Your Sanity Has A Flavour

[Israel Cohen] [[REPOST]][Molly Quincannon]
Before Solomon's name even passes Israel's lips, there's the sound of undoing buckles and zips, though the actual withdrawing of the laptop waits for a moment as Atticus has brought back the Cthulu plushie and all things must pause as Molly ruffles his ears and neck with both hands before tossing the toy again, to be chased and caught and chewed. She doesn't ask, specifically - she fishes. "I'm ... kind of worried about Ashley, y'know. I mean, given she's kind of keeping so much to herself lately..." (and other things don't be uncharitable why not?) "...and ... y'know, she's had stress and ... stuff ... I know I'm supposed to run people past her before I invite them to the House, but ... she's not ... around and there's stuff and it's politically dicey." There. That ought to do it. And by now her laptop is free of its bag and booting up.

As it does so, she explains Team Anders: "Video game character - Dragon Age. The expansion pack for Origins first, but he's going to be in the second one too, when it comes out next week. Snarky, skirt-chasing but underneath-it-all-noble mage by the name of Anders. When he gave that name, I just had to laugh. Particularly since he was flirting with this one racktastic waitress and still found it in him to tell me I had a nice grin. I liked him, but not just for that. I agree with your gut instinct."

Then the explanation, and that gets a frown. "So ... things like what made Lara ... Awake ... got stuck in transmissions from survivors and now this one's kind of psychotic and ... here. We can't banish her, we can't just ... put a bullet to her, I assume ... can we talk her out of poking power at Sleepers before they're ready for it? Because, I mean ... this is a serious Monkey's Paw kind of mess we're having here, and that's the ... somehow the least of it and the worst of it at the same time." Then, after accessing her mp3 player and nudging Israel gently (and with warning) to let her know where her earbud-containing hand is, she asks, "So ... she's not ... here, or there, but in between? That's the part I'm not sure I get."

Then, after an indication from Israel, she plays the mp3 Callista took.

[Israel Cohen] Molly goes fishing so to speak and response to it Israel smiles slightly, knowingly... shifts the items in hand - apple turnover half gone, coffee half drunk - to accept the ear-buds and, while she's putting them in with care, "I'm worried about Ashley, too." The smile is gone now, of course as she speaks, not yet putting in the second ear bud. "Unfortunately, in being honest with her about certain matters and how I felt about her recent behavior and... questionable morals... well, suffice to say she feels hostile and angry and hurt with me at the moment. The last we spoke she said she planned to continue to stay away from the Chantry, to take a break." Sighing, regret and disappointment, "In my anger over some things we spoke about I didn't take enough care with how I phrased certain thoughts and, well, now she's turning it around to justify her... well, sulking," she winces slightly, looking uncomfortable with putting it that way but it's the closest she can think of, "Over things. I told her to take time if she needed time but that someone with position of leadership cannot take 'indefinite leave' so to speak... which she didn't like but there you have it. So, yeah... politically dicey, sure. But it's more than that, really. For all that Ashley and I have always had very different views and beliefs, we still got along. We were becoming good friends.. I hate that that has changed." Her lips flex; she reaches up the heel of a hand to press at one blind eyes, with the kind of motion you use to prevent tears from forming. "I haven't moved on the matter because I keep hoping she'll come around and look beyond the lens of callousness. At her core she is not, you know -- callous. I think she feels she must be. I don't know."

