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  1. #11
    Avis's Avatar
    Avis
    Avis

    Vulgar: Color drains from the immediate area and depth perception becomes temporarily skewed, everything seeming to draw in uncomfortably close, making rooms smaller and all but distant objects seem in reach.
    Vice: Color drains from Avis and her facial features seem indistinct and grainy, as though her identity is growing less defined.
    Virtue: Colors appear more vibrant and everything seems to become grander in scale.
    Merits

    2
    PRE

    Ah, but see, that was part of what she meant, about the fragments.

    '...always one foot out the door.'

    There was a glimpse there, in that metaphor, of something different. A different existence, different definitions, different limitations...part of her had always been grasping after those limitations, the True limitations, the laws that existed beyond this illusion that they were living in. That, Avis believed, had been at the heart of her desire, the drive behind her quest, just as it had been her own frailties, her selfishness, her physical obsession, her hubris that had lead the desire and the quest astray.

    And...perhaps more than that besides...

    Avis' hand tightened around Star's fingers as she felt his lips brush against her cheek, and the slim, elegant band of the River Ring pressed firmly against her skin, reminding her of its presence as it subtly etched its pattern into her ring finger.

    No matter how dark her thoughts had been moments before, no matter that her tears had mixed with the breath of the wind, a small smile slowly fought it's way into being on her lips.

    '...I'll always be yours...'

    Spoken both words, but also with the artifact that sat upon her finger. An oathring, forged and accepted with that promise in mind.

    For both of them.

    "I was afraid I was going to die,"
    Avis said softly, turning to so that their lips were only inches apart. "I was afraid that I was going to die in the mud, forgotten beneath the walls of a French fortress. And I was afraid I was going to die, again, after we first met. Back...back in Florida. But you saved my life.

    "Without this,"
    she confessed, lifting their clasped hands up, the ring hovering before their eyes, "I wouldn't have made it back. That's...that's part of what helped me realize that I was making a mistake. That I was trying to walk away from what made me who I am. From what made us who we are."

    She let their hands fall again, and freed her hand from his so that she could reach up to twine the curls of the mop between her fingers.

    "I know I haven't done much to uphold the oath that I made to you, but I want to. I want to prove that I can. I just...I just don't think that I can do that here."
    "Aw-Vee". Pres 2 (Moody). Mastigos, Adamantine Arrow. Trace of a Cajun accent.
    Defense: 8. 3 cloaked spells. Phone (pot 6), Belt (pot 5), Self (pot 2 +3) Spell tolerance: 1/3, Accumulation: 3/7

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  3. #12
    Star's Avatar
    Status
    (Entertainment)
    Status
    (News Media)
    New Identity
    (Jack Hoyle)
    Nimbus

    The Mirage: Star appears translucent with overlapping and slightly offset images of himself in different identities/disguises.
    Supernal

    1
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    Yep, that's his Intervallutrix.

    As nice as it would be to hear her return the sentiment, he heard the language spoken by her hands. First in his and then scarred digits sifting through the mop. He leaned into the palms and listened, eyes settling on the Ring when she held it up. At times the matching one on his finger had alternately been a symbol of everything that was, could be, or fading away.

    But he'd never have asked for it back.

    Freely given, he'd meant exactly what he'd said when he'd first offered it. In past months he'd even questioned why she hadn't taken it for a different finger or if it had been a placating gesture. But either way? His light would always be with her.

    "I've never heard you say that before,"
    he answered. Afraid she would die. Useless panic at moments months gone spiked like a icy dagger at the thought. He couldn't always be at her side and neither of them would be who they were if he was. Even if she was an Arrow, the thought was still incomprehensible. He moved without thinking, pulling her close and holding her tight. For long seconds he just held Daisy and burrowed his face into the curve of her shoulder, framing his face in cotton and sable while he breathed in the scent of her skin. "...And you'd never be forgotten."

    Arms and long fingers slowly relaxed. Part of him wanted to say that he didn't want some near-death rebound, part of him didn't care if that's what it was, but all of him trusted her enough to know it wasn't.

