(1406)(AFD) Asp and Ixidor

[Ixidor]

It's a reaction Ixidor has seen variations of for over a decade, now. That 'holy shit, Adrian Isaacs is Awakened!?' that Asp did an admirable job of grappling with. He never grows tired of it. It's supremely flattering, really. A good feeling.

And to be honest, when he'd first returned from the Watchtower of the Golden Key, his response had generally been a super-excited 'I know, right!?'. Or, whatever the equivalent catchphrase was in 2004.

But despite the cute double take, where the rocker pictures something involving a deer and headlights, she handled it pretty smoothly. It's a good balance, on both ends of the spectrum, and he isn't surprised to hear her say that she's an Arrow. Quick assimilation and adaptation of new information to adjust tactics, and all that.

"Ixidor, among us. Silver Ladder." His tattooed hand is still shaking hers, casually. "'Asp', huh? That's a cool enough Shadow Name." He quirks an eyebrow and turns his head slightly as though to look at her with sidelong curiosity. "Shaman, maybe?"

Animal Shadow Name is a Thyrsus thing usually, right? He's not about to scrutinize her to try and determine it himself. That's just rude, since they're being friendly. As with his more mundane senses, sometimes it's more fun to imagine what's underneath, first.

The rocker hasn't let go of her hand, yet, unless Asp chooses to disentangle herself first. Otherwise, he politely does when she begins to respond.

[Ixidor]

Ixidor isn't surprised at the combo of her name and Order to be sure, but running into another Obrimos is always cool. More often than not, it meant they shared some interests or views in common. And it's always intriguing to see what those similarities are, along with the differences.

"Fellow Theurge," he says with a brief, nonchalant ta-da lift of his arms. Her smiles and grins are reflected in his, though his look somehow both mischievous and lazy. It might give the impression that, when invoking Forces to conceal himself from sight, his smile is the last thing to go.

"Funny story, about my Shadow Name." Funnier still, that people so rarely ask. "Funny, and kind of dumb." The last few words are said through a chuckle.

Tattooed hands lift again, as though holding an invisible box close between the two of them. Or in this case, setting a stage for the short story. "For maybe..." his face flashes to an amusing grimace of recollection, "fifteen months after Awakening, I tried a few different things out. Decibel sounded a bit too feminine, but not like that really bothered me. I thought had pretty much settled on Amplitude.

"Then people could shorten it to Amp, and then it's a pun. Because:" He punctuates the thought with a waggle of one set of fingers and a twist of the other wrist, subtly suggest air guitar. Amp could have been short for two or three things, and all of them work with the Obrimos.

"But then this teenager I'm bullshitting with backstage one night-- a sleeper, has no idea about The Lie he's living-- tells me about this fictional character for some fantasy something-or-other, that he thinks the creators intentionally made look like me. With the wild hair, and the pointy beard, and everything.

"I say, 'oh, cool.' you know. 'Tell me about him.' Humoring the kid more than anything, but hey, if a fan wants to tell me something, I kind of feel I owe it to him to really listen and give him my ear for a minute. He bought the ticket, after all.

"So turns out, this character is a wizard. Expelled by reality itself in his madness. No longer subject to the common rules of existence, and with no interest in obeying them."

The rocker laughs. "Man, I fucking changed my Shadow Name then and there. Couldn't resist that kind of irony. Or maybe even Fate. Hysterical."

After that, a shrug. "Like I said, kind of silly, but at least the word is fun to say, right?"

[Ixidor]

Ixidor has just enough time before further developments to laugh at Asp's own antics, bouncing the energy back and forth like a ball. He throws his arms out and says, "That's exactly what I mean! I keep expecting for someone to bust my balls over walking around basically calling myself Gandalf. Or Merlin, or some shit. Voldemort, maybe."

At the exclamation, he winces. But not in annoyance. Amusement, more like it, and he follows Asp's attention to the man. Almost immediately, his attention returns to her, and is silently assessing them both. He has no idea what's going on in his fellow Theurgist's mind, but from his perspective, the reaction is downright fascinating.

Was she preparing to 'protect' him from a potential threat, or something? Even taking the Arrow mindset into consideration, that's sooooo sweet.

Not to condescend. He doesn't doubt that she's about to embarrass the hell out of him when whatever events get underway and and he stupidly decides to participate in one of them. Then probably faint on the grass outside and promise himself a thousand times to quit smoking.

It's not that Ix is in bad shape. He just isn't in great shape. And one quick glance to the profile of Asp's ass and legs (yoga pants!) confirms that she most definitely is.

While they wait for the guy to make his way over, the rocker slides over to comfortably face the new arrival's direction along with his acquaintance. Ix looks welcoming enough, but his thoughts are still on his conversation with Asp. A tattooed elbow extends slightly to tap at hers, but due to height differences hits a little higher on her arm.

"Seeing with Forces at a concert is one of the greatest things you'll ever experience, I promise. Pathmate VIP slot is totally yours." He's murmuring the words, easily heard by the woman right next to him, but not as much the others at varying distance all around, or the guy closing in on them. "Consider it called. I'll let you know as soon as something's set up."

Of course, for that to happen, he has to have her number.

[TheMalkCat]

"Holy shit, you're Awakened?!"

Where Asp succeeds, Mr. Death's Disciple fails. He fails hard. His motor mouth gets the best of him as he practically spews.

