{"submission_id":"975843","keywords":[{"keyword_id":"743","keyword_name":"adventure","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"2920"},{"keyword_id":"60","keyword_name":"cat","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"110726"},{"keyword_id":"3283","keyword_name":"cheshire","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"329"},{"keyword_id":"44319","keyword_name":"contemporary","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"101"},{"keyword_id":"1447","keyword_name":"elf","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"1704"},{"keyword_id":"1979","keyword_name":"fae","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"307"},{"keyword_id":"2602","keyword_name":"fairy","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"2015"},{"keyword_id":"2193","keyword_name":"fantasy","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"11602"},{"keyword_id":"123","keyword_name":"female","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"519941"},{"keyword_id":"112296","keyword_name":"garuda","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"51"},{"keyword_id":"1536","keyword_name":"god","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"1853"},{"keyword_id":"1440","keyword_name":"human","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"46908"},{"keyword_id":"41844","keyword_name":"loa","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"12"},{"keyword_id":"191","keyword_name":"magic","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"11600"},{"keyword_id":"165","keyword_name":"male","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"639950"},{"keyword_id":"3313","keyword_name":"monkey","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"4908"},{"keyword_id":"10129","keyword_name":"supernatural","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"375"},{"keyword_id":"1146","keyword_name":"vampire","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"3972"}],"hidden":"f","scraps":"f","favorite":"f","favorites_count":"0","create_datetime":"2015-11-26 00:01:24.966339+01","create_datetime_usertime":"26 Nov 2015 00:01 CET","last_file_update_datetime":"2015-11-25 23:54:23.147839+01","last_file_update_datetime_usertime":"25 Nov 2015 23:54 CET","username":"Simoni","user_id":"279733","user_icon_file_name":"75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","user_icon_url_large":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/75/75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","user_icon_url_medium":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/75/75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","user_icon_url_small":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/75/75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","file_name":"1338110_Simoni_part_2.8_new_adventures_in_new_orleans.doc","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/1338/1338110_Simoni_part_2.8_new_adventures_in_new_orleans.doc","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/1338/1338110_Simoni_part_2.8_new_adventures_in_new_orleans.doc","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/1338/1338110_Simoni_part_2.8_new_adventures_in_new_orleans.doc","files":[{"file_id":"1338110","file_name":"1338110_Simoni_part_2.8_new_adventures_in_new_orleans.doc","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/1338/1338110_Simoni_part_2.8_new_adventures_in_new_orleans.doc","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/1338/1338110_Simoni_part_2.8_new_adventures_in_new_orleans.doc","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/1338/1338110_Simoni_part_2.8_new_adventures_in_new_orleans.doc","mimetype":"application/msword","submission_id":"975843","user_id":"279733","submission_file_order":"0","full_size_x":null,"full_size_y":null,"screen_size_x":null,"screen_size_y":null,"preview_size_x":null,"preview_size_y":null,"initial_file_md5":"8c16f60e1ff8abb7308f8f9935171232","full_file_md5":"8c16f60e1ff8abb7308f8f9935171232","large_file_md5":"","small_file_md5":"","thumbnail_md5":"","deleted":"f","create_datetime":"2015-11-25 23:54:23.147839+01","create_datetime_usertime":"25 Nov 2015 23:54 CET"}],"pools":[],"description":"I'm not dead! No, really. Jeez its been a while, but in my defense college and work in the real boring world will do that!\n\nSo yeah, following the events of their encounter with the manticore and Nelen's realization that it knows their tricks, he reasons that whoever holds it's leash has also done their homework and probably has a counter for anything they can throw at it.\n\nSammi's solution? Have Aisha finish her training in vodou and learn one of the most unpredictable schools of magic in the world! Even if it knows of vodou the magic is so random and so specialized it won't be able to defend against it... well, from knowledge alone. Its still a manticore.\n\nWill this work or will vodou dolls, gris gris, and such be so much magic charms against a creature that's basically destruction incarnate? Only time will tell.","description_bbcode_parsed":"I'm not dead! No, really. Jeez its been a while, but in my defense college and work in the real boring world will do that!
So yeah, following the events of their encounter with the manticore and Nelen's realization that it knows their tricks, he reasons that whoever holds it's leash has also done their homework and probably has a counter for anything they can throw at it.
Sammi's solution? Have Aisha finish her training in vodou and learn one of the most unpredictable schools of magic in the world! Even if it knows of vodou the magic is so random and so specialized it won't be able to defend against it... well, from knowledge alone. Its still a manticore.
Will this work or will vodou dolls, gris gris, and such be so much magic charms against a creature that's basically destruction incarnate? Only time will tell.","writing":"Its early evening in Jaipur, just about past time when the sun goes down enough for nocturnal things to start coming out. Nelen is in the harem quarters as usual, pouring over information on both his iPad, a computer he managed to swipe from one of the local stores, and a laptop that he bartered off someone, and is currently researching everything from obscure occult websites to Wikipedia to see if there's anything that could possibly be able to control a manticore. Dawn is laying atop one of the bookcases nearby, yawning sleepily. Research was never her thing unless it involved spying on someone, she'd leave the bookwork to Nelen.\n\nSimoni was sitting cross-legged on the floor watching TV, the local newscast going on about what had happened to the police and warning everyone to make sure to only go into the jungle in groups incase they encountered the 'rogue tiger'. \"Yeah...\" she snorted, \"All that'll do is make 'em more likely to get attacked. More food for that thing.\" she frowns as Nelen glances up at her, then back down to his work. She'd been getting a lot more snarky and sarcastic lately, but after the mess with Morrigan and now this, well... that was only to be expected. That and she was nearing thirteen now. Nelen wasn't sure how he felt about that.\n\nSimoni sighs, then glances back at her older brother, \"Anything?\" she asks, the bearded warlock only shaking his head in reply. Dawn flops around on top of the bookcase, \"Of COURSE there isn't anything. Who ever heard of someone actually bossing around one of those man-eating freaks?\" she mrowls, \"Forget about who's bossing it, worry about getting rid of it before it gets ballsy enough to try to raid a town. Seriously, of all people I sure as hell shouldn't have to be the voice of reason there.\" she smirks.\n\nArja folds her arms and nods, \"I have to agree with the cat.\" she replies, having been pacing the floor trying to think as well. \"This is a problem, obviously, but the pressing issue is that the jungles currently have a manticore in them, and we can't exactly say 'hey, mythical monster warning, don't go in there'. The news means well but 'rogue tigers' get hunted, people think they can handle that kind of danger. We need to settle this before we have more bodies on our hands...well aside from the ones Lara works on at least.\" she sighs, shaking her head, \"Of course, that's just a whole different problem... killing a manticore isn't exactly a thing that gets done often.\"\n\nNelen nods, \"Yeah. Merihim can trump his poisons, but he can't do anything about him tearing my head off. He knows Dawn's trick so it's a safe bet whoever is holding his leash told him about the rest of us too...\" he frowns, \"So this guy probably knows counters for most of our abilities... if only we, I dunno, had something else to throw at him!\" he sighs, flopping back against the couch as Simoni looks up at Arja, \"Do you think your friends might have any ideas? That dwarf girl and the snake boy?\" she asks. \n\nArja thinks on that, \"Could be, dunno for sure. Manticores are kinda rare in this part, they're mainly Persian and in that region. That alone makes me wonder how it got here...” she replies, pausing as there's a sudden ruckus from the closet in the room, two voices suddenly piping up inside it. One of them yells something about the other having screwed up the directions before the door pops open and both Sammi and Stephy fall out of the very cramped storage closet where the group keeps their board games, the contents of both Small World and Cards Against Humanity raining down on them. Stephy sits up and dusts himself off, rolling his eyes, \"Mr. ‘No, really, I know my way out of the hedge easy' overshot Trixie's room...\" he huffs.\n\nSammi huffs angrily. \"Well excuse me, maybe if I didn't have a little brother constantly getting distracted at everything cute we passed. That section of the hedge has a lot of cute animals, it's how we lure mortals into the domain, we're supposed to be smart enough to not fall for our own tricks\" he huffs again, looking around. \"What's with the frowny faces, Lara let another experiment lose?\"\n\nStephy smacks Sammi's arm as Simoni looks at the pair, \"We're trying to come up with something that we can use against that manticore.\" she replies as Stephy winces, \"Yeah... I asked Alyzya if she might've had any memories about who she was stuck in Franklin's sword with, but apparently it was just one big black void from her point of view.\" he shrugs. Simoni lets out a sigh of disappointment as Dawn winces at the description of the blade's interior. The remains of it may be sitting on the mantle now, totally powerless, but it had affected their lives nonetheless.\n\n\"So...\" begins Nelen, \"Any suggestions guys? The only possible weakness I can find for these things is showing them their own reflection... which I'm not willing to risk unless we have some backup plan. That could work, or it could be something out of an old D&D monster manual.\" he sighs.\n\nSammi nods \"Yea I read some story about one being so vain that it got lost in its own reflection, and the hero was able to cut its neck while it was staring, but that's a PRETTY risky try to go in as our only plan. Even for someone who's a fairy tale that's a bit out there.\" He rubs his chin at that \"I assume the normals don't work, silver, iron, blessed wood, the classics?\"\n\nArja sighs, nodding \"Silver and holy wood don't do anything from what I've heard, iron is just, ya know, a normal weapon for everyone not from Arcadia. I wonder if it's immune to its own poison. Maybe we could trick it into stinging itself...\"\n\nSimoni shakes her head, \"I doubt it, and even if it wasn't that stinger is like a machine gun. We need to worry about that too...