    "Not... here?"
    Bluish eyes blinked. "Like... go somewhere? Move?" He was pretty sure she wasn't talking about doing a Museum on the bridge. Lips parted as the hamster wheel churned. "Just us?" The thought made him inhale and hold it. Sacramento. There were so many memories, but so many things gone wrong. They'd both put months and years into investigations that had gone nowhere and propping up a fractured Consilium. Taken in others when Asp and Zoey had left them. Was it selfish to think how much of their lives they'd shared with others while trying to build their own? Just leaving wasn't an idea he'd ever considered, because he would have thought she'd see it as abandoning the city. But now that it was Idea given birth by her words, it was something he hadn't known he wanted. "Fuck yes," he breathed out. "I'd... love to. All of that. Anywhere. Let's do it."

    Let's find out who We are. What We could be.

    His own hand reached up to brush lank darkness aside, as if revealing more of her face would bring the Idea better into focus. Anticipation like showing her his ratty little apartment for the first time all over again. And for the first time in a long time, he let himself fall into the fen waters; dark, mysterious, and now with a promise that felt warm and comfortable.

    Which reminded him...

    "What, uh, what did you mean 'after we first met'? That deal with the weird house and teddy bear?"
    Nimbus in MiniSheet 2. Cloaked spells, no overt magical res. Scrut for deets.
    '...Watch With Glittering Eyes...'
    - Roald Dahl

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  5. #13
    Avis's Avatar
    Avis
    Avis

    Vulgar: Color drains from the immediate area and depth perception becomes temporarily skewed, everything seeming to draw in uncomfortably close, making rooms smaller and all but distant objects seem in reach.
    Vice: Color drains from Avis and her facial features seem indistinct and grainy, as though her identity is growing less defined.
    Virtue: Colors appear more vibrant and everything seems to become grander in scale.
    Merits

    2
    PRE

    "No," Avis clarified, leaning ever closer to him. "I meant...even before that." She punctuated the words by finally closing the scant breadth of space between them, though her lips did meet his, but instead moved past them so that she could plant a small kiss below his ear, and then whisper: "Remember?"

    She knew that he would. She knew he could never forget, nevermind that she'd brought it up just moments before. Still, she wanted, no, needed to see his reaction. She needed it almost to the point of opening another eye and gazing at the miasma of sentiment swirling around him, but she feared that their wounds were still too fresh to peek beneath he bandages.

    "The first night we met,"
    she said again, staring hopefully into his eyes. "When I accidentally ambushed you an alleyway. In Florida. I was, well, Tuesday and Faye and me, we weren't there just to meet you. We were hunting someone, and the day after we finally tracked them down, but things got bad. Until, that is, I remembered that I had you with me. Your ring saved us. We would have all died without it. And that can't be anything but fate, can it? That I would meet you then, but that your actions, and our union, years later, would then spiral back to save me just afterwards? Maybe I should have asked Tuesday to take a look, but in a way I guess it doesn't matter. What matters is that we, well, we wouldn't be without our union.

    "That's why...that's why I think we should borrow another tradition,"
    she explained, "and go on a sort of, ya know, honeymoon. Maybe check in on Zoey and Asp before going to the Pyramids, or wherever else we want to go."

    She smiled as she said it, imagining, for just a moment, all the different ways they might dress up, and just what expressions their former cabalmates might wear when they found Avis and Star standing on their doorstep.
    "Aw-Vee". Pres 2 (Moody). Mastigos, Adamantine Arrow. Trace of a Cajun accent.
    Defense: 8. 3 cloaked spells. Phone (pot 6), Belt (pot 5), Self (pot 2 +3) Spell tolerance: 1/3, Accumulation: 3/7

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  7. #14
    Star's Avatar
    Status
    (Entertainment)
    Status
    (News Media)
    New Identity
    (Jack Hoyle)
    Nimbus

    The Mirage: Star appears translucent with overlapping and slightly offset images of himself in different identities/disguises.
    Supernal

    1
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    Some chinchillas aren't touchy-feely.

    Personal Space is totally a thing, yo. But Avis pressing closer just highlighted it had never really been that way with her. He'd always even thought it was pretty funny in that Ways You Annoy Your Lover way that he enjoyed being close to an Intervallutrix. It was one of the first things that drew him to her, the fascination and curiosity of just wanting to touch her, to be close to her.