To the explanation on Team Anders she chuckles with a little relief, glad of the distraction...even if it does entail moving on to issues of a more immediate and dangerous nature. "Mmm, it does seem appropriate, yeah. I think he's got a sad tale beneath it all from some of the information I overheard." Toying with the second earbud she still hasn't put in, "Sendings were originally intended purely as ephemeral constructs. No self awareness really, they were just spiritual manifestations of the creators idea or message. It takes powerful magic to perform but the idea itself is fairly simple. The problem is that after the advent of the Avatar Storm, somehow these things started to gain self-awareness and power... more and more power everytime they crossed the gauntlet. Lucien theorizes that it is because they absorb those shards: And he has a very compelling argument to back him up -- apparently the reason he is hunting this Sending is because he felt her re-enter this world after five years of confinement. He felt her because the new - or one of the new - Shards she absorbed was this time from a woman Anders had been consecrated to for 'a very long time' before she was lost in the battles of '99 and the Storm." Molly would have good reason to understand why that news jars Israel - and probably Solomon - to no small end.
"Anyway, she's fully here in the Material World, able to move as a spirit does beyond the Umbra... but unable to go back unless attacked or Summoned. Which brings up an unsettling question -- we didn't get a chance to ask Anders about it before he left -- but Spirits - be they Sending or Umbrood or whatever - need sustenance just like any living being. Quintessence, usually, derived from any number of forms. Most spirits can't last long just in our world, they need to be able to go back to the Umbra to 'recharge' or sustain a constant link. So how is this Sending sustaining herself?" A rhetorical question... but it probably explains why Israel has seemed to contemplative; nearly brooding, if her softhearted nature was more prone to such things.

Letting Molly mull over that, she finally puts in the second earbud and listens...

[Callista Alexander] A nice day, really. A little cold, but when isn't it cold in Chicago at this time of year. It's still a good chance to head out and explore a little.

Which is exactly what Callista's up to today. She's not at work, the stack of textbooks can wait for a few hours while she stretches her legs, and, well, she wants to explore a little. There's so much of the city that she hasn't seen yet, so she's taken the chance to get out and have a wander.

No plan, no route. Just decent boots, warm clothes, and some cash to get home again from wherever she ends up. Random turns through the city blocks have brought her to this park. Random? Or the universe steering her towards other Awakened? Who knows.

She notices a small green furry thing on the ground, and bends down to pick it up.

[Israel Cohen] Atticus is, for a puppy, already doing exceedingly well in his training [shockingly well, unless you happen to know something about his two owners]. This is both to ease certain difficulties of animal care when your chief caregiver is blind... and for the added truth that Great Danes grow to be bloody massive and do well with expert training straight off.

He is still, however, a puppy -- a toddler so far as dog age goes, really, burgeoning on 'preschool' age were he human. Impulse control is still very much touch-and-go at times.. like when he's playing fetch with the zomg-she-loves-to-play-with-me-lady! and it's very own My First Cthulu toy and oh! oh! oh! gotta-get-it-gotta-have-it-minemineminemine...

...at the very last moment the sweet boy tries to stop, he really does. But huge ungainly paws and questionable reflexes betray him resulting in Callista getting hit in the legs by the hefty weight of heartily growing harlequin Great Dane and drool and energy and licks [sorry! mine. sorry! mine!] and a wagging tail that in a few months will be something of a weapon in and of itself.

[Molly Quincannon] Before any of the brooding, and before the listening, Molly nudges Israel with her shoulder lightly (she'd been sitting close enough for them to brush shoulders anyway, what with the earbuds having a fairly short cord and all) and then wraps her arm around Israel in a hug. "We've got a thing, my bunch - 'even a tree rent by lightning may yet bear fruit'. Maybe things are rough with her - and between you and her - now, but maybe that's a good thing. Things that had to be said got said, and if you're both as strong and honest and awesome as I know you are, and you're really ... y'know, invested in making it work? Your friendship'll only get stronger for a bit of air-cleary. She turns the spotlight on others the way you did her all the time. I don't think she'll hate you forever just because she's stuck looking at herself in a light not coloured with whatever internal filter she's got - and let's face it, we've all got 'em - for once."

Lord save us from the optimists. Or perhaps Lord save the optimists, because they are like unto bold fighter pilots - they seldom last long, one way or another.

