Asp Glimpses

"CAWWWWW!"

HolyshitI'mflyyyiiinngggg--

Asp beat her jet-black wings against the night sky as she flew off the roof of the Fourth Wall, generating lift and feeling the wind whipping through her feathers. Do not think for a moment that the usually-nimble martial artist was doing this well. Her coordination was off, her unfamiliarity with her body completely screwing with her, and her legs were tiny. She had tail feathers and a beak, and a black wingspan that she actually thought was really, really cool, but for the fact that it was so wildly, awfully awkward.

A garbage truck rumbled by below, and somewhere within her, the Obrimos's usual hunger almost drove her to the scent of garbage. Internally, she was repulsed. The crow part of her brain loved the notion, and the animalistic urge almost made her want to bird-vomit.

A squall of wind caught her wings, sending her scrambling to stay aloft as she drove toward the pavement. She barely managed to right herself thanks to a second lucky draft, pulling back up before she faceplanted with the force of gravity and left some beak on the cement.

She pulled hard to the left, tumbling through the wind more than flying, and other birds flew around her as a horn BEEPED by a tree. They bumped into her - she wasn't used to flying in a rotation. One looked at her and she had a strange urge, noticing strange things like the way his feathers were preened --

"CAW!"

Eww.

She couldn't keep up with the flock, so shitty was she on this first flight. Whoever said flying like a bird was awesome? They were kidding themselves! This was the worst. It was like learning to walk, with wings --

TREE--

A squak. A THUD. Pain, as she slid down through branches and bark...

This is gonna take so much practice...

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-12-02 22:13:14		Asp rolls 7 to Shapeshifting (HS, -2 for size) (10 Again)		5, 3, 6, 9, 6, 9, 7		2 successes
2014-12-02 22:12:11		Asp rolls 1 to 'dox -1dmt -1 mana (10 Again, Chance)		1		Dramatic Failure!

"Again!"

Asp's brow glistened with sweat as she worked through the forms. There was something about them, something that felt so right, but she'd never faced anything this difficult in her entire life. Arms moving at angles she had never before thought practical, legs snapping up and out and over, there was just...

...it was like every martial art she'd ever learned was the undergraduate degree, and she was pursuing a doctorate under the meanest taskmaster of a teacher she ever could have signed up for. And signed up she had. She knew what Sharp was like. Relentless and focused, with absolutely no tolerance for failure, the former Army Lieutenant-Colonel and current Adamant Sage of Las Vegas had agreed to come to test her. She'd passed... at least, well enough that he had determined it was time.

Right now, he was making her wish she hadn't. Six-foot-one of lithe muscle and ropey sinew, the old Sage stood at the side of the dojo with his arms crossed, staring disapprovingly at her. She knew that look. It was the look of expectation. Performance was the only option, unless she wanted to wash out.

"No! Come on now, soldier! You said you were ready for this!"

She paused, looking at him as she panted. He was moving. That meant a lesson was coming.

"Watch carefully. You're thinking too much like an improvised actor here. You should've learned something more formalized instead of that trick with the broom handle. There is absolutely nothing to be done on the fly about the Hand of Life's Breath. This is Supernal Truth, not some hackjob in a barfight!"

Hands moved, followed by legs in perfect rhythm, his body twisting as if to become the very Atlantean runes he was channeling. His hand snapped in, striking her in the shoulder. Her shield meant less than it ever had before.

"Form is everything, Asp. Perfect duplication is the standard, and nothing less will do. Become the rune. Do you understand?"

In this instant, tossing aside everything Avis had ever shown her about improvisation was essential. It had its place. She disagreed with her mentor, there. But here and now wasn't it. Her body, mind and soul had to align and embody the concepts of war that she was bringing to bear.

"Yes, sir!"

Sharp snapped off a single, shallow nod and placed his hands behind his back.

"Body and soul. Align the two, and you'll draw the Realms closer together through perfection by way of the fine art of combat. The Supernal is the Self! Now, do it again!"