\" she frowns as Nelen looks up at the ceiling thoughtfully...\n\n\"The main problem I'm seeing is that, again, someone blabbed to it about what we're capable of. If it knows what we can do it'll be able to defend against it, or at least prepare for it. Those things are deadly enough when they're going in blind. If it wasn't for it's boss calling it off it may well have killed us.\" he nods, \"We need something new... something it won't see coming...\" he says firmly.\n\nSammi frowns at that. \"That's kinda our issue. We have a lot of power but it's all very old school. Fae magics, divine flame, even Lara's mad science is less 'I made a hoverboard' and more classical 'it's aliiiiiiive muahahaha' stuff. They're powerful weapons, but against other ancient foes they know our tricks...\" he thinks for a minute before grinning wickedly, \"Be right back!\" he whoops, bolting up the stairs.\n\nThey watch him go for a moment, then Dawn glances at the others, \"So... anyone want to run like hell after hearing that?\" she asks as Nelen, Simoni, and even Stephy nod in agreement after thinking about it for a minute. Sammi was fae after all, and even Stephy (another fae) would admit their sense of humor could be downright scary at times. Anything that could make Sammi grin like that is something that most would prefer to watch only from behind bulletproof glass, preferably still on a television being broadcast from another time zone.\n\nThere's a bit of a commotion upstairs, and a very angry conversation in two different French dialects before Sammi returns, Aisha in tow. The model turned knight wearing a white tank top and jeans, her sword bouncing on her hip, obviously having been interrupted during some practice. \"Tell them what you were dreaming about the other night.\" Sammi beams, making Aisha roll her eyes, rubbing her forehead. \"I was dreaming about home.\"\n\n\"And where's home?\" Sammi continues, looking like a kid who's telling what they think is the best joke ever as he grins. Aisha seems less amused, sighing angrily, \"New Orleans...\"\n\n\"And what does your family over there do?\" he continues, making Aisha roll her eyes. \"SOME parts of my family run a hounfour. It's a temple for Vodou practitioners from Haiti.\"\n\nSammi grins even wide, flourishing with his arms \"Tah dah! NEW magic! It doesn't get much newer than that unless you wanna get into the technomancers... and frankly those guys creep me out... Not only is it new, Vodou is a patchwork magic, different traditions and rites and practices depending where you're from and who taught you. Even if this thing knows about it, he wouldn't ever see an attack with it coming! You may all praise how smart I am now.\"\n\nNelen raises his eyebrow at him, then shrugs, \"Okay that actually is a good idea.\" he admits as Dawn begrudgingly shrugs. Simoni looks at Aisha curiously, \"So... um... do you know any specific tricks that might work on something like a Manticore?\" she asks. She knew Aisha was a descendant of one of Arthur's knights and had seen her do some pretty impressive tricks with the right sword, like Calaihm Solias which was currently resting on her hip, but she'd never seen her do any sort of literal voodoo before.\n\nAisha narrows her eyes at Sammi. \"No, I don't know tricks. I, in fact, moved to New York when I was sixteen pointedly to NOT learn any tricks, and currently I'm on a path that kinda has like, one major rule about not mixing magic with knighthood.\" \n\nArja looks around a bit before speaking up at that, \"To be fair they also said women can't be knights. So, already kinda breaking the rules.\" she says with a little smile, making Aisha frown, \"That's not wrong…\" is all she says, Sammi nodding eagerly at her, \"Look we kinda need something big in our pocket for this, this thing knows all about us, but he doesn't know about you or your family. Is there any way you can... pick up a couple tricks?\"\n\nAisha winces at that. \"This isn't 'tricks'! I'm not gonna reach behind its ear and pull out a shotgun or something! I'd have to be channeling a loa to stand up to it at all, and to do that I'd have to... ugh...\" she sighs again, \"… I'd have to go home and finish training with my mother and sisters.\"\n\nSimoni winces, \"That'd give us two problems then... For one, we can't leave Jaipur with that thing hanging around here. I mean, if it shows up and starts causing havoc it's at least a sixteen hour plane ride back here from New Orleans, and... well, how long does that training take?\" she asks Aisha, sounding worried.\n\nAs useful as her being trained in vodou would be, time is very much an issue here and they can't afford to be gone for long...\n\nAisha shakes her head, \"It wouldn't take too long. I was... more or less at the end. There's just a few rites I have to finish, and then I have to petition the loa for access to them. But yes you're right, it's too long of a flight, we can't just abandon India with a monster on the loose.\"\n\nSammi perks up at that, \"I really hate to keep spoiling things…\" he giggles with a wicked smile, \"Buuuut... we do have, ya know, the hedge, and Lara has access to portal creation... I mean, just a hunch bit I assume a zombie probably has New Orleans on her bookmarks or however that stuff works... And from what I've read Manticores are powerful and vain, but also very slothful. Grim as it sounds, this thing DID just feed, even with a master tugging its leash, it probably wants to sleep, and those things sleep for a good bit. This is probably our one chance to have some down time from it so far.\"\n\nSimoni shakes her head, \"The hedge is dangerous though. I mean even with you guys and us travelling under your Grandmother's protection if we run into one of the higher fae then fighting back won't even be an option...\" she nods, \"And Lara was complaining that she'd used up most of her reagents to make portals just getting that army to Castle Fullmoon...\" she adds, \"I guess some of them were pretty rare.\"\n\nNelen frowns, scratching at his beard, when he catches Dawn looking at him. He glances towards the group, then her, then shakes his head. Dawn frowns and gives him a more intense look, as he glares back, then sighs, then speaks up, \"I... might know a way to get there and back quickly that doesn't involve going into Arcadia or expensive potion bits...\" he grudgingly admits.\n\nAisha sighs a bit, but nods, \"Well, what is it. I guess none of you have some secret, what was it, technomancer, cousins or something to bust out. If we have to do this we might as well get it done while that thing's out. How much time do we have?\" Sammi shrugs lightly \"Well fucked if I know, the stories range from a few days to weeks to full on hibernation. Point is we have at the very least a few days before its master can get it to stop lazing about, and if you only have a few rituals left we should be able to knock that out.\"\n\nNelen gets up and pulls out his bag, tucking the laptop and iPad into it. \"Its... complicated.\" he sighs, \"Look, last time I went here there was a bit of an 'incident'...\" he says, \"I can get us to New Orleans if we go there though... but we can't take the whole crew with us. He'll get really annoyed if I come in there with upwards of a dozen supernatural kids in tow. So...\" he glances up at Dawn, \"She's coming of course, and... well, Arja and Simoni... doubt I'd be able to keep Arja away once she figures out where we're going.\" he sighs, \"Aisha... and...\" he thinks, \"Stephy and Sammi, you two can travel through the Hedge a lot easier so you should be fine going that way... so...\" he thinks, \"Someone go see if Natasha is up yet. New Orleans is a real big vampire city so we might need her to tag along… and Drusilla.\" he nods, not really wanting her to risk herself, but she was getting closer to giving birth now and he didn’t want to leave her at this point… that and she’d snap him over her leg if he did.\n\nArja raises a brow at Nelen's words, but nods, \"I'll grab her.” she says, going up to fetch the vampire as Aisha sighs, \"Oh goodie, a trip home.\"\n\n\"Oh, wait,\" Sammi sneers, \"Do you have family issues? Oh my gosh! I'm sorry, that's something none of us have been dealing with or anything for the sake of a greater good.\"\n\nRight after 'greater good' he gets a sudden smack upside the head from a wind burst as Simoni rolls her eyes at him, \"Knock it off Sammi. She said she'd do it.\" she huffs, going up to her room to pack some spare clothes and other essentials. Dawn just hops down from the bookcase, \"I'd better go make sure mom has the kittens rounded up so we don't have Dusk sneaking along on this one.\" she smirks, padding off upstairs as well as Nelen flops onto the sofa.\n\nAisha nods, crossing her arms, \"Shouldn't need to pack anything. I'm sure she kept my room untouched expecting me to come crawling back,\" she huffs, tapping her foot, \"I'm not proving her right\" she says, mainly to herself, \"Just because I'm acknowledging that the family gifts aren't totally useless doesn't mean I was wrong to leave.\" she seems to be angrily chewing the inside of her cheek when Arja returns, a yawning Natahsa in tow. It was just barely sunset, the Vampire version of getting woken up at the crack of dawn. \"Ngh we're going to Orleans.\" she grumbles, yawning again, \"I thought we just were in France...\"\n\nSimoni actually giggles at that, \"New Orleans Natasha. They made another one.\" she explains, \"This one is in America.\" as Nelen watches the rest of the group file in. \"Alright, now... I'm taking a risk with this one. The guy running this place doesn't mind if I bring in one person or two, but a group tends to worry people...\" he explains as they head out, Drusilla falling in behind them. The pregnant cyclops is wearing the sari that Simoni and Arja got her, about the only thing that'll fit over her belly now, as the group heads out into the darkening city. \"Lets see... need to head down a bit and find a good alleyway...\"\n\nSammi nods, \"Meet you there, try to land around Bourbon Street, it's packed with tourists, they won't notice some folks magically popping in.\" he grins, motioning Stephy to follow him, \"This time don't try to pet every bunny we pass!\" he says as they vanish into a portal. Natasha still seems sleepy, but does perk up a bit, \"Oooh! I've read about that, there are lots of vampires there!\" she says with a smile, obviously eager to see others like her.\n\nNelen nods to her, \"Yeah, lots of others too, but the vampire population tends to be the biggest from what I understand.\" he says, turning down an alleyway as Dawn (already on his shoulders in her animal form) sniffs around, \"I don't smell anyone, coast is clear.\" she grins to him as Nelen nods, then feels over the wall nearest him. \"Yeah, this should work.\" he agrees, then knocks three times on it and says something in ancient Lemurian, roughly translated as 'Open up, you bastards'.\n\nThere's an odd shimmering as if the wall were suddenly liquid and a large silver door appears, which he opens up and leads the group into... well... it looks like a mini-Nightside. They're inside a huge bar and all of the patrons are clearly supernaturals of some sort. There's a gorgon tending the bar wearing a pair of sunglasses with very thick lenses, using her snake-hair to pick up bottles as she mixes drinks. In one corner there's what appears to be no less than three different incarnations of the Doctor, all debating the problem with the Daleks. Up on stage a punk band is belting out their own original music, all of their clothes sporting stitches... as well as their bodies. You can't get much more punk than being undead after all.