The rest - the imminent danger, a sad story connected to a man she liked well on first acquaintance, the whole new world of magic as it relates to Sendings and where something like this might be getting Quintessence (and none of the options are good - it gets Molly quietly pondering and scanning the landscape just for someplace to point her eyes while Israel listens (and hopefully comes up with a translation, because the curiosity is killing her). And then she spots Callista, picking up Atticus' First Cthulu. And then there is Atticus. And then there is a conglomeration of legs and whipping tail and... "Ooooooooooh I'd better untangle that before it becomes Gordian because the sword is not my thing anyway..."

Thus there is a whistle to get everyone's attention and then a call for Atticus to come. Or, as far as Callista's concerned, shouting some random word that gets the puppy picking up the green fuzzy thing (with the red eyes and the nubby tentacles and it's a baby freakin' Cthulu) and bounding back over to where sits a rather familiar nerdbomb in a rather familiar puffy jacket with someone new - a diminutive, dark-haired someone with a guide cane and a thoughtful, near-brooding sort of look. Molly follows up the call to Atticus with, "Hey, Callista! Come meet awesome! I see you've already met Atticus, but there's more awesome! You okay?"

[Callista Alexander] There's a thundering sound coming from nearby and then..? Oooh, that hurt. Callista's bowled over by the puppy (Puppy? Aren't those things that size supposed to have saddles?), landing heavily on the grass. The little green thing (Ahh, dog toy!) falls to the ground as she tries to break her fall.

Anyone nearby might hear a quiet, "ow."

And then there's a familiar voice, and the frenzy of tail, and fur, and slobber trots off with his prize. Picking herself up, wincing at a patch or two that are going to bruise, she checks herself over. Wet marks from doggieslobber and a massive grass stain, but otherwise she's fine.

Callista starts walking over to Molly and her friend, waving as she starts. "Yeah, I'll live. I thought they didn't allow trucks in parks, or are things different on the West?" she yells back, eyeing the dog carefully.

[Israel Cohen] Very often it's Israel extending comfort and hope to others: Which perhaps gives good reason to why she's become so close to Molly. Caregivers need to be cared for sometimes themselves, after all, and Molly's optimism and idealism is, to Israel, a breath of fresh air. A much needed balm. She accepts the hug with unfettered ease once warned of incoming contact through perpetual darkness and returns it as well. "From your lips to God's ears." Spoken with a smile, though the sentiment is heartfelt. There's another phrase she says under her breath as the embrace breaks off naturally; spoken in Hebrew and no doubt Molly makes a mental note [and lord knows Molly forgets nothing] to ask about it later. Which is just as well: While the Kabbalistic idea that all things happen for the best in some way, shape or form would make for interesting conversation it is perhaps not the best to launch into here and now....

...now when there's Enochian in her ears and a sharp shrill whistle and for a moment Israel wonders if that was in the recording too with the other background nose of rising tumult and panic but, no, wait, Molly is yelling...
...she slips an earbud from her ear, sitting up more alert now, ready to grab her guide cane. Her head turns slightly, ear following the different sounds, tracking Atticus and trying to make sense of what is going on without being able to see anything and without resorting to Weaving...

She's referred to as 'awesome' which draws a slight blush and a tweak of her lips, but mostly she looks concerned and, well, like she's trying to play catch up. Callista calls back about trucks and, putting things together now, Israel looks a little chagrined and very apologetic. "Are you alright, miss?" She does try to raise her voice as well as needed, but her voice isn't built for it... a light, ever slightly-breathy mezzo-soprano comes out rather hoarse whenever she tries to give it much volume. There's brief Hebrew and she snaps her fingers, calling Atticus to heel. "--what just happened, Molly?"

