open, sniffing the air and trying to find the fools who thought they could attempt to slay him!
Ngon shakes his head. "I don't think there's a code. Hey, a lot of people would be super excited to get to be a part of the action. I'll bet even Raquel pretended to be Ultra-Star, or Whip, or even the Praetorian when she was little. But some people get excited about superheroes, and some don't want anything to do with them."
He sets down the smores. "Melty." Licking his fingers, he shrugs. "I don't know what else you can do. But is it kick down the door time? It's not like Chastity is throwing herself at some dude, right? Hell, you've got the magic people on your team. Why don't you have them summon Jafar? Ask him directly?"
===========
The reddish lights of the village are behind in the distance and the black shape of the castle looms high over the misty moors on either side of the road. Clouds hang in the sky obscuring the moon, but Shin's vampire vision pierces the gloom as he looks for threats.
His servants take up the lanterns hanging off the carriage in order to better inspect the wheels. They hop down to the ground with a grunt and tilt the lantern's light towards the axles. The horses hitched to the carriage whicker impatiently. Behind the carriage, twisted roots have broken up the road, no doubt the reason for the rough bump in the journey.
A pair of arrows streak out of the mist and slam into the side of the carriage, causing the horses to rear and one of the servants to drop his lantern! Three other individuals step out of a cloak of invisibility wielding weapons, including a dwarf with a heavy axe, a man with sword and shield, and a wizard holding a staff -- the obvious source of the invisibility spell!
"Sorry to trouble you this late evening, but we have need of that carriage, so that we may gain entrance into your master's castle. Submit, and you'll be treated fair," the swordsman says as he levels the point of his weapon at Shin's breast.
What do you do??
Mae considers Ngon’s advice. “So you really think this fallen angel would talk to us?” She takes out her phone and says, “It’s a better plan than raiding Chastity’s room, anyway.”
She steps aside in case Ngon wants to take off. “Thanks. I’ll see what Connie thinks of that before I say anything to Chas.”
After taking a bite of her own s’mores flower, she says, “I’ll think of a hot snack for Alien nite.”
☀️: Ngon had a good idea though. He said with the magic people on our team, we could summon Jafar—his word-choice, not mine—and ask him directly if he’s targeting Chastity. He thinks maybe it’s possible my vision isn’t literal?
☀️: Anyway, I doubt Chastity is going to take well the idea of investigating her room. Could we try this idea of asking the fallen angel, or do you think we know anyone who could see if Chas is affected by him? There’s Skyler’s aura reads, or Caio’s angel?
☀️: ^ic being
☀️: I’m at a loss. I think Chas is in real danger, but her friends think it best not to go to her room or say anything to Chas without being more certain than we are.
☀️: How closely related are Caio’s angel and Zepar? I want to see if I can create tech that can read the signal.
☀️: Also, on your abilities… can you get a read from outside Chas’ window? I mean just to confirm there’s anything there? We could do a fly-by while Chas’ mother drives her to school. (No consent; no entry.)
☀️: Sorry. That’s a bunch of thoughts at once. Just reply to what you are willing to try. There’s no sense in talking me out of the bad ideas since I simply won’t move forward with anything you won’t do. (Except I will probably attempt the tech since the worst thing that can happen is it doesn’t work.)
There are several seconds of “…” but Mae eventually stops.
After running out of things to say to Connie, Mae curls up under her loft bed and closes the curtain.
What is the point if they just spiral her more?
Femtite:Sorry. That’s a bunch of thoughts at once. Just reply to what you are willing to try. There’s no sense in talking me out of the bad ideas since I simply won’t move forward with anything you won’t do. (Except I will probably attempt the tech since the worst thing that can happen is it doesn’t work.)
Connie: I mean, full disclosure, Raquel as a mule would've been useful but I don't particularly care about getting a selection of Chastity's friends on board for something I can just ask her about
Connie: I also don't hold people's rooms So inviolate that I'm even all that fussed about taking a non-creepy poke around without Chastity being on board
Connie: (I would be Very Aware that that's a course of action, which would very reasonably harm my relationship with her, such as it is. That's just a potential cost I'd be willing to take on)
Connie: But umm... maybe just don't throw superhero stuff at your friends who aren't superheros
Connie: Calling Team Meetings is good for teams, but this is all WAY over their heads
Connie: It's just f!@+ing scary and there's nothing easy that they can do about it
Connie: (NB: any of them want mystical self defense classes, let me know)
Connie: But, not to be mean about it, I give substantially more f*!*s about the Chastity situation than the ancillary drama
Connie: If you're worried about a chat with Chastity going wrong I'm happy to talk to her
Connie: But just ignoring this because it might not be literal is the second worst idea next to SUMMONING AN INFERNAL DUKE OUT OF CURIOSITY
"...good. This isn't the coachman's fault. I won't have to flog him for incompetence. You on the other hand," He sneers, walking forward until the tip of the sword buries itself an inch in his flesh, "Have the fortune to become my sport. Valerie, we want these ones alive to question!" He says before reaching forward, grabbing the fighter by their sword arm and flinging them back into the carriage wall!
Mae replies to Connie,
☀️: I’ll call her.
☀️: Sticking to your plan; attempting consent.