    The first Lies everyone tells themselves are memories, deliberate as often as not until crystal clear images fade into impressions. An image here, a smell there. Until sometimes they fade so far that the only memory left is a feeling evoked.

    Feelings. Impressions. Sometimes, they even shape and define people in subtle ways.

    The tickle of a whisper became a tickle of memories. Buried. Lost. Until they blossom like a fire catching. Warmth turned to ice and his whole body tensed at the realization. Words were lost in a crashing nausea.

    "You fucking '
    Time Traveler's Wife'ed me?"

    It was as much of a gag as a whisper as he pushed away. Eyes were wide with shock. Dots, connecting.

    "Do you even...?"


    A hamster wheel, created from nearly an entire lifetime of fear of his mind being read. Of voices. Skittering nerves every time someone touched him lest they grab and trap him.

    He shivered.

    The way his eyes were always drawn toward dark hair and pale skin. His preference for androgynous, formless clothing. The way the smell of cinnamon was oddly familiar. His near obsession with learning everything and questioning it all.

    The way he'd been drawn to her. Chased her. Needed her.

    Even his attraction to Tuesday.

    Lips moved soundlessly as he fell down each rabbit hole of cause and effect. He didn't remember all of the words. Sometimes they came, like a mantra to ground himself. Like the Litany Against Fear.

    But...?

    Greenish-blue eyes blinked as he sifted at the Moebius strip, trying to determine Truth from Lie. Even his own facets were a jumble; the fears that were born, the comforts sought out, without rhyme or reason. Could he even be sure the light he began to view the situation in wasn't because of that fascination created in a dark alley by the dark figure he couldn't even remember with any distinction but now suddenly knew?

    Wherever you go, there you are.

    Anger cooled slowly, drowned in seas of azure and fen-water green. Knowing why he loved her didn't stop him. Or part of why. He'd been just as much --if not more-- drawn to her fearless and brutal honesty as the now- realized undefinable attraction. And even if he couldn't remember the words now, he'd used them. Been helped by them.

    "That's entirely fucked up. Entirely."
    He exhaled and his features soften into a speculative look. "But... Sorry. I'm just processing. I might be processing a while. Because it's cool, too." Maybe some day he'd tell her about the paranoias she'd instilled, unless she already figured it out. Today? He reached back out and moved into the space he'd created.

    "Did you know? Before... you did it?"

    He'd never been an Acanthus, but he did believe in the Wheel. And wheels are circles. Maybe, just maybe, it was like their Dreams.

    However the Wheel turned, they were meant to be together.
    Nimbus in MiniSheet 2. Cloaked spells, no overt magical res. Scrut for deets.
    '...Watch With Glittering Eyes...'
    - Roald Dahl

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  9. #15
    Avis's Avatar
    Avis
    Avis

    Vulgar: Color drains from the immediate area and depth perception becomes temporarily skewed, everything seeming to draw in uncomfortably close, making rooms smaller and all but distant objects seem in reach.
    Vice: Color drains from Avis and her facial features seem indistinct and grainy, as though her identity is growing less defined.
    Virtue: Colors appear more vibrant and everything seems to become grander in scale.
    Merits

    2
    PRE

    "What?" Avis blurted out, taking a step backwards, her spine coming to press against the cold steel railing of the observation deck.

    "B-But," she faltered, her eyes furiously scanning his face. "How could you not know? I...I burnt it into your memories! You can't, like, can't forget it! Not unless--unless someone threw a rug over it. Or--nevermind, that doesn't matter. I wasn't trying to Time Traveler's Wife you! I didn't even know that it was you until after I'd done it," the Warlock protested.

    "I was just trying to help! I was trying to do what we'd always talked about doing, of shining a light into the eyes of someone that only saw darkness. I was trying to make a change that didn't involve fucking killing someone for once, and passing on a positive message was all I could think to do. And, you know, I don't think it's that unfair. I mean, you did the say thing for me, didn't you? You just didn't use magic. Besides, I thought that was why you did it. Because it was a feedback loop. I changed your life, so then you changed my life, and then I went back to change your life, and...and it's not like I was trying to fuck with you."