[Molly Quincannon] Molly chuckles; whatever just happened, it clearly hasn't worried Molly too much. "Atticus just made a new friend, is all. I approve, kind of, Atticus; sometimes the sledgehammer of friendly is the best way. But next time, try to stop about a foot short, okay?" She ruffles Atticus' ears as he reaches their feet. "Okay, so, you remember how I was saying about my friend Callista, who provided the recording you were just listening to and who is awesome and asks as many questions as I do and basically has awesome? And who you heard about because of the whole tornado thing? Well, the universe is awesome in its powers of coincidence and entropy because ... well, Israel, meet Callista." Then she grins up at Callista and pats the bench next to her. "Callista, meet Israel. I think I mentioned her in an email or five. She has awesome. She also has puppy of awesome. And she has coffee of awesome, too - and no, not the stuff that will outlive the cockroaches. And she may have translation of that recording you sent me. And I have apple turnovers. Sit! Converse! This convergence of awesome should be celebrated and appreciated!"

Clearly someone has either entirely got over the feel of the mind of a near-clinically depressed young woman (and Israel would have heard about that, sometime after the fit of vomiting that induced in someone who insists on experiencing all things as fully as possible) ... or she's madly overcompensating. Or she's had too much sugar. (But how would one tell the difference?)

[Callista Alexander] Although Israel isn't as great at broadcasting across the park as Molly, Callista gets enough meaning from Israel's expression and Atticus lying by her side with his head propped on the cuddly tool of the universe.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Nothing that'll show, or be fixed with a little time or laundry detergent, anyway." And then the two are introduced.

"Oh, Israel. I've heard your name from Jarod, when I was asking about people who could figure out what a certain group of formation chanters were talking about." She notices the laptop and earbuds. "Have you had a chance to listen to it, yet?"

Grateful for the offer of coffee, she declines. Even though it's not Molly's particular form of rocket fuel, Callista's never been massively keen on the taste. The apple turnover, however, is happily accepted. Callista sits on the ground in front of Molly and Israel, and starts picking at the pastry.

Molly certainly appears to be herself. But, then, Callista hasn't really known her long enough to tell the difference between normal-frantic and compansating-sugar/caffiene-induced-frantic.

((And, while we're here, how does Israel feel? Per+Awareness.))

[Israel Cohen] [[Oh, hey.. dice! WOO!!]]

[Molly Quincannon] [[Watch as I decide to be nice and not neglect the dice, and triple-botch woefully. Again.]]

[Israel Cohen] Atticus looks slightly [pitifully] abashed when called to heel, but soon brightens with Molly coddles [alas, it could not be avoided...] and subsequent scritches from Israel as well. With permission granted from the blind woman, he settles down at Israel and Molly's feet to happily take a breather and chew on the diminutive Old One with easy abandon. Ah, for such simple joys, eh?

Israel in turn is buffeted by Molly-enthusiasm, which she handles with gentle good nature and a softly teasing air to her, "Honestly, Molly, I may have to buy you a thesaurus if you don't find some alternative synonym for 'awesome'." Then she's listening to Callista with an air of quiet welcome: Much about this woman is subdued, especially when compared to someone like Molly and perhaps Callista herself. Whipping winds and fire creatures; Dynamic things. Israel is more comparable to waters flow: An old river [young though she may seem], staid and pleasant and tranquil with a deep trace of the bittersweet. Sometimes more; sometimes a flood; sometimes white rapids, but that is far more rare and few witness it. But for all of the warm calm there [deep with a juxtaposition of Sorrow and Hope and tempered by Piercing perceptions] is great sincerity to her mannerisms, up to an including her, "It's good to meet you, Callista. That is a lovely name, by the way." Nice, social things to say but from Israel it just never seems trite or rote.

There seems a flicker flash of surprise when Callista mentions Jarod bringing up Israel's name: She barely knows the man. But it passes and she nod, "Um, yes, I just did. I'll want to pass it on to Solomon - he may pick up on nuances I've missed. But it's like what we heard yesterday at the park: Very repetitive. 'The Heat; the Warmth; the Fire. Reap the Summer Sun; claim it for your own. But it will Burn, it can Burn, all great things for great Price.'"
Simple... but undoubtedly somewhat unsettling. "What was going on when they were chanting this?"

