Topic: A Wing And A Prayer

Mataya

Date: 2011-04-22 06:50 EST
Okay, it was Thursday now, and Riley and David still weren't back from their trip. 'Taya had finally given herself permission to be worried. After asking various people if they'd heard anything and getting no satisfactory reply, the actress had decided to go to the one person she thought might at least be able to locate her friends for her.

Which was why she was currently lingering in the shop known as Hocus Pocus, waiting patiently for the proprietress to have time for her, and attempting to keep Finn, the Kangal puppy, from destroying the painstakingly erected displays all around them.

Aurelia was not long in finishing up with her customer, and she came over to Mataya with a warm smile, not acknowledging the dog until Finn stopped trying to jump up on her. "Mataya, how lovely to see you," she smiled, her Belgian accent as soft and unobtrusive as 'Taya remembered it. "What brings you to my petite boutique?"

Despite her worries, 'Taya couldn't help smiling along with the pleasant greeting, reaching over to hug the witch tightly. "I wish I could say it was a social call, Aurelia," she apologised quietly. "I really need your help. Again."

The witch raised a brow, nodding in understanding. "I see," she said gently. "Come upstairs ... oui, and you, little man." This last was said to Finn, who had finally sat down and was waiting patiently to be greeted. As Aurelia turned to lead the actress and her canine charge up the stairs to the private rooms set aside for consultations, she looked pointedly at her grey tabby cat. "Mind the shop, Mariet," she told him. "I will be quite safe with Monsieur Finn."

The cat gave the puppy a long calculating look, in which could be read all manner of warnings against doing anything untoward while they were out of his sight, and lifted his chin in response to his witch, shifting from his curl on the floor to an upright position on the counter itself.

It took barely minutes for the women and the dog to be seated comfortably, and 'Taya wasted no time in explaining why she had come.

" ... the thing is, they were supposed to be back on Sunday afternoon, and I thought maybe they'd been delayed a bit because that's pretty normal for travel, right?" she finished, her worry showing on her pretty face. "But they're so good at letting people know if they've had problems, and I'm getting really concerned. It's just not like Riley to be so late."

Aurelia had sat silently through this explanation, nodding here and there as she thought over all she had been told. "You believe something may have happened to prevent their return?" she asked softly.

'Taya nodded, scratching Finn's ears where he leaned against her leg. "I don't know what could have happened," she admitted, "but something bad maybe? I mean, it's not like they've decided to extend their stay, is it?"

Aurelia shook her head. "Non, you are quite right," she agreed. "There are many things that could have happened. Something so simple as the portal taking them somewhere else, to the worst encounter with locals when they arrived." She paused, frowning a little. "There are spells I can use to locate them, but I will need something of theirs to focus my power through. Something they both use, perhaps?"

At this, 'Taya grinned triumphantly, looking down at the dog. "See? And you gave me a look that said I was crazy for bringing this with me," she crowed to Finn, reaching into her backpack and pulling out a blender, complete with plug. "Will this do?"

Aurelia stared at her for a long moment, and burst out laughing. "Oui, this is perfect," she chuckled, reaching across to take the blender with a disbelieving shake of her head. "It takes time to prepare this spell, so I will contact you when I have found them. Please, do not worry yourself overmuch. I will find your friends."

"Good." 'Taya smiled, infinitely relieved that someone who seemed to know what they were doing was in control of the situation now. "I'm either at the theatre, or I'm at home, so I'm easy to find this week. And next week. In fact, I'm going to stay easy to find until Riley and David are back safe."

"A good precaution," Aurelia laughed softly, rising from her seat. "You will know whatever I find out by midnight, I promise you, Mataya. And when we have found them, we can work out how to bring them home."

Riley ORourke

Date: 2011-04-24 14:49 EST
The full moon rode the skies above Tokyo, pregnant and heavy with possibilities. Clouds carrying full loads of rain scudded across Her surface, veiling Her like a Bedouin dancer, not hiding, only enhancing Her silvery beauty. Brief showers kissed the asphalt and steel skin of the city, limning it with tiny diamonds that caught and reflected the moon's light, giving even the tawdriest areas an ethereal glow.