A drum beat pealed out from Asp's room one day in January as she practiced away at the drum that Avis had given to her for Christmas. The Veiled Threats? Cabal Function: Band. That was what they were out to do, and instruments had been acquired for exactly that purpose. Who didn't want to be a badass drummer, right? First, it'd be the hand drum. Then, the snare and kit (that Ermon totally didn't know he would be buying her yet).

Maybe one day she'd audition for Ixidor's tour?

Naw. Probably not. Duties. Service is Mastery, and she was pretty sure that serving his band as a drummer didn't really count toward making her a better Arrow. But sometimes, you had to meditate, right?

Maybe Jonathan would find this a weird way to focus herself, but whatever. It was her way.

A familiar rhythm, setting a beat, African style as she got her mind into safari mode.

"In the jungle, the miiiighty jungle, the lion sleeps toooniiiighht! In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps toniight..."

The beat picked up, harder as she howled, "AW-EEEEEEEEEEEEE, EEEEEEE AWUMBAWAAAYYYYYYYYY!"

Yup. She could even do the backup vocals. Now, if only she were actually good...

Okay, seriously. When Asp signed up to be a Sentinel, she had sort of glossed over the downsides of being a cop for the Consilium. Sure, it was an honourable posting, a fit position for any Arrow to strive for to become better. Indeed, it even required a Sentinel candidate to learn new skills and develop themselves in new directions. If Adaptability was Strength, then Sentinels who wanted do their job properly had to be multifaceted indeed. It wasn't all magic and fighting.

No, sometimes it was struggling over a copy of the new Lex Magica to understand it. A cop who didn't know the law wasn't much of a cop at all, were they?

So it was that Asp sat on her bed with the pages Ermac had given her at the last Obrimos meeting spread before her, studying. She'd failed in her duty to avoid Vanilla Coke that night, a half-drunk can sitting on the nightstand's coaster. The fizz was long gone. And who cared? Certainly not Asp.

Fizz was a Lie.

Her eyes were starting to tire from the strain of it. She wasn't an academic person. Research? Yeah, she could do it, and even got excited about it when it came to magical stuff, but the letter of the Law?

Asp was always happy to serve, but for this new nightmare?

Aquinas owed her another pizza. Speaking of which: it was time to call for Papa John's. Isn't that what college students did? What a weird notion, that right now she was actually one at Banisher U. Pepperoni and bacon with BBQ sauce... that was proper study food.

And wouldn't going to pick it up give her a nice break to procrastinate?

With a sigh, she redoubled her efforts. The Adamant Way dictated that she work on her weaknesses, and so it would be done - but why did it have to be so boring?

Asp's eyes were red as she lay atop her covers in the little projector room above the theater that she called her Sanctum. A bedside lamp was all the light that filled the room, and the only sound was the purring of the little black kitten that she held against her chest.

She'd cried the tears she would cry this day over the letter that Zodiac had left her. My dear friend, Asp...

It hadn't started that way, of course. First there had been shock, then a bit of outrage - all the things about the woman she'd once known as Ozymandias that she hadn't known. A woman back home. Someone close enough to her to marry, apparently. What shit was that? Why wouldn't she have shared?

But deep within her, Asp knew. Zodiac was a Guardian, through and through. Family, friend, but a Guardian - one who traveled. One who didn't set down deep roots. One who would leave at the drop of a hat.

And why? For what?

Why hadn't someone who called her their 'dear friend' come and said something?

None of it made sense. Maybe Avis and Star knew more. Maybe they'd be able to clear this up, to explain the whys and wherefores - or maybe they were just as surprised. But how could Asp fault her?

Avis and Star were so in love. Apparently, so was Zodiac. Shouldn't she be happy for her? To find a mated Soul in this Exarch-created crucible of war and fear against things that would end them simply for who they were? Wasn't that its own kind of Magic?

Asp looked down, and Felix looked up, earning himself an ear-scratching.

"She really loved you, buddy." A kiss, planted on his kitty head, the fur still a little wet with tears. "So do I. Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere, pal."

Could cats feel loss?

When would she stop?