[Israel Cohen] There is in this small woman who appears to be in her mid to late 20's or so, a sense of deep, old Sorrow settled, rooted, strong in the sinew. Heartache. Tribulation. Old [ancient. primordial] lamentation that is like wistful nostalgia, the primal ache of a wound that has healed but has left a mark for all time. Bittersweet woe, like the loss of innocence: Natural and usually necessary but still quietly mourned. Entropic, yes, for Sorrow has its own order, its own chaos and is the fortune-fate of all. Beneath it, more subtle, a Piercing quality, not cutting up patiently, intuitively Perceptive. Static.
At the core of it all, however - deepest in the Marrow, the Blood, beyond sinew and structure - the rose-glow; the gold-hue: Hope[filled]ful promise as sure as dawn comes after the darkest of nights; as sure as the deepest of pitch makes a single candle flame seem all the brighter. Balm.
to Callista Alexander

[Molly Quincannon] Molly goes for mock-indignant at that point: "I like the word 'awesome'! It is a miraculous sort of word and conveys everything I need it to! Okay, fine - cafftastic coffee, puppyrific Atticus, and for you ... we'll stick with 'friendtacular'. So there. Nyah." Clearly, Molly's view is if the thesaurus-given options are less than satisfying, make shit up.

She clearly wants the answer to Israel's question, though she knows a fair bit from the email, but she does ask, because she literally cannot help herself, "...I figure it takes a fair bit of power to throw that kind of power at Sleepers, but ... is it like the kind of thing that you can get back more than you give? You said that this thing needs a power source, and ... either just juicing these people so that the Monkey's Paw thing happens generates power it can use, or it's hoping for ... something else to come of it. A host?" Then, visions of the Asylum dancing in her head, she asks, "This kind of thing couldn't make a Node or something, could it?"

[Callista Alexander] Callista grins and laughs quietly at Israel's threat of a thesaurus. Molly certainly does seem to like the word. It will certainly be interesting to see what isn't awesome. Most likely something that needs to be run away from, very quickly.

"Thank you. Israel - are you named for the country?" Small talk, easing into bigger, darker conversation. Establishing safe ground, before leaping into the darkness that's been heading into the city. "I had asked Jarod to pass my number on to you, but I guess he's been busy with other things."

And then there's the events of that afternoon. With a deep breath, Callista starts her story.

"I don't know how much you've already picked up from what's going on recently, so I'll start from the top. There was a woman over on West Division; looking like she's just arrived on the plane from India; curvy, full figure; golden eyes; with a definite feeling of... sensuality, I guess, about her. She was paying a lot of attention to what was going on, right before the weirdness started.

"I guess you've heard about us being walled off from our Avatars? Right about the same time, what seemed like your factory-issue Sleepers started changing things. In one case, herself - think a female Incredible Hulk in a business suit, slapping around..." There's a pause, as Callista tries to gather a hazy thought. "Slapping around some guy in a brown coat. Jarod was practically beating off a young admirer with a stick, although that could have been down to the feeling that this Goldeneyes was giving off.

"And then it got really strange when the chanting started. Plant life springing up all over the place, pushing itself up through the concrete. And a tornado springing up, right over us. " She gives a little shudder at the memory, a momentary pause. "And then she was gone, just in an instant. The guys chanting just flopped, like their strings had been cut. People paniced, trying to get away however they could."

Callista looks up into Israel's sightless eyes, hoping for an answer. "How can anyone do that without Reality slapping them down hard?"

Molly, with her question about power, sparks one from Callista. "She needs power? That's not why our ability to bend things disappears, is it? Is she feeding off us?"

[Callista Alexander] Callista has an air of generally being a bit of an optimist. Her movements are sure, with a hint of practiced grace. Balanced.