    The words were hurried and forceful, born from the intensity of panic and surprise, but they weren't loud.
    "Aw-Vee". Pres 2 (Moody). Mastigos, Adamantine Arrow. Trace of a Cajun accent.
    Defense: 8. 3 cloaked spells. Phone (pot 6), Belt (pot 5), Self (pot 2 +3) Spell tolerance: 1/3, Accumulation: 3/7

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  11. #16
    Star's Avatar
    Status
    (Entertainment)
    Status
    (News Media)
    New Identity
    (Jack Hoyle)
    Nimbus

    The Mirage: Star appears translucent with overlapping and slightly offset images of himself in different identities/disguises.
    Supernal

    1
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    "You couldn't have thrown in 'Bet the Saints 2010 Superbowl'?"

    At fifty to one odds, it was one of The Great Bets. Sure, there have been larger, but far more obscure. You'd need something a kid would remember. It's funny the detours that the mind takes. There was a half grin to go with the question Yeah, he might still be processing -- even shellshocked -- but he was still aware enough to hear the change in the normally drab tone.

    "I remembered. For a long time. But... mostly the words,"
    he added carefully. Words are easy. They take a lot longer to get fuzzy. "And, yeah. Maybe I got 'rug'ged, too." Something he'd told her and still had questions about. "I just... no. I didn't... ever... recognize you."

    Maybe he had. That electric spark the first time they'd touched. The way he could fall into the fen waters. He hadn't noticed his pulse jumping around, and an indefinable pressure had built in his chest. Wonderful words mixed with shocking ones and feeling like they were standing on the edge of something as high as they'd ever been. But there was always Einstein. A reminder of how Avis... just... Avis'd.

    "And you did. Make a change? My, uh, father. He'd decided a while back, back then, it was time for me to start contributing to the, uh, family income. If I wanted to, you know. Eat. Or sleep under a roof." Eyes fell back down towards the dark waters. "So... yeah. I remember... I remember that was, like, the first time someone said something nice to me." Something warm began to grow in his throat, becoming hotter. "...And didn't, I dunno. Want something."

    Something that had moments ago seemed awful was slowly beginning to glow and change into something amazing. Yes, there had been unintended consequences, but there'd been so much more. That thought threatened to skitter off into memories of shrieks of laughter that had never been, and he blinked rapidly.

    "And, ummm. Yeah. I get it, and you're right. Change without violence."
    He looked back up. Some might have taken the words as condescending, or even obvious. But? He did get it and wanted her to know. What that meant for her. "Did I really change you?"

    A moment passed and then he gave in, reaching up to run a hand over her cheek.

    "Pee Ess? Guess you got no one but yourself to blame if I like being around you and being touchy-feely."
    Nimbus in MiniSheet 2. Cloaked spells, no overt magical res. Scrut for deets.
    '...Watch With Glittering Eyes...'
    - Roald Dahl

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  13. #17
    Avis's Avatar
    Avis
    Avis

    Vulgar: Color drains from the immediate area and depth perception becomes temporarily skewed, everything seeming to draw in uncomfortably close, making rooms smaller and all but distant objects seem in reach.
    Vice: Color drains from Avis and her facial features seem indistinct and grainy, as though her identity is growing less defined.
    Virtue: Colors appear more vibrant and everything seems to become grander in scale.
    Merits

    2
    PRE

    "You're kidding, right?" Avis demanded, snatching his hand away from her cheek, but not letting go of it, holding it almost gingerly in the moments after her pique.

    "When we met in the Circle I was in a bad place. I was, I don't teetering, or held together with string, or whatever other metaphor you want to use. I was fragile. And what was the first thing I got dragged into? Staring at the desecrated corpse of Animus' lover, hunting Scelesti. During the first meeting of my Order, I had a piece of would forced through my chest until I lost consciousness. There was nothing for me here that I hadn't already run away from in Chicago or New Orleans. Nothing until I sat down across from you at the Firehouse, and we came up with the pickpocket game,"
    she explained, her voice softening as she reminisced about that night.

    "If I had never met you...I'd just be a shell. Or...or maybe not, maybe I would have discovered something on my own, but I don't think so. I mean, look at what happened,
    " she said with sigh, leaning forward so that she could rest for a moment against his shoulder.