Below, the city streets lay almost bare and bereft of all but the most desperate of humanity, those who made their homes on streets and alleyways, even in this most civilised and entitled of cities. The clubs and late-night restaurants had closed their doors, emptying their walls of the young and beautiful, the old and rich, and those who would prey upon their fellows. A few yen had been thrown into the begging bowls of the unfortunate who sat near the entrances to the trains that would whisk the revellers back to their tiny apartments that sat hundreds of feet in the air, like the rocky aeries of eagles.

It was the dead of the night now, a time that claimed more lives than any other hour. A single light above a doorway decorated with a yin-yang symbol cast a cone of amber illumination in one tiny alleyway in the centre of Tokyo's publishing district. Nothing moved through the cone of light. No flitting, flying insects were drawn to the heart of the false flame. The stray cats who often found a soft touch and an easy meal at this door skirted along the opposite wall, taking care to stay out of the yellowish light, lest they attract the notice of the magic being done behind that door.

And powerful magic indeed was being wrought beyond that innocuous portal. Seeking, searching magic, whose tendrils curled unthwarted through dimensions and universes unknown to all but a privileged few. The magic touched everything it came into contact with, grasping, stroking, caressing, but ultimately passing by. There were many, many worlds for it to touch until it found the right one, the lock for its key, the female to its male. It was relentless, though, untiring in its search, forging ahead without flagging, without fail, until it found the perfect fit.

The Onmyōji who was directing the magic, however, was not quite so indefatigable. The woman who had just days ago greeted the strangers from one of these many other places, the ones who were the chosen of two of her most beloved kami, was so ancient that she had long since forgotten her own name, and even her great-grandchildren, of which she had five, called her Onmyōji, for wont of a given name. Yes, she was old and tired easily, even when performing her magic for her gods.

It was understandable, therefore, when she drooped with exhaustion over her copper bowl full of strange things that included a single dried leaf from a place so wondrous, so marvelous that it came as no surprise that kami strode its surface unremarked. It was further understandable that it took the ancient Onmyōji a few moments to recognise the touch of a familiar place when the magic encountered it. But recognise it she did, and crowed in triumph.

Imagine her surprise when she felt someone ? a living, breathing, thinking being, but not a human ? at the other end of that touch. ?Anata wa daredesu ka?? she asked in a rusty voice. ?Who are you??

Aurelia

Date: 2011-04-25 07:05 EST
The deep darkness of the same full moon, Aurelia had been at work that night as well. Here in Rhy'Din, the pregnant swell of the moon was hidden by heavy clouds, darkening the sky, but she stilled sallied forth above them, lending her power to any spell wrought this eve.

The witch knelt in the attic room of her own house, inside a circle of candles and salt, Riley and David's blender sat in about an inch of highly complex potion ingredients. The cauldron itself had filled the circle with the sweet headiness of seeking smoke, sending Aurelia down into herself to locate the thread that tied the souls she sought with this belonging of theirs.

She had just grasped it, just begun to follow it, when that ancient, powerful awareness brushed against her mind. Startled, the witch jumped, losing her grasp on that thread as she stared into the smoke in amazement. There was someone else walking the same line tonight, from the other direction, and it wasn't a someone she was even vaguely familiar with.

But ... this someone was conversant with magic, whichever form it was, and for now, that made them an ally. Closing her eyes, Aurelia gathered her strength and carefully followed the thread of the awareness back toward that point where it had broken through. The force keeping it out was reforming, but not for long. As sweat beaded on her brow, Aurelia burrowed her own thought into that moment of crossing over, holding it open with the power of her own will.

"I am a friend," she murmured through to the awareness that had touched hers. "I am seeking for the Cat and the Warrior."

Riley ORourke

Date: 2011-04-29 14:00 EST
?The Cat and the Warrior?? The ancient Onmyōji laughed, a nearly soundless noise full of mirth and good humour. ?You speak of gods, young one, not mere mortals. Show more respect to Prince Saruta and his wife, The Great Persuader. Or at least those who are their chosen vehicles.?

