May 11, 2016:
Taking the coloured Jade stones to Fenris, members of Primal Force discover they respond to May only.
Fenris' House - New York
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
Mood Music: None.
Fade In…
"So… that's kind of unexpected."
When Primal Force had returned with the 'five colored stones' the first thing Fenris had wanted to do was test them. This may have something to do with the odd buzzing Zee reported for the duration of the trip back. It didn't take long to figure out. "They're warping spacetime. But only when they're near you." Fenris is looking right at Melinda May and then at the handful of colored chunks of jade. "They're definitely reacting to you in some fashion though how and why I'm not quite sure."
Walker had an important appointment somewhere that would look a little weird for a giant coyote to show up to. Jes had continued on with Zee and May and disappeared further inside Fen's house for a few minutes. She returns, dressed in one of his shirts and wrapped in a throw blanket in time to hear her God telling May the stones are reacting to her.
For the first time since meeting to go aquire the jade rocks Jes seems fully aware and herself. "They're doing what?" She eyes the handful of stones curiously. Such little things to do something so dangerous. Jes blinks and then looks at May and then the stones and then May again. Now Jes just looks puzzled. Why would they react to May and not Zee. Or, Fenris. Herself, well, she's pretty low on the whole magic and power front right now so that's not a surprise.
Melinda May furrows her eyebrows at Fenris' words. She seems to consider for a moment, then walks as far from the stones she she can get. She takes off her pendulum and leaves it there, then approaches the stones again, watching the god wolf's reaction to see if anything is different.
"Warping spacetime." Zee says to Jes as she watches Fenris "But only when they are near Agent May." Just in case Jes needed to hear it again. "It could be why Nu Wa insisted May be the one to fix this."
After all the little Mushu's had called the SHIELD agent Daughter of Dragons.
As May approaches the stones, Zee lets her magical senses roam, not touching them directly, just sensing what changes may occur.
"Could be but I've never heard of 'bloodline' or anything of that nature being involved with that legend." Bloodline affects of lot of artifacts though and there's no telling quite what they're dealing with.
"Warping space-time, Jesana. They're doing it again, you might see it if you look carefully." There is, indeed a slight 'bending' of the world that even May can now percieve. Sort of her vision going all 'fish eyed'.
"Mmmmmm… that's interesting… You can't see it May but they're starting to build a mana charge. They're certainly reacting to you." Zee will sense that too. He holds out his hand, silently asking if she wants to take them.
Jes doesn't know who Nu Wa is. She's been slightly out of touch with the most recent events while dealing with her own situation. She doesn't seem quite so surprised though that the stones are reacting to May, just curious about the why. "I've always wondered.." Jesana murmurs aloud.
"Neat. I see it." She kinda nods at May taking of her pendulum to check if that is what they are reacting to. It makes sense but it doesn't seem to be it. It's definitely May. This also makes a kind of sense, at least to Jes apparently because she nods again.
Melinda May actually hesitates for a moment before reaching to accept the stones from Fenris. If this blows up in her face, she is SO blaming the Old Man for dragging her in to all of this weirdness in the first place.
"Doesn't have to be Bloodline, though, does that?" Zee considers as she watches the warping, eyes widening slightly as she feels the mana charging. "What was the legend again?" She looks at Fenris and then his bookshelves "Nu Wa smelted the stones to patch up the sky… what if the connection is more metaphorical?"
"I'm listening." Fenris says, watching May carefully as she takes the stones. He wants to make sure she doesn't just pop out of existance or something like that. Zee and Jes might be upset with him if nothing else. "The moment they're in May's hand they start to visibly glow and minor elemental manifsestations make assert themselves. Mild heat from the red jade for example, water sweating from the blue and so on."
"Mmmmmm…. Innnteresting."
Jes frowns at Fenris. This seems a little risky and while she regularly takes insane risks with her own person, May doing so doesn't sit well with her. She trusts Fenris like no other though and holds her tongue. "That's.. wow. Look at them go." She doesn't know what the bloodline talk is about either but those stones are so pretty and rather fascinating. They scent from them is interesting too. Water and heat and so on but also the type of power or magic scent she associates with each. Water magic and fire magic smell very different to her for instance.