\n\n\"So, yeah... Drusilla, you remember this place unless you drank too much of the scumble. But this is the Wulfshead Pub.\" he says to the group, \"The clientele is all supernaturals and the bouncers are all golems, so watch your mouths, your step, and your asses. We've got a few hours until it's dark enough for Natasha to be outside in New Orleans, so grab a booth.\"\n\nDrusilla nods, \"Oh right, this place.\" she smiles, looking around, \"Where's that golem? He was fun!\" she giggles as Arja looks around happily, able to smell the alcohol already. Drusilla gives a bit of a stink eye to the gorgon as they pass her on the way to the booth. \"Well seems like a nice place to kill time at least…\" Aisha says, having just thrown a purple leather jacket over her tank top, figuring this place wouldn't raise an eye at her sword. \"Should we tell the fairies we're on a delay or let them have a few hours fun?\"\n\nNelen shrugs, \"They'll be fine. Its New Orleans, those two can find something to keep themselves busy.\" he replies, sitting down at one of the booths and ordering himself a coke (a real coke, none of this 'diet' bullshit) and some cream in a glass for Dawn. \"But yeah, technically this place isn't just connected to London. The door can appear in any major city so long as you know the passwords.\" he explains, \"Also, yes they serve alcohol, no they don't give a damn about IDs, but in any case don't get drunk. Last time I was here there was an incident...\" he glances towards Drusilla, \"... and its really useful for getting around in a hurry. Hell its how Dawn and I got to India in the first damn place.\"\n\nDrusilla huffs, \"Well excuse me! I just saw the guy who had enslaved my tribe! I mean, now I know he's a good guy, bit still…\" she sticks her tongue out, Natasha ordering a very literal 'bloody mary', Aisha ordering herself some spiced rum with the implication that it needs to keep coming to her, and Arja simply asking for 'something with a punch'.\n\nThe drinks come, Aisha getting her spiced rum with a jalapeno pepper in it rather than a lemon and Arja's turning out to be some virtulent purple drink in a metal container. Simoni just asks for lemonade herself, but she's always been the lightweight. \"Yeah, well the Wulfshead is strictly neutral ground. If we saw Paale, Franklin's Ghost, and Coyote's skeleton at one of the tables and we started causing trouble then it'd be us that got kicked out over it.\" he explains.\n\nNatasha's drink does indeed turn out to be that sort of a bloody mary as well, and she even notices a few other bloodsuckers up at the bar, apparently the Wulfshead caters to the undead. Some punk looking guy with a safety pin through one ear and another guy in a thick black overcoat with a batlike face and a bald head. The whole bar seems to be one interesting mess of people and 'people'. At the other end of the bar a whole pack of werewolves are watching a soccer game, across the room there's what appears to be some sort of futuristic robot, it's positronic brain visible through it's glass-topped head, sucking on a battery and occasionally giggling, and in one corner of the room a tall man with a long thin face, sharply pointed ears, and horns growing back from his forehead eyes the group curiously before returning to his bottle.\n\nNatasha giggles softly, \"Well I'm gonna go socialize!\" she says as she hops up, taking her drink to join the other vampires, the girl eager for a chance to meet others it seemed. Aisha taking a sip from the rum and nodding approvingly \"Good drinks at least\" she says as Arja sniffs the purple thing a few times before taking a swig. \"Yeah…\" Drusilla agrees, eyeing the tall man curiously, \"It is more fun to be here not starting a fight I'll admit.\"\n\nNelen nods to her, \"Well, it also helps that there's nobody here you'd want to start a fight with this time.\" he replies, the man ignoring Drusilla now. Perhaps he knew Nelen or something. It takes a while before it's dark enough to head out. Simoni tries her hand at pinball in one corner for a bit, Dawn shows off on the dance floor, then the ceiling above the dance floor, and Nelen tries to work out any other ideas on how to deal with their issue until, finally, he gathers up the group and leads them back towards the exit. There's a dial on the back of the door which he turns to New Orleans, America. \"Apparently they got this thing from Doormouse, special order.\" he says as Simoni smirks, \"We ought to take Stephy to his place sometime... I mean if he goes nuts over hedge animals...\" she smirks as the door opens up onto a moonlit back alley smelling faintly of ocean water, cajun food, and what happens when a college student has one too many.\n\nAisha nods, sighing softly, \"Yep, home sweet home…\" she grumbles, stepping through. Natasha giggles loudly as she waves goodbye to the other vampires, having put a few cocktails away as she talked to them, \"This place is fun!\" she says happily as she hops through the door into the safe night cover outside.\n\nNelen nods, \"Yeah, well... be careful with it. I'm already on thin ice with the manager after he had to get that booth replaced.\" he sighs as the group heads out onto the sidewalk, Dawn having already resumed her animal form to hide her supernatural nature. Really the weirdest looking one out of them was probably Natasha, thanks to Nelen redoing the disguise bracelet for Drusilla.\n\nHe'd reasoned that the ten-year age jump the old one caused might be a bad idea given that she was pregnant, so he made one that just gave her the human illusion, making anyone see an ordinary two-eyed girl instead of her usual cycloptian self. Still, despite this Natasha didn't look too out of place. Most people would just see another goth kid. \"So, where exactly do your folks live Aisha?\" asks Nelen.\n\nAisha shakes her head, \"Bit of a slog, we're going down to Algiers Point. Not too bad, just have to follow the river down a ways. Where's the fairy boys?\" She asks, looking around, almost on cue to see Sammi giggling happily as he walks out of a nearby bar with a yard long plastic glass that reeked of sweet fruit syrup and rum, and currently was empty \"This place is great!\"\n\nStephy follows him out, the boy rolling his eyes at his brother. He'd had a couple as well, but had opted for a smaller glass. He catches Nelen's eye (currently twitching) and says, \"Oh calm down. You did keep us waiting.\" he teases, \"Besides, Sammi glamoured us both up to look twenty one and we left a good tip... I mean sure it'll turn back into maple leaves if it touches iron, but its the thought that counts, right?\"\n\nSammi nods, \"Yea, you were the one who didn't tell us you'd be late!\" he grins, Arja rolling her eyes \"You could have seen the sun still being out over here and figured…\" she smirks as Natasha giggles lightly. \"Alrighty, gang's all here then.\" Aisha nods, \"Make sure that one doesn't wander off after some cute college guy.\" she says, pointing to Sammi before leading the group down the street.\n\nThey follow Aisha's lead, Stephy keeping a firm grip on Sammi's wrist as they head off through the streets of New Orleans. It also seems that the effects of the Mundane Blade's destruction are more pronounced here. It may be New Orleans's own history with the supernatural, or it may be that the city was always just a bit weird, but the group passes by several different motleys of changelings along the way for a start. There's a few odd ghosts here and there, as well as some strange symbols drawn onto buildings like graffiti that Aisha would recognize as related to vodou.\n\nIn one alleyway Natasha notices a tall woman in a long dark evening dress seducing a young goth girl into showing her neck, the woman winking to Natasha before focusing on her meal again, and Dawn almost thinks she sees a couple purebreed Cheshires grinning down at them before vanishing into the night as well. Its not as overt as the Nightside, but there's quite a bit of supernatural hijinks going on here.\n\nAisha smirks a bit. She had to admit she did like the feel of New Orleans despite her issues. The walk to her home neighborhood takes them a decent bit away from the tourists, the crowds fading away slowly until they were alone walking along the road. Algiers Point was a nice enough place. A good blend of working and middle class backgrounds, on the water, and a real focus on displaying the history and culture of the city. \"Here we go.\" she nods as she walks to a decent sized white and blue painted home with a large wooden fence around it. It looked pretty normal from the street, but opening the fence let them look around to the bark yard, where what looks like a large bright green and yellow tent was set up.\n\nDawn sniffs at the air, \"Hm... smells like something interesting is going on...\" she grins as Nelen shrugs, \"Well, so long as they got it under control. I don't pretend to know a ton about voodoo, but I know letting a god take the wheel is always a nasty affair.\" he sighs. Nelen knew one of the concepts of vodou was to let the Loa ride one of their worshippers, basically taking control of their body for a short time. Depending on the Loa this could be a powerful tool or something that would be worse than even what Merihim could pull off when he hijacks Nelen's body (and possibly earn a standing ovation from the wrath demon).\n\nAisha chuckles, \"Can't promise much…\" she says, leading them around back, knowing that's where the people were. The tent was large, the front flaps still open revealing the empty interior. The only signs of any decoration was the central pole, made of sturdy wood holding things up, painted in red and black stripes. On the floor, around the pole, was an elaborate looking arcane sigil, the main features being a circle with a pair of stylized keys crossed in an X, the pole coming from the middle of the X. There were people around it, all seated, dressed in casual but clean clothing. A young woman was lightly tapping away on a small drum in a heartbeat like rhythm, on the other end a man had a long braided leather whip laid across the floor next to him, cracking it against the ground every so often. There was also a man kneeling next to a large bowl of gunpowder, small embers inside it keeping it smoking without combusting yet. In the middle, a young woman who looked a lot like Aisha minus a couple years, wore a long white robe, her hair tied back into a tight bun under a white cap as well. In front of her was a middle aged, scrawny, man, chanting in Creole, body twitching and jerking as he speaks with the spirits.\n\nAisha simply guides the group to the nearby 'wall', motioning them to sit with her quietly.\n\nThey do, even Dawn knows not to interrupt something like this. Wonderland kitty or not, you don't risk pissing off one of the loa. Simoni sticks close to Arja, and even Stephy seems a bit unnerved by what's going on despite having seen some interesting things when he went on diplomatic trips with Sera. There was more than just a sort of magic to this, it was a religious act, a religion born of blood, sweat, and pain by those who were torn from their original homes and treated as less than human in the new strange land they were brought to. Smoking gunpowder, plain white clothes, and a small drum may not seem like much in the way of faith, but when you have almost nothing, anything can be important.