Around her there's a feeling of Searching for something. It's not the strongest resonance in the world, but it's definitely there and poking its nose into things where it may not be wanted. It doesn't feel like a search for the physical, though, but for something more ephemeral.
to Israel Cohen, Molly Quincannon

[Israel Cohen] Midway through Molly's tirade of made-up adjectives, Israel is raising her free hand [the apple turnover being long gone by now. molly well knows - and Callista may someday learn - of Israel's love of delectable noms] in a motion of surrender, "Alright, alright - stick to awesome, haverti, you win!" Her smile flexing to something closer to a grin, lightening a countenance that is too often sweetly-sorrow-laden. Good medicine.

To Molly's musing question, though, her expression going thoughtful again. Then Callista is speaking, though, and Israel pays close attention even if she's heard of some of it from Molly already. She's an attentive listener even in the mildest of times: This recounting has her avid attention to say the least.

She responds to Molly first, though it'll draw in some of Callista's own questions as well, "'Fair bit of power' is probably an understatement. So many of the Avatar's torn up in the Storm belonged to Masters and more. If this Sending has picked up even just a couple of such shards it explains how - er - 'Awesome' - to use the word by the root meaning -," all the same she dimples slightly, appealingly sheepish for a brief moment, "'Her' abilities are. Now couple that with being a being of Spirit Ephemera: Spirits are set and bound within the Pattern. This is why they can manifest and work great 'Magic' - of a sort - without..."
Sensing someone approaching the bench - a woman carrying groceries, not making her way towards them but about to pass close enough to possibly be within hearing distance. Whether the blind woman heard footfall or used some other sensory means is left unsaid but she notices and falls silent until the woman passes out of range, "--without bringing down the Consensual Hammer, so to speak." Realizing she's drifted away from the question she sips her coffee - finds it far too cold for her tastes and moves to refill her cup from the thermos - "But you could be right. Solomon would know more of it, but it's one of the possibilities he put forward." And if there is an air of approval and appreciation, well -- others might find Molly's curiosity and high-gear ways to be difficult to deal with. Israel just likes the fact that it means Molly often thinks outside the box, coming up with possibilities others might never think of, especially if it isn't their 'area' as is the case with Sol. "It could be... but, I don't know, I have this... ah, well, a feeling that there's just something there Lucien either doesn't know about or hasn't told us about yet. Not maliciously I don't think but... I don't know..." her words fade there and she seems... troubled.

Then draws herself back to matters at hand, nodding now in Callista's direction. Unable to do the eye-contact thing, Israel instead has a habit of canting her head to turn an ear towards the direct of people she's talking to; not overt but the tendency is there. "Solomon, Nathan and Alexander - Molly, have you met an Akashic who calls himself Alexander? He didn't give a surname, but he said he'd met with Ashley a while ago." Moving on after Molly can answer, "They saw a woman like that too, with Lucian Anders, a Euthanatos - a very powerful one, I suspect though he gave no 'rank' - who has been hunting this woman. She is the Spirit or Sending I was just talking about. Essentially created by one of the Magi trapped in Horizon in '99 - oh, the woman who created her was a Cultist, Molly. Jolie Marcelle -- care to see what you can find out about her, maybe? Created to attempt to send a message into this world to her lover a Chorister, Aoife McNamara - now deceased. She died apparently trying to Bind this Sending in 2002, when she started to realize that she was changing, becoming -more- than just a Sending, just a Messenger. This with happening with other Sendings, too. And the messages they kept bringing back from Horizon were erratic and strange or just babble. Anyway, in 2006, this Sending was in a small town in Texas, near Houston. Lucien said it caused a big mess there, one that drew down the Technocrats hard. A group of mages were able to Bind her... until several months ago when a young Hermetic in New Jersey - how the Binding Root ended up in New Jersey I don't know - released her when tampering with it. Which enabled the Sending to return tot h Umbra, thus passing the Gauntlet and the Storm again. When she came back to the Material is when Lucien felt the return of that Consecrated Avatar," she shivers slightly at that.... and speaks softly, "Can you imagine that? To feel someone you've been Consecrated to for decades not just die but be torn asunder by the Storm? And then, years later, to suddenly feel a sense of them again? Sweet Lord, no wonder the man is driven to sorting this out." She's gone slightly pale.. it doesn't last long, but Molly will understand why the very idea of what Lucien apparently went through affects her so.