"Holy fucking shit, man, you're a Mage? How the fuck did that happen?! I fucking love your music, dude! I remember skipping out on Sunday Mass to see one of your concerts when you went to San Fran! I was waaaaaay in the back but it was still fucking hype! How long have you been a Mage? Do you will-work in the middle of concerts? How the hell do you do that with so many people?! Wouldn't the Lie kick your shit in if you did that? Is Adrian Issacs your real name? Aren't you worried about people scrying the crap out of you or some shit using that or is it another shadow name because that'd be effing awesome, or do you just not give two shits? That's EVEN MORE AWESOME! That's like waving your dick around and daring everyone else to take a shot at you, holy fucking shit that's metal! What Path are you? Are you a Moros? When you had that overdose in '04 and came back I thought 'Maybe he could...' then I was like "Naaaah that's bullshit." But if its true then oh my god this is just fuck yes!"

When Geist looks back on tonight, he will recoil in shame at his behavior. But for now, the Moros is euphoric. He doesn't even register the girl beside Adrian, what with the way he's too busy arm flailing and gesturing and generally speaking VERY LOUDLY with his hands.

Someone please give him a 'calm down' slap.

[Ixidor]

At the end of the first few questions, Ix nearly opens his mouth to answer. He should know better than that by now, though. Letting the poor guy get all the air out of his lungs with a sufficiently entertained patience, the rocker slips Asp a raise of eyebrows along with an impressed frown, once. Admiration for the guy's lung capacity. Easy to imagine that he's spent a lot of time roaring at rock concerts.

When Asp uses the guy's pause for air to make a bid for retreat, Ixidor can't help but briefly slip her another cat-like expression. But this one is more Puss in Boots than Cheshire. He doesn't really mind if she uses this as an excuse to bail out, but he'd be properly enamored if she chooses to stick around and play it cool with him.

"Deep breath!" He plows into another space, with a grin. "Shadow name's Ixidor, man. How about yours?"

He sticks his hand out, as he had for Asp.

"And yeah, you pretty much guessed it. That Near-Death-Experience I blabbed about a few times right after I overdosed back in Oh Four? That was my trip to the Aether. Watchtower of the Golden Key." He lifts a small pendant hanging from one of the few chains around his neck that is indeed a golden key. Meant to be a clue, along with the fact the rest of his jewelry is always silver. Golden Key, Silver Ladder.

"That was back when I didn't know shit... head still full of Lies and no idea of the Precept of Secrecy. Luckily, the Los Angeles Pentacle was very understanding, and I'm a fast learner."

One good thing about a city overrun with Libertines, nobody had the balls to step forward and axe him right away. After they'd realized he was one of the rare undiscovered and untaught, it was realized that he wasn't just being a fucking idiot.

"This is Asp, by the way. A Talon. So I reckon she's here to show us all how it's done, today." He slips her another wry, sidelong smirk as he playfully attempts to anchor her to the conversation along with issuing the challenge. He catches the greeting from Leo across the way, responding with a slight stretching of his smirk to a smile, and a wink.

@Xander

He plays well with others.

[TheMalkCat]

"...and when you went like 'wrreenowreeeeee!' at the end I just lost it, man! This is just. This is pretty hype."

At last, Geist putters out of breath with a cough and gasp after the last few words. He crosses his arms and rocks gently back and forth on his heels at the revelation. Mind=Blown Shame and regret for this unabashed fangasm shall come later. For now, he just basks in the Adrian Issacs afterglow and listens as the Rocker introduces himself proper.

The shadow name Ixidor has a very D&D feel to it. Tastes like Tolkien. Not something Geist expects from the rockstar but he can roll with it. "Geist! I'm Geist. Short for Zeitgeist. Spirit of the times and what not. It's better than Catbones, which was my first choice." Geist also neglects to mention his actual first choice, 'Ghul the Dreadcaller,' which totally wasn't some half-baked name out of a trashy urban-fantasy romance novel.

Because no one reads that crap. Especially not this guy. Nope.

Geist slows his rocking to a stop on the back of his heels when Adrian Issacs Ixidor lifts the Golden Key at his neck. His smile dims by a fraction. He's an Obrimos. That's kind of. Alright I guess. I just thought the whole get up in black and getting deadified meant he'd be a Moros. Like me. He's not completely put off though. Geist is perfectly fine imagining Ixidor as an audiomancer rending the Lie with a single ear-blooding scream with a Dedicated Les Paul in the middle of a Los Angeles concert.

But Geist sets aside the Veil-piercing fantasies for now and looks at the girl Ixidor points out for the first time. Geist gives her a cheery token raise of the hand accompanied by a crooked-tooth smile. "Talon as in Arrow, right?" The Moros gives a slow whistle as he brightens at Asp fresh with interest.

"This is the first time I've ever met one of you guys in person and in the open. I heard some pretty crazy whispers about your Order back in San Fran after the shit that went down a handful of years ago between the Arrow and the Guardians. Got the image of a Kung Fu Jedi Wizard stuck in my head from some of the things they said. Maybe I'll get to see you guys kick some Banisher ass one day. That'd be pretty sweet."

Geist gestures from Asp to Ixidor. "If you couldn't guess, I'm a pretty big fan. You a fan too?"