\n\nAisha watches as the twitching man suddenly stops, body bending backwards almost unnaturally before springing erect once more, eyes locked on the girl in front of him. \"Speak…\" he whispers in a low, rumbling, voice, nostrils flaring. As he stares her down, a young man hops off the blanket covered box he was sitting in, reaching in to pull out a fat clucking chicken. He and a girl begin to speak softly as the girl pulls a knife from her hip, slitting the bird's throat quickly and sending blood washing along the dirt, over to the older man's feet. He chuckles softly at that, nodding as his nostrils keep flaring. \"I'm Terri DeLane…\" she replies after a moment, swallowing softly, \"I come before you, Kalfu, to request access to the realm of the Loa.”\n\nThe man laughs at that, smirking wide, \"Another Delane…\" he muses, licking his lips, \"You a washout like your sister?\" he taunts, eyes moving past Terri to fall on Aisha, \"Speak of the devil and she appears!\" he chuckles, everyone's eyes falling on her as well. \"Well this must be a big event if little miss New York is returning home.\" he smirks, looking Terri over, \"She must think a lot of her baby sister taking on the legacy alone...\"\n\nNelen grips his arm as it spasms oddly, but doesn't say anything. Its not the blood, its Kalfu. He may not know it himself, but Merihim recognizes the Loa as one who is sort of... branched off from Sathanus, lord of the Court of Wrath in Hell. Not the fallen angel himself, but almost as powerful as him. Many of the Loa were born of those who tried to combine their old faith from Africa with this strange 'god on sticks' that the white men worshiped, and Kalfu was one of the results of this. Dawn doesn't say anything, but the fur on her tail and spine starts to fluff out as she reacts to his presence.\n\nSimoni and Stephy know enough to stay mute as well, though its not extremely hard. The loa seems to have eyes for just Terri and Aisha at the moment.\n\nAisha frowns, but stands slowly, eyes remaining locked on the old man. \"She's not alone. I'm here to resume my training. Now, you gonna spend all day talking shit to me, or are you going to do your job and test my sister?\" There was an aura of tension for sure, half the tent seemed to be waiting for him to break Aisha's neck... but after a pregnant pause, the man laughs softly, \"Nice to see you didn't shuck and jive all the spirit out of you…\" he smirks, nodding, \"Sit down girl, your time will come then, you're right... I'm here for Terri... It'd be wrong to judge her by her sister's failings.\" He smirks, circling the girl as Aisha lets her breath out, sitting down slowly.\n\nNelen's arm spasms again during the pause, but he manages to force it back down. The last thing they need is for Merihim to make an appearance here. Dawn's fur settles back down as the group collectively relaxes when the Loa-possessed man turns his attention back to Aisha's sister.\n\nThe two would talk for a time, speaking in Creole back and forth at a rapid pace. Dawn would pick up on some things. He was asking her why she was worthy, what she could do for the Loa, why they can trust her, it was an interview, but an interview with as close to her faith had to the metaphysical concept of 'Satan'. His eyes remained locked on hers, looking for any flinch, any fear... but she seemed to stand her ground well. After a moment, he let out a soft laugh, nodding approvingly, \"Yea, you'll do.\" he grins wide, chuckling as he reaches down to the pool of bird blood at his feet, taking a bit on his index finger and pressing the bloody fingertip to her forehead \"The keys to the kingdom are yours, girl.\" he smirks \"Don't waste ‘em...\"\n\nDawn's ears twitch as she listens in, translating most of it... but they're talking too fast and too soft for her to catch everything. When he touches his finger to her forehead the group (except possibly Aisha) all feel the familiar 'ping' from the part of them that senses magic, able to tell that something just happened.\n\nThere's another pause as Terri takes in a soft breath, focusing on the newfound surge of power as she nods, \"I won't.\" is all she says as the man chuckles, nodding. \"I'll be seeing you real soon then…\" he smirks, eyes moving to Aisha, \"You too... don't keep me waiting pretty lady.\" he teases before his body jerks again, the man crumpling to the floor and breathing raggedly as the rest of the family divides between helping him get some air and praising Terri. Aisha chuckles softly as she stands, shaking her head, \"Coulda at least skyped me that Terri's ceremony was coming up…\" she says to a short, older woman with lines across her face, black hair showing patches of gray as it's bound in a similar bun to Terri's.\n\n\"Yea, like you woulda come.\" is all she says before Terri hugs Aisha tightly, \"I'm glad you did though.\"\n\nNelen gets to his feet, keeping his eyes on the fallen man until he's sure that Kalfu was gone. He wasn't certain if the Loa recognized who was 'riding' in him or not. \"Yeah, didn't realize we'd be walking in on something like this. Hope we didn't distract too much...\" he says, still rubbing his arm a bit as Dawn curls onto one of his shoulders, her yellow eyes running over the assembled people in the tent.\n\nThe woman sighs, but her face softens when the girls hug, shaking her head, \"No, he woulda brought up Aisha anyway. It was good she was here to show some spine for a change.\" she sighs as the man slowly gets to his feet, rubbing his head, \"That was a rough one…\" he grumbles as someone hands him a bottle of rum, letting him swish some around in his mouth like mouthwash.\n\nNelen nods in sympathy. He knows what it's like having to do that for years, but still it's rough even when it's just once in a while. Simoni smirks a bit at the comment about Aisha 'showing some spine', wondering if she should mention how she went toe to toe with an evil goddess before Inishmor got blown to bits or how she was one of the ones keeping Franklin busy so they could get enough magic together to shatter his sword... but she figures there's probably a reason she hadn't told her family about those yet...\n\nThere was a bit of talk, Aisha trying and failing to introduce the group to a near endless parade of uncles and aunts and cousins and such in a non-confusing way. It is clear though that it's just her and Terri when it comes to siblings, and their father seemed to not be in the picture. The older woman, her mother, Millie, was polite enough as she met them. \"So, I assume you and your friends are staying over? Not even you would be dumb enough to lie to Kalfu, so you really are here to finish training?\" she asks as Aisha gives a resigned nod, \"Yea, I'm here to finish.\"\n\nNelen nodded politely to her, \"Yeah, um... we'll find ourselves a hotel in town though. Let Aisha take care of what she needs to do without us around 'n all.\" he replies, though in part its because he's not too eager to let himself be around that Loa again. Merihim had gotten really antsy when he was there...\n\nShe nods \"There's a decent place in walking distance that should do you well. Well come on, we have a feast to celebrate new mambos, and I suppose we're also celebrating family being together again.\" she smiles as she leads the group out of the tent to the back yard. It seemed despite any tension the family had, most people were glad to see Aisha again at the very least.\n\nThe highly spiced food already has Arja and Simoni's attention, and even Nelen feels his stomach growl despite his dislike for things like shrimp (too many legs). \"So, never actually got to see a real vodou ritual before.\" he comments, \"I've been around, but most of my work in America was up north, though I did do a bit in Texas before.\" he nods, \"Not too many borkors and vodouns up there, though I did run into a guy who swore up and down he was the reincarnation of Papa Legba.\" he smirks, then adds, \"Mind you, he had to take a lot of pills and once told me that he was also Santa Claus.\"\n\nTerri chuckles lightly, \"Yea we tend to stay in familiar waters, and no matter how close the bond to loas we have, anyone saying he's a 'reincarnation' is a scammer or a lunatic.\" she says with a smile, Aisha nodding. \"The Loa aren't proper 'gods' like Arja would know. There's one God in heaven, Bondye the creator. He is distant from us, though, so the Loa exist as... go-betweens. They're like a blend of saints and gods, we serve them, and they all have their own agendas and feelings, but they are subservient to Bondye.\" Her mother smirks softly at that, leading the group to an empty table to sit with Terri, \"Nice to see you didn't forget the little training you got.\" she teases.\n\nNelen smirks, \"Yeah... this guy was pretty special. Like 'I tried to eat crayons' special.\" he chuckles as Dawn grins at the woman, then says, \"Could've been worse. Remember 'Far Out Man'?\" she asks, talking in perfect English despite still being in animal form. She wasn't sure if anyone picked up on her not being a normal cat, but she can't resist getting a bit of a reaction. Nelen nods to her, \"Oh yeah, that guy... Get this. Back in the sixties some hippies broke into a government research lab and one of them got his hands on some experimental LSD mix, then tries it out. Apparently it didn't just open the doors to his perception, but blew them right off their hinges. Most powerful telekinetic and telepath we've seen so far... but he's still high. Fifty five years later and he's still on the drug trip from that tab.\" he rolls his eyes, \"He's good at helping out with a problem if you can get him to remember what planet he's on for longer than five minutes.\"\n\nTerri chuckles again, no one seeming to be more than a little surprised by the talking cat, one young boy even offering Dawn a shrimp as the family eats. \"Mhm.\" Millie smirks, taking her seat at the head of the table next to Terri. \"Had one poor sap come in about ten years ago... Aisha you remember him. Convinced he had Marinette Bras Cheche in him after a ritual still. He said 'it's not so bad really'.\" Aisha snorts, giggling a bit as she finishes, \"I just get angry whenever I pass the crematorium.” The two laugh at that, obviously some old inside family joke. There was a level of awkwardness, the occasional look or two, but it seemed most of the tension had left them. \"Aisha had a great deal of talent... still does\" she smiles softly \"We're glad to have her back, but, and don't get upset... I assume you're doing this because you need something?\"\n\nAisha sighs softly, nodding, \"I can't pretend that offends me. I was pretty clear when I left about the whole 'never coming back' thing... Yea we do...\" She goes through the story, well, the heavily edited version at least. Explaining most of the group on the supernatural scale, explaining her work with her ancestor, talking about the fight on the island, the mundane blade, and what got released... \"So... yeah…\" she nods after a bit, the crowd having gone silent as she spoke, \"We need magic this thing doesn't know.\" \n\nHer mother just nods, \"And it wouldn't know this kind of magic. That's clever, very clever.\" She chuckles softly, shaking her head, \"Only you would come back from running away from home as some kinda African knight of the round table…\" she smirks, eyes looking down at her plate, \"You do things your own way. I should have seen that earlier. Terri is as gifted as you, but she's a product of the old ways, her soul is old, she took to the training like a duck to the water.\" she smiles, squeezing Terri's hand. \"I should have known my girls were different though, maybe if I did...