"Do you know how many times I tried to figure out if you were more than human?" Jes grins at May. "A lot. So many. It's just.. and I don't mean this in a weird or offensive way, there's nothing wrong with beign human, partly or wholly and I know you work hard to be able to do what you do but I've seen you do things that.. even the most athletic and smart and just, I dunno, luckiest human in the planet shouldn't be able to do more than once. But for you its just like, a normal day. Only I've never seen anything or scented anything or found, anything!" Jes laughs. "Before this that told me otherwise. I'm not Fenris or Zee though and what I don't know about magic and gods and supernatural beings could fill all the seas I'm sure." She's learning but it takes time. Lots and lots of time.
Melinda May stares at the stones with a faint frown. Should she be, I don't know, feeling more from them? She looks about to ask Fenris something when her SHIELD issue phone pings. And, considering this whole mission was off the books, she can't exactly ignore it.
Hastily handing the stones back to Fenris — dumping them back in his hands, more like — she pulls her phone to answer it and retrieves her pendulum as she heads out of the room to deal with the phone call.
"What if…. " Zee twists her lips in a wry look and looks as the stones start to respond in Mays hand "The way Agent May lives, her principles, her values … match Nu Wa's so closely, that … I don't know, she's an appropriate successor?"
Nodding to the stones in Mays hands "Each of the five stones were supposed to symbolize the essence of the five phases the legend called them - wood, earth, fire, metal and water. That they display those exact qualities when May is near …"
She shakes her head "But, that's probably something to work out later, right now, we should be working out how May can use them. Right?"
"Certainly Nu Wa singled her out to be chosen for this." Fenris places the stones in a hinged wooden box with nordic runes of protection carved on it and hands it to Zee. "We'll sort that out when the time comes. Or you will. Now, what have I missed with you both? It's been a bit."
Jes can't help but look faintly amused as May dumps the stones on Fenris. She understands preferfing to deal with something simple like a phone call rather than experiment with the fact that you've suddenly got a handful of powerful magical artifacts that only seem to respond to you. She kind of shrugs at Zee. As long as what they are doing has some chance at stopping the people trying to wake the Serpent, or keeping him asleep, she's down for it.
When Fenris next asks how they are, Jes looks a little sheepish. She still owes Zee a story. Their plans for a meal and explanation as to why Jes is currently, for the most part, powerless had been put on hold. Well, it could be worse. Crotchet could be here chiming in. Jes scrunches her face up at the thought. Yep, it could definitely be worse. Much as she loves the little guy, his explanations and commentary of things is.. far more colorful even than hers.
Zee grimaces as May leaves, she doesn't really blame the woman. The Dubai trip and now this. Taking the box from Fenris, she gives him a wry smile and a nod. "You know I will. With the help of the others." and by bugging him when she needs to.
"Not a lot really, Fenris. I got my powers back as you know." She hasn't really spoken about how, or the price that was demanded "and it seems I've found at least one new ability, I guess you could call it … it manifested when I was fighting a demon the other night."
Fenris looks at Jes carefully and snorts a bit. He knows when she's not telling him things. he doesn't press though. She'll tell him when she's ready to, or at least he hopes she will. Zee's report gets a curious look though as he goes to put some tea on. "New ability mmm? And what new ability would that be?"
Jes's eyes zero in on Zee too after another sheepish glances at Fen's back. Shit. She can never fool him, can she? Well, at least his borrowed shirt and blanket are covering her ass and the new tattoo there. That's not gonna be awkward to explain at alllll. "What new abili-" Jes cuts off as she realizes Fen is asking the same thing.
She's sensed and scented some of the differences in her friend and has been worried but not asked before. A new ability discovered while fighting demons? Jes isn't sure this is going to quiet her worries but Zee does seem well enough. Actually, she seems a helluva lot better than Jes herself is at the moment. Someone who just went through an entire mission unable to talk should reallllly not be looking askance at her friends and their abilities. Blushing, Jes settles down to listen and sort out the words for her own explanation.
Zee knows Jes has something to hide, that much had been clear the other day and with Jes travelling in Coyote form… well, Zee's seen that before.
Apart from missing a small part of soul and being touched by the dark magic she wielded, there's not really much wrong with the young mage - she's just had to grow up a little bit.
"I got knocked flying when it used a spray of demonic magic on me." She begins to explain "I really didn't want to land hard and just sort of blurted out a spell. It seems, I can at least levitate, if not more."
"Levitation is a pretty… mmmm, commonly pursued ability." Fenris looks up from his meal preparations. "I'm surprised you did it by accident though. Did your father never show you those techniques? Or did he not know them?" The God-Wolf finds that unlikely but hey, things happen.