The Onmyōji settled the copper bowl in her lap more securely and felt tentatively along the silvery cord that bound her magic to the other world, this magical place of Rhy Din. She tasted the other's magic, held it in her mouth, rolled it around her tongue, and finally decided that the other was worthy of helping her return Ama-no-Uzume and Sarutahiko Ōkami to their chosen realm.

?This will take great doing,? she explained to Aurelia. ?You are very far from my home ? both in space but in time as well. Three days it will take me to build a tunnel half-way to your Rhy Din. Will you meet me half-way? I am no longer strong enough to pierce the veils that separate our worlds alone; I will need your help to return my beloved kami to their home. Will you do it? Can you do it??

Aurelia

Date: 2011-04-29 16:25 EST
"Gods?" Without thinking, Aurelia spoke her surprise aloud, almost deafening herself as her thought and speech reverberated backward and forward along the link she was holding open. "My apologies, I did not think."

A tunnel ... that was certainly possible, but it would require a great deal of strength to accomplish, perhaps more than she had herself. But then, Aurelia did not always have to rely on simply her own strength. If need be, she could call upon an angel and a demon to assist her, and though they might argue, she would win.

Considering what might be involved, she decided to put her thought into the grasp of that other awareness, showing more trust with that one gesture than any number of selfless acts could have done.

"Tell me what you need me to do."

Aurelia

Date: 2011-05-12 10:28 EST
The time had come. For days, Aurelia had been conserving her energy, doing little if anything for herself. Matthias had been almost constantly with her, worrying that she was going to overspend herself in performing this one crucial spell for an entire night. Eventually, she had had to send him away, promising to call on him when it was over.

As the sun began to set, the witch made her way up onto the roof of the Zen Building, a place familiar to her and to the ones she was going to be reaching for. Mr Cheung was wisely keeping out of the way, and if Mataya had any sense left in her skull after weeks of worrying, she would have warned the other residents not to disturb the witch in her casting above them.

There was no need for a circle of salt tonight; there was little danger to the building or those who lived within it. The danger was to herself, to her strength and her mind. If her strength failed before the end, the backlash of the spell collapsing would kill everyone involved. If she lost her focus, she would also lose her mind. This, she had not told Matthias, knowing he would forbid her from even attempting the spell if he had even the slightest inkling that it was more dangerous than he thought.

She knelt, silent and still amid the gentle breeze that blew across the rooftop garden, a solitary figure in white, her dark hair loose to blow about her shoulders. Her hand passed over the candles she had set in a wide circle around her; red, white, and green, hand-crafted from coloured wax, chosen for their powers of strength, focus, and guidance. The wicks flared bright for a moment, the flames taking shape as her palm passed over them, ringing the half-demon witch in light.

With the heat of those flames rose the scent of the oils she had soaked the wicks in before ever even setting wax to cord. Licorice, ginseng, maca, and dan shen ... herbs grown for strength and wisdom, herbs that would lend their aid to her spirit's strength as she forced her way to touch minds with that ancient power on the other side.

It had to be done tonight, and soon. Riley and David would be ready to cross over the moment the tunnel was completed, and Aurelia would have to hold that tunnel open until she was released from that duty. She could not afford to be scared, to fear for her own life when this undertaking meant more than simply her strength, her life. She had no doubts that the ancient practitioner on the other side would not live through the night, offering a quiet prayer to the goddess she served that the passing would be quick and without pain.

And now it was time. Aurelia closed her eyes, reaching out with her mind to find the markers she had left behind on her first journey through time and space to locate the Lo's. They were still there, holding position for her to pass by. Strength was needed; strength of mind and body and soul, and still it would be enough only for this one night.

With sweat beading on her brow, her body shaking with the effort she exerted, Aurelia Dupuis forced open the channel set to her by the old one on the other side, widening it until it could take the passage of two souls safely. Her hands clenched on her thighs, knuckles white as she struggled for breath. Now all she could do was wait, and hope that the wanderers passed over safely before her strength died.