\"\n\nAisha sighs again, shaking her head, \"If you did I'd be here helping out today, and for all we know without my help these guys would have gotten slaughtered on that fucked up island. What was it you told me when I got angry at the training. Ours is not to question the path, only to thank those who light it? Well, my path took me a lot of other stops before I got here I guess.\" There was a softness in her voice, the anger she had back in India melting away as she sees her mother in a more human light than the view she had of her in her head.\n\nSimoni nods, \"Yeah. If Aisha hadn't helped us out we wouldn't have made it out of the Nightside that time, much less survived Inishmor.\" she says, nodding to Aisha's hip, specifically the sword still there. \"Takes someone specific to use that sort of weapon.\" she giggles, helping herself to a large bowl of gumbo as Dawn eagerly snaps up the shrimp, then teleports, steals several more, and vanishes. Nelen nods in agreement, \"Yeah, pity that it had to wind up doing what it did to the island. I mean, sheesh... We really did just make it out in time with that one.\" he sighs, remembering the sick feeling in his gut when he saw Simoni and Arja shooting off to fight Carman, despite Simoni's arm being injured by her lightning. He'd advocated just running away and letting Franklin and Carman sort each other out... which still bothered him. Part of him knew it was just common sense and survival instincts talking, but another part always knew, deep down, its because he knows exactly where he'll go when he dies.\n\nThere's a bit of a pause as Millie looks Nelen over, chuckling softly, \"You have a rider too, hm? Not like ours though. I thought I felt something stir in you during the ceremony.\" she nods, not pressing the issue further, \"Aisha could learn to help you control that better in time, if you got the time to spare. We may not have much authority over things outside our realm, but we pick up tricks here and there. Sometimes in the old days a bokor was the only magician a town had, had to learn how to quell spirits and demons alike.”\n\nHe shakes his head, \"Thanks, but I'm good. So long as I keep these on and keep my temper he's not too bad...\" he replies, flexing his bandaged hand. \"Really, he only got worked up because...\" his arm twitches, \"... he 'recognized' Kalfu.\" he nods, then his arm spasms again, \"... or, who Kalfu used to be a part of, or something. Its complicated.\" he sighs, rubbing at his forearm. \"Dammit, every time he does that it's like a miniature muscle cramp.\" he grumbles as Dawn reappears with a whole fish in her mouth, ducking off into the bushes to messily devour it.\n\nSimoni shrugs, \"Yeah, somehow I don't think that Nelen's 'rider' would take well to someone helping him control them.\" she comments... though she finds herself wondering how Nelen's teacher was able to get Merihim to behave long enough to teach her brother how to keep him in line.\n\nThe feast goes on for a while until, finally, Nelen and the others bid farewell to Aisha for the time being and head to the hotel they’d indicated. Arja and Simoni get their own room of course, and they all get a rare moment of peace before Simoni goes to get her pajamas out of her bag, a small childish voice yells, “About time human! Where are we now?”, and Dawn teleports in to scream at her baby brother for stowing away… again.","writing_bbcode_parsed":"Its early evening in Jaipur, just about past time when the sun goes down enough for nocturnal things to start coming out. Nelen is in the harem quarters as usual, pouring over information on both his iPad, a computer he managed to swipe from one of the local stores, and a laptop that he bartered off someone, and is currently researching everything from obscure occult websites to Wikipedia to see if there's anything that could possibly be able to control a manticore. Dawn is laying atop one of the bookcases nearby, yawning sleepily. Research was never her thing unless it involved spying on someone, she'd leave the bookwork to Nelen.
Simoni was sitting cross-legged on the floor watching TV, the local newscast going on about what had happened to the police and warning everyone to make sure to only go into the jungle in groups incase they encountered the 'rogue tiger'. "Yeah..." she snorted, "All that'll do is make 'em more likely to get attacked. More food for that thing." she frowns as Nelen glances up at her, then back down to his work. She'd been getting a lot more snarky and sarcastic lately, but after the mess with Morrigan and now this, well... that was only to be expected. That and she was nearing thirteen now. Nelen wasn't sure how he felt about that.
Simoni sighs, then glances back at her older brother, "Anything?" she asks, the bearded warlock only shaking his head in reply. Dawn flops around on top of the bookcase, "Of COURSE there isn't anything. Who ever heard of someone actually bossing around one of those man-eating freaks?" she mrowls, "Forget about who's bossing it, worry about getting rid of it before it gets ballsy enough to try to raid a town. Seriously, of all people I sure as hell shouldn't have to be the voice of reason there." she smirks.
Arja folds her arms and nods, "I have to agree with the cat." she replies, having been pacing the floor trying to think as well. "This is a problem, obviously, but the pressing issue is that the jungles currently have a manticore in them, and we can't exactly say 'hey, mythical monster warning, don't go in there'. The news means well but 'rogue tigers' get hunted, people think they can handle that kind of danger. We need to settle this before we have more bodies on our hands...well aside from the ones Lara works on at least." she sighs, shaking her head, "Of course, that's just a whole different problem... killing a manticore isn't exactly a thing that gets done often."
Nelen nods, "Yeah. Merihim can trump his poisons, but he can't do anything about him tearing my head off. He knows Dawn's trick so it's a safe bet whoever is holding his leash told him about the rest of us too..." he frowns, "So this guy probably knows counters for most of our abilities... if only we, I dunno, had something else to throw at him!" he sighs, flopping back against the couch as Simoni looks up at Arja, "Do you think your friends might have any ideas? That dwarf girl and the snake boy?" she asks.
Arja thinks on that, "Could be, dunno for sure. Manticores are kinda rare in this part, they're mainly Persian and in that region. That alone makes me wonder how it got here...” she replies, pausing as there's a sudden ruckus from the closet in the room, two voices suddenly piping up inside it. One of them yells something about the other having screwed up the directions before the door pops open and both Sammi and Stephy fall out of the very cramped storage closet where the group keeps their board games, the contents of both Small World and Cards Against Humanity raining down on them. Stephy sits up and dusts himself off, rolling his eyes, "Mr. ‘No, really, I know my way out of the hedge easy' overshot Trixie's room..." he huffs.
Sammi huffs angrily. "Well excuse me, maybe if I didn't have a little brother constantly getting distracted at everything cute we passed. That section of the hedge has a lot of cute animals, it's how we lure mortals into the domain, we're supposed to be smart enough to not fall for our own tricks" he huffs again, looking around. "What's with the frowny faces, Lara let another experiment lose?"
Stephy smacks Sammi's arm as Simoni looks at the pair, "We're trying to come up with something that we can use against that manticore." she replies as Stephy winces, "Yeah... I asked Alyzya if she might've had any memories about who she was stuck in Franklin's sword with, but apparently it was just one big black void from her point of view." he shrugs. Simoni lets out a sigh of disappointment as Dawn winces at the description of the blade's interior. The remains of it may be sitting on the mantle now, totally powerless, but it had affected their lives nonetheless.
"So..." begins Nelen, "Any suggestions guys? The only possible weakness I can find for these things is showing them their own reflection... which I'm not willing to risk unless we have some backup plan. That could work, or it could be something out of an old D&D monster manual." he sighs.
Sammi nods "Yea I read some story about one being so vain that it got lost in its own reflection, and the hero was able to cut its neck while it was staring, but that's a PRETTY risky try to go in as our only plan. Even for someone who's a fairy tale that's a bit out there." He rubs his chin at that "I assume the normals don't work, silver, iron, blessed wood, the classics?"
Arja sighs, nodding "Silver and holy wood don't do anything from what I've heard, iron is just, ya know, a normal weapon for everyone not from Arcadia. I wonder if it's immune to its own poison. Maybe we could trick it into stinging itself..."
Simoni shakes her head, "I doubt it, and even if it wasn't that stinger is like a machine gun. We need to worry about that too..." she frowns as Nelen looks up at the ceiling thoughtfully...
"The main problem I'm seeing is that, again, someone blabbed to it about what we're capable of. If it knows what we can do it'll be able to defend against it, or at least prepare for it. Those things are deadly enough when they're going in blind. If it wasn't for it's boss calling it off it may well have killed us." he nods, "We need something new... something it won't see coming..." he says firmly.
Sammi frowns at that. "That's kinda our issue. We have a lot of power but it's all very old school. Fae magics, divine flame, even Lara's mad science is less 'I made a hoverboard' and more classical 'it's aliiiiiiive muahahaha' stuff. They're powerful weapons, but against other ancient foes they know our tricks..." he thinks for a minute before grinning wickedly, "Be right back!" he whoops, bolting up the stairs.
They watch him go for a moment, then Dawn glances at the others, "So... anyone want to run like hell after hearing that?" she asks as Nelen, Simoni, and even Stephy nod in agreement after thinking about it for a minute. Sammi was fae after all, and even Stephy (another fae) would admit their sense of humor could be downright scary at times. Anything that could make Sammi grin like that is something that most would prefer to watch only from behind bulletproof glass, preferably still on a television being broadcast from another time zone.
There's a bit of a commotion upstairs, and a very angry conversation in two different French dialects before Sammi returns, Aisha in tow. The model turned knight wearing a white tank top and jeans, her sword bouncing on her hip, obviously having been interrupted during some practice. "Tell them what you were dreaming about the other night." Sammi beams, making Aisha roll her eyes, rubbing her forehead. "I was dreaming about home."
"And where's home?" Sammi continues, looking like a kid who's telling what they think is the best joke ever as he grins. Aisha seems less amused, sighing angrily, "New Orleans..."
"And what does your family over there do?" he continues, making Aisha roll her eyes. "SOME parts of my family run a hounfour. It's a temple for Vodou practitioners from Haiti."
Sammi grins even wide, flourishing with his arms "Tah dah! NEW magic! It doesn't get much newer than that unless you wanna get into the technomancers... and frankly those guys creep me out... Not only is it new, Vodou is a patchwork magic, different traditions and rites and practices depending where you're from and who taught you. Even if this thing knows about it, he wouldn't ever see an attack with it coming! You may all praise how smart I am now."