Jesana gets a careful look and drums his fingers on the table. "Notice anything different about Jes, Zee?"
"Ooh." Jes smiles and looks relieved. "Levitating. Hey, that's pretty cool Zee." Handy, really and not even a little alarming. Alright. But now it's kinda her turn and she's getting *that* look from Fenris… Jes sighs and settles, drawing her knees up to her chest. Anything different about her? Haha. yes. Yes there is. How to explain..? She isn't sure of all the details or consequences yet herself so this will be a bit challenging.
"So uh. You guys remember that Tree in Delaware where we first met Walker? We kind of went back there to, do a thing. I'm not sure what. Still haven't asked. Long story that I dont understand all the particulars of short, we made the remnants there very angry and they attacked. They couldnt touch me physically so they started tearing at the wounds in my soul."
Jes doesn't look at Zee when she says that part. She's never told anyone but Fenris and just a bit of it, to Ollie and Walker, how she got those wounds. Its not something she talks or thinks about unless there isnt a choice.
"So that hurt like hell and its had some side effects. Me and Coyote are a little more seperate than usual and I keep having trouble keeping us together like normal. Sometimes, like earlier on th emission, she's more aware than I am. Sometimes it's me. The real fun is that it happens in both bodies. Do you have any idea how hard it is to move around like a coyote when you're human minded? Or vise versa? It's.. been interesting."
She's rambling, a bit but Jes does that when she's trying to avoid getting to the point or talking about something difficult but there really is only so much to that part of the story and with another sigh she continues. "I think we were going to win but Walker.. was fighting a personal battle at the same time. Something very bad was trying to take him over and control him and it was winning. He was going to die. I couldn't let that happen. I wasn't willing to lose someone else I love. Not then. So I guess.. I sorta panicked. I reacted without thinking and reached out and seized a part of his soul and claimed it. So the monster trying to take him over would never be able to do it completely. When I did this, I pissed off some oldass Egyptian god that considers Walker his. The god kinda.. ate me. It drained me of almost everything I had and probably the only reason I'm still alive is cause I worship Fenris and even old asshole egyptian gods don't want to piss you off. It also tried to take that piece of Walker's soul back from me and I was too tired to fight it and starting to realize what I did to Walker, I mean damn. You don't steal your friends souls. Not when they are still alive anyway. So instead of trying to take it back, I just, made it an even exchange. I have part of his soul and he has part of mine." Jes finally stops explaining and curls up in a little ball. It looks like she's wishing she could just blend into the fabric of the sofa and disappear.
Whatever Zee had been going to say to Fenris was forestalled by Jes's explanation. It certainly gets even Zee rubbing her temples. Soul magic is not a forte of hers but she knows, it's powerful stuff and … just wow.
"I see. So what happens now?"
Fenris just sighs. He has a fairly good idea what she's done and there's just no fixing it. With luck it'll work itself out on it's own. If not there's some measures to resort to but they're fairly extreme and he doesn't want to do them.
"You do know taking people's souls is considered in most quarters incredibly corruptive for a reason, right?"
Jes colors slightly. "Yes. I.. I know. That's why I gave him some of mine. But I mean, he was being eaten alive and it was the only thing I could think to do. Set can go-" Jes suddenly shuts up and looks around. What if it's listening to her? She doesn't want to get eaten again and oh man had that guy been pissed off.
"I'll just.. find a way to ki- uh. Keep us both safe. Somehow." She's not looking for ways to slay an ancient eyptian god. Not at all. "In the meantime we're sticking close to each other while we figure out the effects of what I've done and I recover. And I've decided its time to really focus on learning what I can do with earth magic and uhm.. I may have kinda.. apprenticed to Walker. I'm not a necromancer and I don't want to be but we're both able to do some of the same things and I want to learn more about that. He knows alot of, well everything really too. You know I've never been to school or anything so it'll work out well." She doesn't say what Walker gains from the arrangement.
"So you'll corrupt him as well…" Zee sighs and looks at Fenris. She's simply not touching this one. Whatever Jes and Walker have worked out, it will be up to them to manage.
She just hopes it won't come down to having to … well anything that she might have to do.
"It's good that you're getting some tutoring. Maybe Walker will be able to help with that temper." There's only been a few times that Zee has been angry enough to actually loose it that badly.