Pulling herself back to the present, "Is she feeding off of us? I can't say for sure, but I do not think so, no. Maybe on an emotional level, but not our own Essence. Neither Solomon or I felt any such change after the fact when we experienced it and we noticed nothing of it on Nathan either. But, well, I wouldn't just shove away any possibility, really. What is also odd is that the Sending must want to be attacked -- she gain power that way, right, in being able to cross the guantlet. So... why cut off our Awakened Abilities at all? We'd be be more able to 'have out' with her did we have our ability to Weave...."

[Molly Quincannon] ".............Maybe that's why?" It's a question rather than a statement, more or less. "I ... don't have all the details on this one, because I didn't get to see a lot of what happened first hand because somebody was hitting me upside the head with the butt of a rifle at the time..." There's amusement in it, but there is also a note of someone desperately trying to fight back a certain level of You see what happens when I ask for backup? It was the gun-butt of chivalry, okay? Next time, let him send flowers. I like flowers. Concussion, not so much. "...But ... if a memory of being ripped apart by the Storm isn't just in your head but woven into your very Pattern, because a Pattern's nearly all you've got? Why the hell would you want to leave someone capable of sending you back? I mean, except for the power thing, and if she can get power here... Plus, if it's got bits of Cultist and it was locked up for so long ... we don't take well to that. If I was going to come around and do stuff, and I could stop someone from locking me up, I'd do it. There's a whole risk/benefit thing, and I don't think this being benefits from anyone even remotely able to stuff her in a box. And it could be the frustration she's feeding off, too, thinking about it - she's trapping us in the kind of box she's been in, in a way, and what's more frustrating and frightening than having that much of yourself just ... clawing at walls in your very Self that you didn't put there?"

She does, of course, remember the questions, and she answers them once she's done theorising and asking things: "Yes, I do know an Alex. Friend of Kage's, but I wasn't even sure he was still around. I met him the once, with Kage and Atlas, at Kage's request, but not a whole lot. He didn't say much. But he's another New Yorker. Seems we've got a few, even if some of us only adopted the Big Apple. Anyway, as to Jolie ... I'll ask around, see what I can dig up. Not sure what I'll come up with, but at least one of the people I ran with back in my apprenticeship predates the Storm, so maybe I'll pull up something useful. Hope so, anyway."

Then, apropos of not much, she sighs, "Damn, I need to learn something more about Spirit in the worst way..."

[Callista Alexander] "...unless walling off Avatars isn't something she does willingly or consciously. As you say, it would make it so much easier for us to blast this messenger back where she came from, where she presumably wants to go, with a few more esoteric tools to hand." Callista ponders this for another moment. "Do you think there's something, someone, else out there doing the whole walling thing? Knowing that some people would smack Goldeneyes with Plan A, given half a chance?"

Questions, always more questions. Curiosity pulling apart the details, digging further and further. "So why is she even here, and not still floating around in the Umbra? If that's where she picks up more power, gets her food from, what does she want here?"

Her curiosity pulling at the threads, trying to follow the pattern back to its start. Goldeneyes had been trapped, bound. She had escaped, but could whatever bound her still be intact? Just turned off? "She was bound to something in New Jersey, you say? Is that what keeps pulling her back? If it's still around and can be turned back on again, could we shove this genie back in her bottle and shove the stopped back again? New Jersey is a big place, could we narrow down where we'd need to look to find her bottle?"

The part about the chanting still niggled. 'The Heat; the Warmth; the Fire. Reap the Summer Sun; claim it for your own. But it will Burn, it can Burn, all great things for great Price.' Something to do with the seasons, or the sun..?

As for Alex, it's someone else to chase up later. She'd picked up that there might an another Akashic or two knocking around the city, but hadn't been able to pin either of them down yet.

((Finished OOCly))