Nelen raises his eyebrow at him, then shrugs, "Okay that actually is a good idea." he admits as Dawn begrudgingly shrugs. Simoni looks at Aisha curiously, "So... um... do you know any specific tricks that might work on something like a Manticore?" she asks. She knew Aisha was a descendant of one of Arthur's knights and had seen her do some pretty impressive tricks with the right sword, like Calaihm Solias which was currently resting on her hip, but she'd never seen her do any sort of literal voodoo before.
Aisha narrows her eyes at Sammi. "No, I don't know tricks. I, in fact, moved to New York when I was sixteen pointedly to NOT learn any tricks, and currently I'm on a path that kinda has like, one major rule about not mixing magic with knighthood."
Arja looks around a bit before speaking up at that, "To be fair they also said women can't be knights. So, already kinda breaking the rules." she says with a little smile, making Aisha frown, "That's not wrong…" is all she says, Sammi nodding eagerly at her, "Look we kinda need something big in our pocket for this, this thing knows all about us, but he doesn't know about you or your family. Is there any way you can... pick up a couple tricks?"
Aisha winces at that. "This isn't 'tricks'! I'm not gonna reach behind its ear and pull out a shotgun or something! I'd have to be channeling a loa to stand up to it at all, and to do that I'd have to... ugh..." she sighs again, "… I'd have to go home and finish training with my mother and sisters."
Simoni winces, "That'd give us two problems then... For one, we can't leave Jaipur with that thing hanging around here. I mean, if it shows up and starts causing havoc it's at least a sixteen hour plane ride back here from New Orleans, and... well, how long does that training take?" she asks Aisha, sounding worried.
As useful as her being trained in vodou would be, time is very much an issue here and they can't afford to be gone for long...
Aisha shakes her head, "It wouldn't take too long. I was... more or less at the end. There's just a few rites I have to finish, and then I have to petition the loa for access to them. But yes you're right, it's too long of a flight, we can't just abandon India with a monster on the loose."
Sammi perks up at that, "I really hate to keep spoiling things…" he giggles with a wicked smile, "Buuuut... we do have, ya know, the hedge, and Lara has access to portal creation... I mean, just a hunch bit I assume a zombie probably has New Orleans on her bookmarks or however that stuff works... And from what I've read Manticores are powerful and vain, but also very slothful. Grim as it sounds, this thing DID just feed, even with a master tugging its leash, it probably wants to sleep, and those things sleep for a good bit. This is probably our one chance to have some down time from it so far."
Simoni shakes her head, "The hedge is dangerous though. I mean even with you guys and us travelling under your Grandmother's protection if we run into one of the higher fae then fighting back won't even be an option..." she nods, "And Lara was complaining that she'd used up most of her reagents to make portals just getting that army to Castle Fullmoon..." she adds, "I guess some of them were pretty rare."
Nelen frowns, scratching at his beard, when he catches Dawn looking at him. He glances towards the group, then her, then shakes his head. Dawn frowns and gives him a more intense look, as he glares back, then sighs, then speaks up, "I... might know a way to get there and back quickly that doesn't involve going into Arcadia or expensive potion bits..." he grudgingly admits.
Aisha sighs a bit, but nods, "Well, what is it. I guess none of you have some secret, what was it, technomancer, cousins or something to bust out. If we have to do this we might as well get it done while that thing's out. How much time do we have?" Sammi shrugs lightly "Well fucked if I know, the stories range from a few days to weeks to full on hibernation. Point is we have at the very least a few days before its master can get it to stop lazing about, and if you only have a few rituals left we should be able to knock that out."
Nelen gets up and pulls out his bag, tucking the laptop and iPad into it. "Its... complicated." he sighs, "Look, last time I went here there was a bit of an 'incident'..." he says, "I can get us to New Orleans if we go there though... but we can't take the whole crew with us. He'll get really annoyed if I come in there with upwards of a dozen supernatural kids in tow. So..." he glances up at Dawn, "She's coming of course, and... well, Arja and Simoni... doubt I'd be able to keep Arja away once she figures out where we're going." he sighs, "Aisha... and..." he thinks, "Stephy and Sammi, you two can travel through the Hedge a lot easier so you should be fine going that way... so..." he thinks, "Someone go see if Natasha is up yet. New Orleans is a real big vampire city so we might need her to tag along… and Drusilla." he nods, not really wanting her to risk herself, but she was getting closer to giving birth now and he didn’t want to leave her at this point… that and she’d snap him over her leg if he did.
Arja raises a brow at Nelen's words, but nods, "I'll grab her.” she says, going up to fetch the vampire as Aisha sighs, "Oh goodie, a trip home."
"Oh, wait," Sammi sneers, "Do you have family issues? Oh my gosh! I'm sorry, that's something none of us have been dealing with or anything for the sake of a greater good."
Right after 'greater good' he gets a sudden smack upside the head from a wind burst as Simoni rolls her eyes at him, "Knock it off Sammi. She said she'd do it." she huffs, going up to her room to pack some spare clothes and other essentials. Dawn just hops down from the bookcase, "I'd better go make sure mom has the kittens rounded up so we don't have Dusk sneaking along on this one." she smirks, padding off upstairs as well as Nelen flops onto the sofa.
Aisha nods, crossing her arms, "Shouldn't need to pack anything. I'm sure she kept my room untouched expecting me to come crawling back," she huffs, tapping her foot, "I'm not proving her right" she says, mainly to herself, "Just because I'm acknowledging that the family gifts aren't totally useless doesn't mean I was wrong to leave." she seems to be angrily chewing the inside of her cheek when Arja returns, a yawning Natahsa in tow. It was just barely sunset, the Vampire version of getting woken up at the crack of dawn. "Ngh we're going to Orleans." she grumbles, yawning again, "I thought we just were in France..."
Simoni actually giggles at that, "New Orleans Natasha. They made another one." she explains, "This one is in America." as Nelen watches the rest of the group file in. "Alright, now... I'm taking a risk with this one. The guy running this place doesn't mind if I bring in one person or two, but a group tends to worry people..." he explains as they head out, Drusilla falling in behind them. The pregnant cyclops is wearing the sari that Simoni and Arja got her, about the only thing that'll fit over her belly now, as the group heads out into the darkening city. "Lets see... need to head down a bit and find a good alleyway..."
Sammi nods, "Meet you there, try to land around Bourbon Street, it's packed with tourists, they won't notice some folks magically popping in." he grins, motioning Stephy to follow him, "This time don't try to pet every bunny we pass!" he says as they vanish into a portal. Natasha still seems sleepy, but does perk up a bit, "Oooh! I've read about that, there are lots of vampires there!" she says with a smile, obviously eager to see others like her.
Nelen nods to her, "Yeah, lots of others too, but the vampire population tends to be the biggest from what I understand." he says, turning down an alleyway as Dawn (already on his shoulders in her animal form) sniffs around, "I don't smell anyone, coast is clear." she grins to him as Nelen nods, then feels over the wall nearest him. "Yeah, this should work." he agrees, then knocks three times on it and says something in ancient Lemurian, roughly translated as 'Open up, you bastards'.
There's an odd shimmering as if the wall were suddenly liquid and a large silver door appears, which he opens up and leads the group into... well... it looks like a mini-Nightside. They're inside a huge bar and all of the patrons are clearly supernaturals of some sort. There's a gorgon tending the bar wearing a pair of sunglasses with very thick lenses, using her snake-hair to pick up bottles as she mixes drinks. In one corner there's what appears to be no less than three different incarnations of the Doctor, all debating the problem with the Daleks. Up on stage a punk band is belting out their own original music, all of their clothes sporting stitches... as well as their bodies. You can't get much more punk than being undead after all.
"So, yeah... Drusilla, you remember this place unless you drank too much of the scumble. But this is the Wulfshead Pub." he says to the group, "The clientele is all supernaturals and the bouncers are all golems, so watch your mouths, your step, and your asses. We've got a few hours until it's dark enough for Natasha to be outside in New Orleans, so grab a booth."
Drusilla nods, "Oh right, this place." she smiles, looking around, "Where's that golem? He was fun!" she giggles as Arja looks around happily, able to smell the alcohol already. Drusilla gives a bit of a stink eye to the gorgon as they pass her on the way to the booth. "Well seems like a nice place to kill time at least…" Aisha says, having just thrown a purple leather jacket over her tank top, figuring this place wouldn't raise an eye at her sword. "Should we tell the fairies we're on a delay or let them have a few hours fun?"
Nelen shrugs, "They'll be fine. Its New Orleans, those two can find something to keep themselves busy." he replies, sitting down at one of the booths and ordering himself a coke (a real coke, none of this 'diet' bullshit) and some cream in a glass for Dawn. "But yeah, technically this place isn't just connected to London. The door can appear in any major city so long as you know the passwords." he explains, "Also, yes they serve alcohol, no they don't give a damn about IDs, but in any case don't get drunk. Last time I was here there was an incident..." he glances towards Drusilla, "... and its really useful for getting around in a hurry. Hell its how Dawn and I got to India in the first damn place."
Drusilla huffs, "Well excuse me! I just saw the guy who had enslaved my tribe! I mean, now I know he's a good guy, bit still…" she sticks her tongue out, Natasha ordering a very literal 'bloody mary', Aisha ordering herself some spiced rum with the implication that it needs to keep coming to her, and Arja simply asking for 'something with a punch'.
The drinks come, Aisha getting her spiced rum with a jalapeno pepper in it rather than a lemon and Arja's turning out to be some virtulent purple drink in a metal container. Simoni just asks for lemonade herself, but she's always been the lightweight. "Yeah, well the Wulfshead is strictly neutral ground. If we saw Paale, Franklin's Ghost, and Coyote's skeleton at one of the tables and we started causing trouble then it'd be us that got kicked out over it." he explains.
Natasha's drink does indeed turn out to be that sort of a bloody mary as well, and she even notices a few other bloodsuckers up at the bar, apparently the Wulfshead caters to the undead. Some punk looking guy with a safety pin through one ear and another guy in a thick black overcoat with a batlike face and a bald head. The whole bar seems to be one interesting mess of people and 'people'. At the other end of the bar a whole pack of werewolves are watching a soccer game, across the room there's what appears to be some sort of futuristic robot, it's positronic brain visible through it's glass-topped head, sucking on a battery and occasionally giggling, and in one corner of the room a tall man with a long thin face, sharply pointed ears, and horns growing back from his forehead eyes the group curiously before returning to his bottle.