Fenris gives Zee the 'calm down' motion. "Soul magic isn't automatically bad." He says, and Zee knows that well enough. "It's just difficult to do in a way that doesn't alter and damage who people are. Jesana, be careful. I'm not going to tell you not to walk this path but you know what they say about the road to hell being paved with good intentions? They were being quite literal when they applied that to soul magic. Most mortals can't handle it. And the damage it does isn't… reversible, most of the time."
Jes's eyes suddenly widen and she jumps and shivers before glancing around the room as if looking for someone and then deciding to brush whatever she heard off as her overactive imagination. She turns back to Zee and expclaims "Hey! I'm not evil. Jeeze. I mean I know I lose my temper sometimes." Okay maybe a lot of the time.. "And I don't always think before I do something…" Like, ever. "But I wasn't trying to take his soul cause I wanted to eat it or wanted power or, whatever. I just wanted to keep him alive. And I'm only going to take Ollie's if he dies and I can't save him. And then only if he's on his way to hell." Probably anyway. "Because he doesn't deserve that. I am seriously trying not to give in to the dark side. I've been working really hard at it. I've even gotten a better handle on my temper, or at least, I had before this happened. I'm kinda.. not doing so well in the self control department at the moment but I've taken precautions there too. Fenris knows how to drop me in my tracks." He isn't the only one but Jes won't be admitting that.
"I know, Fenris." Jes continues more calmly. "I talked a bit with my Father about this. It was..surprising actually. I thought he'd be pissed too but he wasn't. I honestly don't know where I'm going from here but first, I'm going to learn everything I can. It's time to stop avoiding the things that make me uncomfortable or I don't want to know about because it's easier not to. So I'm going to get serious about learning from you, and Zee when I can, and of course Walker." She thinks for a moment. "I'm not sorry for what I did, I'd probably do it again, because I saved him. He would have been consumed. That doesn't mean it was the right thing to do though and I know it."
Zee shakes her head at Jes. "I didn't say you were evil." And Jes' outburst just underscores her point. "I'm getting a drink, Fenris." The mention of Oliver and his soul, causes her to take a deep breath as she leaves the room.
Fenris nods. "Very well Jesana. Lesson one. Most things die and most of the time it's better to let them." Which is not Fenris saying that she shouldn't have saved Walker or done what she did to Oliver, but it is him saying that it's a pattern he has found destructive in the past and one he will act against if it becomes disruptive. "No matter how much it hurts personally."
Then again Jesana hasn't learned that bit about being an immortal yet. Heck she's not really learned that bit about being a human being.
"Get me one too, Zee?"
Jesana doesn't disagree with Fenris and she probably would have before so it seems she is learning at least a little. She watches Zee go with a slightly puzzled look before answering. "I know that. I mean it might not seem like it after this, but I do. I even thought it then. I could have done nothing, or, almost anything else but if I gain my immortality like I mean to, even if I don't, I'm still likely to live a long time. I'm going to lose more people that matter to me, I'm going to have to accept it. I know that. But when I can save them, I'm also going to do that. Because to not do so, just isn't in me. This was one of those times I could make a difference and Walker is.. a kind of immortal. As long as he doesn't get consumed. So having him around to learn from and care about, it helps me keep the human parts of me strong. Despite it being a a reaction or overreaction, I had a lot of reasons for doing it."
"And he's a really good guy and deserves more of a chance and I really hate, you know, assholes. I fought that thing on princible too." Jes admits. Timat had made her angry and she'd lost her temper and there'd been serious consequences to that, but she's also learned alot from it.
There's a clinking of glasses in the kitchen and the sound of the freezer opening and closing, followed by the sound of ice hitting the glasses and then something being poured.
Before too long, Zee returns and hands a tumbler to Fenris. The liquid is clear and on ice, it's probably Vodka …
Settling in a chair, blue eyes darker than they should be, the young mage doesn't say anything for the moment.
Fenris shakes his head. He'll talk to her about it later. There's a key point there that she's not getting but there's no reason to press it right now.
"Right, so. Tell me what's been going on with my brother. You've been trying to prevent him from waking, I've ben busy. How is it going?"
For a moment, Jes looks bemused. Thinking of the great Serpent as Fenris's brother takes a bit of getting used to, even for her and her family had been nothing but strange. "I don't know honestly. It keeps gettign weirder. We met this Water Lady, she was really pretty and had a nice voice." Her composing ability had horrible but.. "That was really cool actually. There was another one of those structures by her pool. Zee and I stopped the weird.. noise it was making again. Well, mostly Zee stopped it."