    "There's so many ways to pass on a lesson, or to share an idea,"
    she muttered into him.

    "I'm glad that touch is one of them,"
    Avis added, turning her head so that she could meet his eyes again.
    "Aw-Vee". Pres 2 (Moody). Mastigos, Adamantine Arrow. Trace of a Cajun accent.
    Defense: 8. 3 cloaked spells. Phone (pot 6), Belt (pot 5), Self (pot 2 +3) Spell tolerance: 1/3, Accumulation: 3/7

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  15. #18
    Star's Avatar
    Status
    (Entertainment)
    Status
    (News Media)
    New Identity
    (Jack Hoyle)
    Nimbus

    The Mirage: Star appears translucent with overlapping and slightly offset images of himself in different identities/disguises.
    Supernal

    1
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    "Maybe."

    He didn't resist the manipulation of his hand. Her words? They surprised him. It wasn't how he'd seen her. There's a fine line between idealizing someone and seeing their potential. Even before Firehouse, she'd been the one to pull him off of a wall and throw him into Consilium. His own thoughts wandered those memories for a few moments; how they'd intersected during that day, and the tiniest spark of something beginning.

    "You sure made me work for it, though."
    That's Mostly teasing. "You could have talked to me more, you know. About that stuff." In ways, they had. Crucibles. Change. And maybe he could talk to her more, too. Sometimes things had seemed so fragile he'd kept his Hopes and Fears to himself. And shouldn't have. "I'm starting to think... we're just better together. I know that sounds, uh, silly. But not just... together-together. As lovers. But as people. More Wise. When I think about us... changing each other."

    More caring.

    The words were a pale reflection of how he felt. He looked down at her where her head lay on his shoulder, studying her eyes. Like Desmond Hume of the old 'Lost' TV series, maybe there were 'Contants'. The Idea that their Souls would twine and grow together --however, whenever, the Wheel turned-- because they were meant to was overwhelming. Like a giddy, lighter-than-air epiphany washing over him.

    "I'd love that. A honeymoon. I mean, maybe this place is where We found each other, and now it's time to find out who We are. Or... can be."


    Together. Not as individuals in tandem, but as the sum of their whole.
    Nimbus in MiniSheet 2. Cloaked spells, no overt magical res. Scrut for deets.
    '...Watch With Glittering Eyes...'
    - Roald Dahl

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  17. #19
    Avis's Avatar
    Avis
    Avis

    Vulgar: Color drains from the immediate area and depth perception becomes temporarily skewed, everything seeming to draw in uncomfortably close, making rooms smaller and all but distant objects seem in reach.
    Vice: Color drains from Avis and her facial features seem indistinct and grainy, as though her identity is growing less defined.
    Virtue: Colors appear more vibrant and everything seems to become grander in scale.
    Merits

    2
    PRE

    "A honeymoon suggests that we'd come back," Avis replied softly, her eyes drifting back out towards the vanishing end of the night darkened waters of the Sacramento river.

    "To stay, I mean," she clarified, feeling as if, just by giving voice to those thoughts, all of her ties to the city stretching out around them began to vanish. Just as the thoughts of a Warlock ought to, she mused, a small smile returning no matter how solemn she felt.

    "I do want to come back to Sacramento, to visit,"
    Avis continued, "but I don't want to come back to stay. You and I, we've spilled so much blood here, spent so much time...And, really, I think we were letting ourselves be fooled, fooled into thinking this Consilium was the most important thing in the world, when really it's just a small piece of it. Maybe an important piece, but there's so many others, so many wonderful, terrible, and beautiful pieces out there, and I want to discover them with you. I don't care if you want to sail across the ocean, or go delve into the desert, or sit in some preppy hotel or dirty cafe. Wherever we go we'll see Truths we never could of seen, sitting here, in this little corner of the lie.

    "All I need to know, though,"
    Avis pressed, "is where you think we should go first."
    "Aw-Vee". Pres 2 (Moody). Mastigos, Adamantine Arrow. Trace of a Cajun accent.
    Defense: 8. 3 cloaked spells. Phone (pot 6), Belt (pot 5), Self (pot 2 +3) Spell tolerance: 1/3, Accumulation: 3/7

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