It takes her some time… but she calls Chastity, without really knowing what to say. It’s a video call, and behind her is the fairy dust (back on the shelf), the Sally Ride poster, the printout of the smiling sun and various pink and yellow decorations including a photo of the Pink and Yellow Power Rangers.
If Chas picks up, the first thing she’ll say after “Hi” is “are you alone right now?”
Roma Downey: In an 1 to 10 apocalyptic scale, where 1 is just some old goetic witchcraft love spell and 10 is Zepar marching ahead of his twenty-some legions, where are we?
Connie: Hopefully close to 1, but if Femtite's vision placed appropriate metaphoric weight on things, more like a 6
Connie: Planning on recon anyways
Connie: Hopefully close to 1, but if Femtite's vision placed appropriate metaphoric weight on things, more like a 6
Caio: Yeah, because she NEVER EVER overreacts and jumps the gun
Caio: Before anything else, we should meet
Caio: Been studying these entities since I formally joined the Corps
Caio: Let me know when you two are free
---
Caio tries his best not to react to Scythe's behavior until he is sure how to best approach her. "I take this is something she does frequently?" He asks, meaning the thrashing and locking up.
"Indarius was looking into these pockets, so if it is getting worse I should join the rest of the team. I feel it will take a while to get her to open up. Baby steps, you know?"
Caio then turns to Scythe again, turning the channel on again. "I have to go now, but I'll be back, ok?" He says, turning to Imagerie and hoping she'll allow it.
"Hey!" Chastity answers. Maeve can hear chatter and background noise coming through. "Alone? No, kinda busy. Food kitchens get short staffed after the holidays, so it's even more important to help out. Hang on. I know! Soup's still heating up! And we're out of onions, so I had to use all the celery. Gotcha. Sorry about that. I don't have much time. What do you need?"
"Sadly, yes," Imagerie says grimly about Scythe's hostility. "I'm almost afraid she'll take any extension of trust as an opportunity to attack."
She invites Caio to leave the facility with her. "She remembered you, which gives me hope. You absolutely can try later."
Behind the glass, Scythe glares at Caio. Her gaze isn't exactly hostile, but he gets the impression that she doesn't have much experience with people where it hasn`t been hostile.
Following Imagerie, Caio is led back through various checkpoints to the facility's elevator. This time, it opens up on the roof, where a high-tech aerolift is waiting. "Hop on. This'll get us back to the city fastest. See if you can't get Indarius on the phone. Feya is putting all her efforts into containing these incursions. It's juicing her magic up like what happened with Mathers, but she can't do this all by herself. She's going to need others to help."
The light aerial vehicle takes off and makes a beeline to Halcyon City.
"Oh, s@~@! It's the vampire lord!" the dwarf screams as the swordsman is slammed hard into the carriage!
"I wasn't expecting to fight a vampire! I don't have the right spells for this!" the wizard shouts. "Get close! I'll get us out of there!"
Coughing, the armored man manages to stay on his feet as he holds up his shield. "Blessed Ninavae! I beseech thee!" As he speaks, the stylized sunburst on his shield glows as bright as the sun, causing Shin to stagger back from the holy light!
One of the servants rushes up to protect his master, and with a single swing of his axe the dwarf cuts him down!
Shin feels his dark power surge, and the accursed light dims significantly! He pushes back against the holy warrior who takes several steps back. "He's too strong! I can't-- we have to get out of here!"
"What about Kyana! We can't leave her!"
"If we stay, we all die!"
"Oh, Kee! Forgive me!" The wizard weaves a spell just as the holy light completely dissipates, and the dwarf, holy warrior and wizard all disappear before Shin can act!
As the road falls quiet again, Valerie steps out of the moors gripping an elven woman by the throat and holding a curved bow in her other hand. "We have one of them, my lord."
“Oh…! It’s Outreach Night. I forgot. Um… well, okay. I better get to the point then. I don’t want you to panic—it may be a false alarm, but Connie and I are doing an investigation and we believe we can find a trace of a supervillain from your building.
“I was hoping we could get your consent to enter through your room tonight. Connie does a magic reading and we leave.” And seeing that the Robertsons are not home, she adds, “I was thinking midnight, but if you’re okay with this we could do it now while your family isn’t there.
“We could finish sooner this way, and either way the goal is to do the job without your parents knowing you allowed anyone in.
“Sorry for the lack of detail, sweetie. Please trust me it’s extremely important and I’ll tell you when I safely can, okay? Do I have your consent?”
She hopes that asking nicely will get a yes faster than Mrs. Robertson can cut short the call.
"The last elven archer I encountered had her throat ripped out by a werewolf. It was exceedingly annoying getting dragged into that game as well," He states to her. "I don't want to kill you. This version of myself seems to want to drain you and turn you into one of my thralls, which is more than a little gross. So, if we can stop with the play-acting for now - Valerie, come back to your senses - I'd really like to know how I get in touch with Quincy."
"She probably was shown nothing but abuse and violence, so it is understandable that she knows nothing else." He says, sad, but hopeful. "It will be pretty hard to break her cycle... she is acting both like a wild animal, a child and even a machine at the same time."
Before leaving, Caio smiles at Scythe and waves a goodbye.
"I'm thinking about asking help from the Corps so I can set up a portal from our base to the outside of the facility. If I could visit her two to three times each week, I think it would be great... short visits before my classes." He asks. "Would that be allowed?"
Once outside, he tries to reach Percy through the comms.