Jes admits before continuing. "It was different from the others though, this seemed to be made out of stuff that could be found nearby and Zee said the symbols and stuff on it were local things too. When I touched it, I went somewhere else. Saw all these spirits. Hot, half naked guys doing what I think was some kind of war dance. It was interestings but I'm glad I came back before they finished. They did not seem to be happy. I don't know why this one was different, maybe they just used it cause it was there and they don't mind stealing repurposing people's sacred temples or whatever. But it did seem like the difference might be important."
Zee resists the urge to roll her eyes. Then again she didn't see the Haka that Jes did, she might feel differently if that was the case.
"The structures are non-euclidean geometry, split between this plain and others. One was a pyramid and the last one we found, in New Zealand, was made from natural materials and inscribed with local symbols of power."
"All of them though, have the feeling of the darkforce running through them." Zee shudders a little and sips the vodka before continuing. "We've others to visit and disrupt… but there's a lot of them." her blue eyes look over to her mentor "As to who built them? I really don't know and that's something I'm working on, as fast as I can."
It's Jes's turn to resist, though in her case it's not eye rolling but blurting out "what! They were!" All of those guys had been exceptionally fit, lean and strong and the dance it's self, very eyecatching. Also somewhat alarming since they'd seemed focused on her and while she isn't familiar with that culture or those spirits, a War Dance is hard to misintrepert. You don't often see that many well built males in one place at a time these days.
"I uh don't know about the first part she just said but yeah it sounds right." Jes is only vageuly aware that geometry has something to do with math. Beyond that she's clueless. "I scented the darkforce too. I didn't recognize it at the first one but it was there, and at this and the other that I've seen. It isn't the only power being used though. Someone is combining several things to do this as best as I can tell. And even if they are using other people's things, it's still a whole lot of work. It must have taken time, right? How come no one saw or caught them at it?"
"That structure in New Zealand looked like it had been there a long time. So too that one we found with Walker that turned out to be a pyramid." Zee points out to Jes "Hijacking existing structures, sort of makes sense. Let someone else do the heavy lifting for you."
"We still need to find out who is behind this though, otherwise we're just going to be spinning our wheels."
"Sometimes knowing the why can help you figure out the who but I can't really figure out the reasoning here. Even using other people's structures there are, like you said, a lot of them. It's not like this was a spur of the moment kinda plan. I'll admit that I would go to great lengths for say, revenge, or to protect someone I care about. I have. But this is different isn't it? Like, I might wait centuries to get to someone but that's still a lot of time and I'd be thinking and considering that whole time and working out a way that didn't affect other people to get what I want. This thing they are trying to do could end at least two worlds. I can see that kind of response in a "spur of the moment" fit of rage kinda scenario but as a long term plan? I just don't get what is or could be worth that kind of risk. Unless they have no understanding of what they are doing, but someone or someones able to combine all these magics, they aren't idiots, right? I guess this isn't any help really." Jes rubs the bridge of her nose. Maybe there is something else, something they've overlooked or not noticed that could help. What if she goes over it all again piece by piece?
Zee finishes her vodka and looks to Fenris with a faint smile as she straightens from her chair. "We're just working on small part of the puzzle, Jes. Fenris has been quite clear. He'll take care of his side of things…"
"We're to stop whoever is using these structures. Which means … Fenris believes there are more players than just what we're dealing with." Which makes sense, Zee doesn't know what Fenris does about just how long this plan has been unfolding. "For now, I'll be focussing on who is channelling Darkforce through these structures and see where that leads us."
"At any rate, I should be going." taking the box with the jade stones within, the Mistress of Magic, gives Fenris a hug. "I'll keep you informed of how things are going. If you need me… just … call." With a look to Jes "Later Jes. Don't get into too much trouble, Primal Force needs as many as it can get on the ground."
Jes grins at Zee. Trouble is her thing but she is trying to be more careful. She opens her mouth to say something but suddenly shifts to coyote. From the startled expression, after she wriggles her head up out of the shirt, it wasn't planned. A sigh of frustration and she shifts back. "I'll.." Again she's coyote. 'I'll try. You be careful too Zee.' Jes sends through the pendulum. How long is this gonna last this time? At least she's safe here with Fenris. Looking miffed at her lack of control, Jes curls up on the couch. Now seems to be a good time for a nap.