Natasha giggles softly, "Well I'm gonna go socialize!" she says as she hops up, taking her drink to join the other vampires, the girl eager for a chance to meet others it seemed. Aisha taking a sip from the rum and nodding approvingly "Good drinks at least" she says as Arja sniffs the purple thing a few times before taking a swig. "Yeah…" Drusilla agrees, eyeing the tall man curiously, "It is more fun to be here not starting a fight I'll admit."
Nelen nods to her, "Well, it also helps that there's nobody here you'd want to start a fight with this time." he replies, the man ignoring Drusilla now. Perhaps he knew Nelen or something. It takes a while before it's dark enough to head out. Simoni tries her hand at pinball in one corner for a bit, Dawn shows off on the dance floor, then the ceiling above the dance floor, and Nelen tries to work out any other ideas on how to deal with their issue until, finally, he gathers up the group and leads them back towards the exit. There's a dial on the back of the door which he turns to New Orleans, America. "Apparently they got this thing from Doormouse, special order." he says as Simoni smirks, "We ought to take Stephy to his place sometime... I mean if he goes nuts over hedge animals..." she smirks as the door opens up onto a moonlit back alley smelling faintly of ocean water, cajun food, and what happens when a college student has one too many.
Aisha nods, sighing softly, "Yep, home sweet home…" she grumbles, stepping through. Natasha giggles loudly as she waves goodbye to the other vampires, having put a few cocktails away as she talked to them, "This place is fun!" she says happily as she hops through the door into the safe night cover outside.
Nelen nods, "Yeah, well... be careful with it. I'm already on thin ice with the manager after he had to get that booth replaced." he sighs as the group heads out onto the sidewalk, Dawn having already resumed her animal form to hide her supernatural nature. Really the weirdest looking one out of them was probably Natasha, thanks to Nelen redoing the disguise bracelet for Drusilla.
He'd reasoned that the ten-year age jump the old one caused might be a bad idea given that she was pregnant, so he made one that just gave her the human illusion, making anyone see an ordinary two-eyed girl instead of her usual cycloptian self. Still, despite this Natasha didn't look too out of place. Most people would just see another goth kid. "So, where exactly do your folks live Aisha?" asks Nelen.
Aisha shakes her head, "Bit of a slog, we're going down to Algiers Point. Not too bad, just have to follow the river down a ways. Where's the fairy boys?" She asks, looking around, almost on cue to see Sammi giggling happily as he walks out of a nearby bar with a yard long plastic glass that reeked of sweet fruit syrup and rum, and currently was empty "This place is great!"
Stephy follows him out, the boy rolling his eyes at his brother. He'd had a couple as well, but had opted for a smaller glass. He catches Nelen's eye (currently twitching) and says, "Oh calm down. You did keep us waiting." he teases, "Besides, Sammi glamoured us both up to look twenty one and we left a good tip... I mean sure it'll turn back into maple leaves if it touches iron, but its the thought that counts, right?"
Sammi nods, "Yea, you were the one who didn't tell us you'd be late!" he grins, Arja rolling her eyes "You could have seen the sun still being out over here and figured…" she smirks as Natasha giggles lightly. "Alrighty, gang's all here then." Aisha nods, "Make sure that one doesn't wander off after some cute college guy." she says, pointing to Sammi before leading the group down the street.
They follow Aisha's lead, Stephy keeping a firm grip on Sammi's wrist as they head off through the streets of New Orleans. It also seems that the effects of the Mundane Blade's destruction are more pronounced here. It may be New Orleans's own history with the supernatural, or it may be that the city was always just a bit weird, but the group passes by several different motleys of changelings along the way for a start. There's a few odd ghosts here and there, as well as some strange symbols drawn onto buildings like graffiti that Aisha would recognize as related to vodou.
In one alleyway Natasha notices a tall woman in a long dark evening dress seducing a young goth girl into showing her neck, the woman winking to Natasha before focusing on her meal again, and Dawn almost thinks she sees a couple purebreed Cheshires grinning down at them before vanishing into the night as well. Its not as overt as the Nightside, but there's quite a bit of supernatural hijinks going on here.
Aisha smirks a bit. She had to admit she did like the feel of New Orleans despite her issues. The walk to her home neighborhood takes them a decent bit away from the tourists, the crowds fading away slowly until they were alone walking along the road. Algiers Point was a nice enough place. A good blend of working and middle class backgrounds, on the water, and a real focus on displaying the history and culture of the city. "Here we go." she nods as she walks to a decent sized white and blue painted home with a large wooden fence around it. It looked pretty normal from the street, but opening the fence let them look around to the bark yard, where what looks like a large bright green and yellow tent was set up.
Dawn sniffs at the air, "Hm... smells like something interesting is going on..." she grins as Nelen shrugs, "Well, so long as they got it under control. I don't pretend to know a ton about voodoo, but I know letting a god take the wheel is always a nasty affair." he sighs. Nelen knew one of the concepts of vodou was to let the Loa ride one of their worshippers, basically taking control of their body for a short time. Depending on the Loa this could be a powerful tool or something that would be worse than even what Merihim could pull off when he hijacks Nelen's body (and possibly earn a standing ovation from the wrath demon).
Aisha chuckles, "Can't promise much…" she says, leading them around back, knowing that's where the people were. The tent was large, the front flaps still open revealing the empty interior. The only signs of any decoration was the central pole, made of sturdy wood holding things up, painted in red and black stripes. On the floor, around the pole, was an elaborate looking arcane sigil, the main features being a circle with a pair of stylized keys crossed in an X, the pole coming from the middle of the X. There were people around it, all seated, dressed in casual but clean clothing. A young woman was lightly tapping away on a small drum in a heartbeat like rhythm, on the other end a man had a long braided leather whip laid across the floor next to him, cracking it against the ground every so often. There was also a man kneeling next to a large bowl of gunpowder, small embers inside it keeping it smoking without combusting yet. In the middle, a young woman who looked a lot like Aisha minus a couple years, wore a long white robe, her hair tied back into a tight bun under a white cap as well. In front of her was a middle aged, scrawny, man, chanting in Creole, body twitching and jerking as he speaks with the spirits.
Aisha simply guides the group to the nearby 'wall', motioning them to sit with her quietly.
They do, even Dawn knows not to interrupt something like this. Wonderland kitty or not, you don't risk pissing off one of the loa. Simoni sticks close to Arja, and even Stephy seems a bit unnerved by what's going on despite having seen some interesting things when he went on diplomatic trips with Sera. There was more than just a sort of magic to this, it was a religious act, a religion born of blood, sweat, and pain by those who were torn from their original homes and treated as less than human in the new strange land they were brought to. Smoking gunpowder, plain white clothes, and a small drum may not seem like much in the way of faith, but when you have almost nothing, anything can be important.
Aisha watches as the twitching man suddenly stops, body bending backwards almost unnaturally before springing erect once more, eyes locked on the girl in front of him. "Speak…" he whispers in a low, rumbling, voice, nostrils flaring. As he stares her down, a young man hops off the blanket covered box he was sitting in, reaching in to pull out a fat clucking chicken. He and a girl begin to speak softly as the girl pulls a knife from her hip, slitting the bird's throat quickly and sending blood washing along the dirt, over to the older man's feet. He chuckles softly at that, nodding as his nostrils keep flaring. "I'm Terri DeLane…" she replies after a moment, swallowing softly, "I come before you, Kalfu, to request access to the realm of the Loa.”
The man laughs at that, smirking wide, "Another Delane…" he muses, licking his lips, "You a washout like your sister?" he taunts, eyes moving past Terri to fall on Aisha, "Speak of the devil and she appears!" he chuckles, everyone's eyes falling on her as well. "Well this must be a big event if little miss New York is returning home." he smirks, looking Terri over, "She must think a lot of her baby sister taking on the legacy alone..."
Nelen grips his arm as it spasms oddly, but doesn't say anything. Its not the blood, its Kalfu. He may not know it himself, but Merihim recognizes the Loa as one who is sort of... branched off from Sathanus, lord of the Court of Wrath in Hell. Not the fallen angel himself, but almost as powerful as him. Many of the Loa were born of those who tried to combine their old faith from Africa with this strange 'god on sticks' that the white men worshiped, and Kalfu was one of the results of this. Dawn doesn't say anything, but the fur on her tail and spine starts to fluff out as she reacts to his presence.
Simoni and Stephy know enough to stay mute as well, though its not extremely hard. The loa seems to have eyes for just Terri and Aisha at the moment.
Aisha frowns, but stands slowly, eyes remaining locked on the old man. "She's not alone. I'm here to resume my training. Now, you gonna spend all day talking shit to me, or are you going to do your job and test my sister?" There was an aura of tension for sure, half the tent seemed to be waiting for him to break Aisha's neck... but after a pregnant pause, the man laughs softly, "Nice to see you didn't shuck and jive all the spirit out of you…" he smirks, nodding, "Sit down girl, your time will come then, you're right... I'm here for Terri... It'd be wrong to judge her by her sister's failings." He smirks, circling the girl as Aisha lets her breath out, sitting down slowly.
Nelen's arm spasms again during the pause, but he manages to force it back down. The last thing they need is for Merihim to make an appearance here. Dawn's fur settles back down as the group collectively relaxes when the Loa-possessed man turns his attention back to Aisha's sister.
The two would talk for a time, speaking in Creole back and forth at a rapid pace. Dawn would pick up on some things. He was asking her why she was worthy, what she could do for the Loa, why they can trust her, it was an interview, but an interview with as close to her faith had to the metaphysical concept of 'Satan'. His eyes remained locked on hers, looking for any flinch, any fear... but she seemed to stand her ground well. After a moment, he let out a soft laugh, nodding approvingly, "Yea, you'll do." he grins wide, chuckling as he reaches down to the pool of bird blood at his feet, taking a bit on his index finger and pressing the bloody fingertip to her forehead "The keys to the kingdom are yours, girl." he smirks "Don't waste ‘em..."