Riley ORourke

Date: 2011-05-18 15:35 EST
For four days, the tiny, wizened Onmyōji had prepared herself for her final day. Fasting, meditating, praying to her gods and goddesses, she spoke to no one and had even gone so far as to close her shop.

After Ame-no-Uzume's Earthly Vehicle had visited, after the mortal authorities had questioned her about the astounding amount of butchered dead in her alleyway, she had become achingly aware of all the thugs surrounding her building, watching her door, expecting the kami to return to her like fools who couldn't think their way out of paper bags. Imagine, thinking that Prince Saruta was some enforcer for one of the Chinese Triads. She had never heard something so ridiculous in her long, long life. Prince Saruta was a force firmly on the side of the Light, as was his Lady Wife. They would never, ever become involved in murder or extortion or human trafficking. It was absurd.

Finally, Tuesday morning dawned cloudy and cool, the skies above the city bruised and pregnant with rain. It was as if Nature Herself was mourning the passing of the kami from this realm, and, if she was allowed such a moment of hubris, the death of the Onmyōji herself. While she wasn't the only Shinto magician in the city, she was the strongest. With her passing ended an era.

She had no regrets, though. Her passing would protect and preserve her beloved Prince and his wife. Dying to help the kami return to their home world would help ensure that billions of lives would be saved when the Darkness threatened. She had foreseen their future; she knew why Sarutahiko and Ame-no-Uzume had chosen these two to possess and take hold of. She knew what storms were coming and hoped that they were ready for it.

She gathered her things ? the copper bowl with the dried leaf from this Rhy'Din, and the other bits of ephemera that were necessary for her work ? and left her building, disguised as an old, hunchbacked beggar. Nearly unable to keep the twinkle of mischief from her eye, she made it a point to boldly test the disguise by begging a coin from the Yakuza bōsōzoku thug standing at the mouth of the alleyway. He recoiled in disgust, not recognising her as the target of his reconnaissance. Wandering away from him, chuckling softly, she made her way to the appointed spot in Kansen-en Park, in the Shinjuku neighbourhood.

Settling down not far from the Mizu Inari Jinja, a shrine to the kami who inhabited the park's small sweet spring and the pond it fed, the Onmyōji shed her disguise and began to weave her magic tunnel. The beacons she'd left after touching the young witch on the other side, beacons that marked the half-way point between her realm and Rhy'Din, were still shining brightly. The tunnel began to form, first as an idea, a structure of pure thought, then slowly as she concentrated on it and fed it more of her life's energy, the idea began to take solid form.

Finally, the tunnel reached the half-way point and she could feel the warm, living caress of the oni witch on the other side. The Onmyōji sent out a single thought, her last dying words, directly into the witch's mind ? ?You will watch them.? Now she just had to wait until Prince Saruta and Ame-no-Uzume were through her half of the tunnel. She had exactly five breaths left in her body.

Aurelia

Date: 2011-05-20 17:18 EST
"You will watch them."

The words seared themselves into Aurelia's mind, blasting through the pain of effort that penetrated every last inch of her body to make themselves heard and understood. The tunnel had become harder to hold together, harder to carry the weight as she came slowly to the realisation that she alone held it open.

The ancient who had orchestrated this transfer was gone. She could no longer feel the woman's presence anchoring her to that place, pushing her onward through the pain. Aurelia was drenched in sweat, her breath coming in rasping, hoarse gasps as she clenched her fists into the skirt of her dress, dark tendrils of hair clinging to her sodden face.

The feel of the tunnel changed suddenly, the weight somehow lessening as the sound of bodies hitting the solid ground nearby reverberated through her. Forcing her eyes open, she peered around through a haze of agonising heaviness, barely able to keep herself upright.

Relief touched her for one brief moment as her eyes found the forms of Riley and David, returned to Rhy'Din but not safely. There was blood, and pain, and fury seemed to roil in curling mists from the Cat as she slumped beside her Warrior, naked and hardly conscious enough to know where or who she was.

With the last, failing limits of her strength, the witch stretched out her hand toward the fallen pair. She had no power to heal them, nor to soothe their unquiet. What power she had left to her came from her demonic half-blood, the ability to send them in a shimmer of darkness to a place where they could be healed and set at peace.