Dawn's ears twitch as she listens in, translating most of it... but they're talking too fast and too soft for her to catch everything. When he touches his finger to her forehead the group (except possibly Aisha) all feel the familiar 'ping' from the part of them that senses magic, able to tell that something just happened.
There's another pause as Terri takes in a soft breath, focusing on the newfound surge of power as she nods, "I won't." is all she says as the man chuckles, nodding. "I'll be seeing you real soon then…" he smirks, eyes moving to Aisha, "You too... don't keep me waiting pretty lady." he teases before his body jerks again, the man crumpling to the floor and breathing raggedly as the rest of the family divides between helping him get some air and praising Terri. Aisha chuckles softly as she stands, shaking her head, "Coulda at least skyped me that Terri's ceremony was coming up…" she says to a short, older woman with lines across her face, black hair showing patches of gray as it's bound in a similar bun to Terri's.
"Yea, like you woulda come." is all she says before Terri hugs Aisha tightly, "I'm glad you did though."
Nelen gets to his feet, keeping his eyes on the fallen man until he's sure that Kalfu was gone. He wasn't certain if the Loa recognized who was 'riding' in him or not. "Yeah, didn't realize we'd be walking in on something like this. Hope we didn't distract too much..." he says, still rubbing his arm a bit as Dawn curls onto one of his shoulders, her yellow eyes running over the assembled people in the tent.
The woman sighs, but her face softens when the girls hug, shaking her head, "No, he woulda brought up Aisha anyway. It was good she was here to show some spine for a change." she sighs as the man slowly gets to his feet, rubbing his head, "That was a rough one…" he grumbles as someone hands him a bottle of rum, letting him swish some around in his mouth like mouthwash.
Nelen nods in sympathy. He knows what it's like having to do that for years, but still it's rough even when it's just once in a while. Simoni smirks a bit at the comment about Aisha 'showing some spine', wondering if she should mention how she went toe to toe with an evil goddess before Inishmor got blown to bits or how she was one of the ones keeping Franklin busy so they could get enough magic together to shatter his sword... but she figures there's probably a reason she hadn't told her family about those yet...
There was a bit of talk, Aisha trying and failing to introduce the group to a near endless parade of uncles and aunts and cousins and such in a non-confusing way. It is clear though that it's just her and Terri when it comes to siblings, and their father seemed to not be in the picture. The older woman, her mother, Millie, was polite enough as she met them. "So, I assume you and your friends are staying over? Not even you would be dumb enough to lie to Kalfu, so you really are here to finish training?" she asks as Aisha gives a resigned nod, "Yea, I'm here to finish."
Nelen nodded politely to her, "Yeah, um... we'll find ourselves a hotel in town though. Let Aisha take care of what she needs to do without us around 'n all." he replies, though in part its because he's not too eager to let himself be around that Loa again. Merihim had gotten really antsy when he was there...
She nods "There's a decent place in walking distance that should do you well. Well come on, we have a feast to celebrate new mambos, and I suppose we're also celebrating family being together again." she smiles as she leads the group out of the tent to the back yard. It seemed despite any tension the family had, most people were glad to see Aisha again at the very least.
The highly spiced food already has Arja and Simoni's attention, and even Nelen feels his stomach growl despite his dislike for things like shrimp (too many legs). "So, never actually got to see a real vodou ritual before." he comments, "I've been around, but most of my work in America was up north, though I did do a bit in Texas before." he nods, "Not too many borkors and vodouns up there, though I did run into a guy who swore up and down he was the reincarnation of Papa Legba." he smirks, then adds, "Mind you, he had to take a lot of pills and once told me that he was also Santa Claus."
Terri chuckles lightly, "Yea we tend to stay in familiar waters, and no matter how close the bond to loas we have, anyone saying he's a 'reincarnation' is a scammer or a lunatic." she says with a smile, Aisha nodding. "The Loa aren't proper 'gods' like Arja would know. There's one God in heaven, Bondye the creator. He is distant from us, though, so the Loa exist as... go-betweens. They're like a blend of saints and gods, we serve them, and they all have their own agendas and feelings, but they are subservient to Bondye." Her mother smirks softly at that, leading the group to an empty table to sit with Terri, "Nice to see you didn't forget the little training you got." she teases.
Nelen smirks, "Yeah... this guy was pretty special. Like 'I tried to eat crayons' special." he chuckles as Dawn grins at the woman, then says, "Could've been worse. Remember 'Far Out Man'?" she asks, talking in perfect English despite still being in animal form. She wasn't sure if anyone picked up on her not being a normal cat, but she can't resist getting a bit of a reaction. Nelen nods to her, "Oh yeah, that guy... Get this. Back in the sixties some hippies broke into a government research lab and one of them got his hands on some experimental LSD mix, then tries it out. Apparently it didn't just open the doors to his perception, but blew them right off their hinges. Most powerful telekinetic and telepath we've seen so far... but he's still high. Fifty five years later and he's still on the drug trip from that tab." he rolls his eyes, "He's good at helping out with a problem if you can get him to remember what planet he's on for longer than five minutes."
Terri chuckles again, no one seeming to be more than a little surprised by the talking cat, one young boy even offering Dawn a shrimp as the family eats. "Mhm." Millie smirks, taking her seat at the head of the table next to Terri. "Had one poor sap come in about ten years ago... Aisha you remember him. Convinced he had Marinette Bras Cheche in him after a ritual still. He said 'it's not so bad really'." Aisha snorts, giggling a bit as she finishes, "I just get angry whenever I pass the crematorium.” The two laugh at that, obviously some old inside family joke. There was a level of awkwardness, the occasional look or two, but it seemed most of the tension had left them. "Aisha had a great deal of talent... still does" she smiles softly "We're glad to have her back, but, and don't get upset... I assume you're doing this because you need something?"
Aisha sighs softly, nodding, "I can't pretend that offends me. I was pretty clear when I left about the whole 'never coming back' thing... Yea we do..." She goes through the story, well, the heavily edited version at least. Explaining most of the group on the supernatural scale, explaining her work with her ancestor, talking about the fight on the island, the mundane blade, and what got released... "So... yeah…" she nods after a bit, the crowd having gone silent as she spoke, "We need magic this thing doesn't know."
Her mother just nods, "And it wouldn't know this kind of magic. That's clever, very clever." She chuckles softly, shaking her head, "Only you would come back from running away from home as some kinda African knight of the round table…" she smirks, eyes looking down at her plate, "You do things your own way. I should have seen that earlier. Terri is as gifted as you, but she's a product of the old ways, her soul is old, she took to the training like a duck to the water." she smiles, squeezing Terri's hand. "I should have known my girls were different though, maybe if I did..."
Aisha sighs again, shaking her head, "If you did I'd be here helping out today, and for all we know without my help these guys would have gotten slaughtered on that fucked up island. What was it you told me when I got angry at the training. Ours is not to question the path, only to thank those who light it? Well, my path took me a lot of other stops before I got here I guess." There was a softness in her voice, the anger she had back in India melting away as she sees her mother in a more human light than the view she had of her in her head.
Simoni nods, "Yeah. If Aisha hadn't helped us out we wouldn't have made it out of the Nightside that time, much less survived Inishmor." she says, nodding to Aisha's hip, specifically the sword still there. "Takes someone specific to use that sort of weapon." she giggles, helping herself to a large bowl of gumbo as Dawn eagerly snaps up the shrimp, then teleports, steals several more, and vanishes. Nelen nods in agreement, "Yeah, pity that it had to wind up doing what it did to the island. I mean, sheesh... We really did just make it out in time with that one." he sighs, remembering the sick feeling in his gut when he saw Simoni and Arja shooting off to fight Carman, despite Simoni's arm being injured by her lightning. He'd advocated just running away and letting Franklin and Carman sort each other out... which still bothered him. Part of him knew it was just common sense and survival instincts talking, but another part always knew, deep down, its because he knows exactly where he'll go when he dies.
There's a bit of a pause as Millie looks Nelen over, chuckling softly, "You have a rider too, hm? Not like ours though. I thought I felt something stir in you during the ceremony." she nods, not pressing the issue further, "Aisha could learn to help you control that better in time, if you got the time to spare. We may not have much authority over things outside our realm, but we pick up tricks here and there. Sometimes in the old days a bokor was the only magician a town had, had to learn how to quell spirits and demons alike.”
He shakes his head, "Thanks, but I'm good. So long as I keep these on and keep my temper he's not too bad..." he replies, flexing his bandaged hand. "Really, he only got worked up because..." his arm twitches, "... he 'recognized' Kalfu." he nods, then his arm spasms again, "... or, who Kalfu used to be a part of, or something. Its complicated." he sighs, rubbing at his forearm. "Dammit, every time he does that it's like a miniature muscle cramp." he grumbles as Dawn reappears with a whole fish in her mouth, ducking off into the bushes to messily devour it.
Simoni shrugs, "Yeah, somehow I don't think that Nelen's 'rider' would take well to someone helping him control them." she comments... though she finds herself wondering how Nelen's teacher was able to get Merihim to behave long enough to teach her brother how to keep him in line.
The feast goes on for a while until, finally, Nelen and the others bid farewell to Aisha for the time being and head to the hotel they’d indicated. Arja and Simoni get their own room of course, and they all get a rare moment of peace before Simoni goes to get her pajamas out of her bag, a small childish voice yells, “About time human! Where are we now?”, and Dawn teleports in to scream at her baby brother for stowing away… again.","pools_count":0,"title":"Part 2.8 New Adventures in New Orleans","deleted":"f","public":"t","mimetype":"application/msword","pagecount":"1","rating_id":"0","rating_name":"General","ratings":[],"submission_type_id":"12","type_name":"Writing - Document","guest_block":"f","friends_only":"f","comments_count":"0","views":"17","sales_description":null,"forsale":"f","digitalsales":"f","printsales":"f","digital_price":""}