"You will watch over them."

Fury rose within her. Fury at the presumption of the wizened power who had left her alone to hold the line, to deal with whatever may come. Fury at her own weakness, her own failing strength, her inability to close the portal that even now shimmered in the morning light. And fury that she was even here at all, that she had not questioned her own place in this debacle, that she served others and their needs before her own.

Dimly, Aurelia realised that the anger was not truly her own, and realised too late her danger. The demon within her, kept at bay by her own strength and the power of the tigers eye amulet that hung about her neck, had seized her opportunity. The witch had no strength left to fight her own nature, the evil that came from her mother's blood. The battle that should have been fought was a foregone conclusion.

Demonic power surged through her, wiping away the gentle Aurelia's consciousness from control over the body her demon craved to have once more. The human appearance that had reasserted itself when first she had been turned to the path of good reverted, dark tattoos covering her skin, turning her eyes to molten ice in a face that expressed raw, primal rage.

It was as well that Aurelia had sent Riley and David away with that last of her own strength, for the demon wanted to kill. She wanted to feel the last trickle of life leaving her victim, the enrichment as that life power transferred to her in the last moments. It had been too long since she had felt that surge.

She cared nothing for the open portal, still held by the last of Aurelia's strength, by the witch who now was trapped within her own body, at the mercy of her demonic half. A clawed hand rose, tearing the amulet from her neck, and with a smooth action, the demon bent, scooping up the wood-bound Dupuis Book of Shadows.

With a crow of delight, she clutched it to her, triumphant in her seething rage. A shape shimmered out of nowhere beside her, and in the morning light, she greeted her brother, the demon Darnel, with true pleasure. They clasped hands, and together shimmered from view, taking with them the guiding spirit of the witch, still screaming silently in the confines of the demon's mind.

Kakure-Kai

Date: 2011-05-22 15:03 EST
The old Onmyōji died in a hail of bullets and blood. She didn't witness the bullet that penetrated Prince Saruta's back, didn't see the astounding changes Ame-no-Uzume went through in order to save her husband. When the final breath passed her lips, she simply slumped over the copper bowl that sat in her lap, sightless eyes staring down into the ephemera that created the portal to another world.

As the portal collapsed and threatened to wink out of existence entirely, a new sorcerer took control of it, slipping in beside the woman, gently taking the bowl from her and settling it into his own lap. Wresting control of the portal wasn't quite as gentle an undertaking as he had hoped it would be. It hurt, in fact ? physically, mentally, spiritually. The tunnel through time and space was better warded than he had ever encountered and stripping away those wards left burns in his flesh and in his spirit.

Once he had the tunnel held open and secure, the sorcerer had to fight to keep that control. It drained him quickly. How had the old woman managed it? Was that what had killed her at last? He turned and looked up at the shateigashira, the second lieutenant who was in command of this mission. ?If you're sending men through,? he said through gritted teeth with beads of sweat sliding down his face, ?do it now. I cannot hold this for long.?

The shateigashira nodded curtly, unhappy at being spoken to in such a way by an underling. But he understood the reasoning behind the heat in the man's words. The oyabun would not be well pleased if this third mission to capture and kill the Triad Red Pole Lao failed. It would be far more than a finger he'd lose if he carried that news back. Making a quick decision, he pointed to four of the kyodai, the initiated, full members of the ninkyō dantai. ?You will go through this portal. You will find Lao, watch him, and bring news of his activities back to us. Now go!?

The kyodai nodded in unison and then sprinted down the tunnel, quickly disappearing from view. The sorcerer collapsed, unconscious now, and the portal collapsed as well, winking out of existence as if it had never been there. The shateigashira kicked the sorcerer, roughly waking him. ?How long 'til you can make another?? he barked at the man lying on the ground.

?Three days,? was the whispered reply. ?Three days I need to recover then I will be able to make another portal.?

?Good. See to it then and bring the kyodai to me when they return. I will deliver their discoveries to the oyabun personally.? And gain the glory for myself as well, he added silently, his face skewed in a smug snarl.